Anecdote about VG Kale

Apparently V G Kale was known in the Fergusson College campus as someone who did not entertain small talk. So he didnt invite people over and did not encourage what he saw as aimless chitchatting in other peoples' houses. One afternoon a group of professors decided to drop in unannounced and "get" a cup of tea out of him. When they arrived and made their intentions clear, Dada went into the kitchen and gave instructions for tea to be served. The professors were thrilled with their 'achievement' and after their tea, went back to their houses, full of how they had pulled a fast one on the great 'miserly' VG Kale. But when each of them told this story to their wives, what they heard was " OH! you were at their house for tea?Thats why she came asking to borrow some tea leaves/milk/sugar"!
Dada had the last laugh!
P.S. Principal Kogekar who told me this story was quick to tell me that Dada was not in anyway a miser. On their trips to the Indian Economic Association meetings, he would give the students his wallet and tell them to make sure everyone had enough to eat and drink for the entire train journey.

My second childhood home

Vishwas is only two years older to me, and one year ahead in school, we used to be together most of the time. We shared a common interest, namely the Meccano. We used to make cars and trucks and working cranes. Vishwas used to make cardboard camera using shuttlecock carton tubes and cardboard boxes and one magnifying lens and used to have "shows" of some advertising and sundry pictorial material that used to come to the "Artha" office. Our common interests also included the huge Hudson car belonging to the Anna Gokhale family from Baramati.
Though our compounds (Swagat and Durgadhiwas) were separate, there was an open corridor between them and Vishwas and I (and the much younger Raju Dongre who used to stay on the ground floor of "DD") used spend our evenings circling both the houses and the enormous plots around the two houses.
Subhash is much elder to us both and we were much in awe of him (I still am), as he was a model student, handsome and we used to be totally impressed when he used to go for NCC parades in the crisp uniform.
Sharad Deodhar, son of Appa, was older to me by 4 years, but he used to come during summer vacations and stay at Swagat, and so did Asha, Shriniwasdada's daughter, who is my age (she never fails to point out that she is 10 days older). We four used to really have a ball.
A cousin of ours, Sumati Karve, got married here in 1955, the family stayed at DD and the function was held at Swagat. It was my thread ceremony next year, and Dinesh got married in 1957. The two houses used to be so full of Kales, Deodhars and Gokhales, all of whom regard DD as THE headquarters.
Even today, I don't regard DD as anything separate from Swagat. It is one continuum.

more from durgadhiwas

Like most Hindu families, our branch of Kales had family deities. These of course were from Nandivde,the home village.The only time they came into application was at the time of some religious rite,name of which escapes me.These deities were Chankai,Bhavkai,Rawalnath, and of course Karhateshwar.Temples to the first three, as well as a Ganesh temple are,at least were when I saw them last, right in front in a row, in Nandivde.Karhateshwar is a little distance away,on the sides of a cliff which overlooks Devgad harbour(Devgad mangoes are famous.)

I stated in my first blog there is an elephant path, paved with dressed black stone from Nandivde to Karhateshwar. Karhateshwar temple has springs,giving copious flow of water,year round.There are bundles of paper listing the donations and requests for special prayers at the temple.Most are signed by JOG family

There is a vast level plot of land north of Nandivde(probably built up by now).

Dramatis Personae

Cousins

Dada and Kaka had a sister.For some reason,nobody seems to know about her.She was married to one Waman Deodhar who resided in UP(I suspect he came from one of the families which went over during the Peshwai and stayedthere). Both of them passed away, and a word came to Dada, asking to take away the two orphaned boys,Gajanan and Shridhar,or Anna and Appa.
They grew up in the Kale household,Anna becoming an M.Sc.and industrial chemist,and Appa went to VJTI Mumbai to become a weaving master.Anna had a company called Sanjeeven Mfg.Co.,one of whose products was Sanjeeven Hair Tonic,widely advertised as the answer to Baldness.However ,he himself was totally bald.May be like doctors do not take family as patients,hair oil makers do not use their own product.The family had a house in Maharashtra Society,Ahmedabad(Karnavati). His son is also named Sanjeevan.He visits Pune off and on.
Appa had one son,Sharad,a naval officer,who passed away recently. Anna and and Appa were as different as two brothers can be.Anna was a health enthusiast,biut Appa was a Bon Vivant.They used to visit regularly and kept in touch,their children also did.

MAI

Gangu,Dada s daughter,was called Gangumai.After college,she married G.R.Kokil then headmaster of a school in the small town Kagal,in Kolhapur State.There was some opposition to this marriage from relatives,because the Kokils were Deshastha,while the Kales were Vatsa Gotri Chitpavan Brahmins.Kokilnana or Ganpatrao later became a professor in Kolhapur,and was also a personal tutor to the princes in the Karveer royal family.He was also a turor to Miraj princes,and lived in a Miraj owned bungalow in front of the railway station at Kolhapur,half of which was kept as a guest house for the Miraj family.
The bungalow still exists but is closed in by warehouses.Gangumai was the headmistress of the Maharani Girls High School, and was a popular and respected figure in Kolhapur academic circles(These were the days of NaSi Phadke,ViSa Khandekar,Prabhat Film Co. etc)Most of us in D-Dhiwas used to spend holidays at Kolhapur with them and they also visited Pune quite often.Their visits were much looked forward to,they brought Kolhapur Sugar Cane(A thick juicy variety),Kakvi and Gur-slabs.
They inherited a plot of land near todays Kamla Nehru Park,and they sold it and built a house on land given by Nana,the Savitri bungalow in which Vishwas and Jaya live.Shrini has many
many fond memories of the Kokils.

Nana

Nana,or Shripad,was one of Dada s two children,the other was Gangu,Gangutai Kokil.
Nana did his BA,and enrolled in law,but gave it up,and helped Dada with his increasing activities.He practically ran Artha a weekly ,the first in Marathi to deal with money matters. Dada of course guided,and wrote the most important articles.The paper is now in other hands.Nana was good at tennis,and soon,Prabhavati,his wife also joined him.They were high up among the tennis crowd in Pune.Prabhavati,"Dhaktya Vahini",was the first woman around to wear shorts on the tennis court.She was also Badminton Champion.She brought in new,better habits into the family,one of which was to bathe and change clothes,before evening dinner.Shrini and she were great friends used to sit by the Devghar,with"Thorlya Vahini"(Savitribai),and read aGeeta chapter every evening.Shrini used to pester Nana to tell him how things worked viz.doorbells,light bulbs,phone etc.He found a book in which all was given,and patiently explained to me.He used to get up at 5 am make tea for Dada,and boil an egg.Dada used to have this before setting out for the morning walk.Nana continued to make bed tea later for various people including his grandsons so they could study early.Nana had one quite remarkable ability,He could get dogs to 'sing' with him!He would go OOOOOOO and the dog also went OOOOOOOOO with him!