Visit to my childhood hometown Satara

While returning from Nasik, I visited Satara for one day where my maternal sister Kusumtai ( Named Sushila in Rahalkar family) lives. Kusum is daughter of my eldest aunt Akka and much older than me. We could revise our childhood memories hen I used to go in summer vacation to their village Dhavadashi near Satara.

Nana Godbole , Teacher, Dhavadashi
Temple Ref: http://tinyurl.com/kjwczuc

Her father Nana Godbole was teacher in school and very religious and hardliner in nature.  He used to teach the children in that village even at night and the children were coming to stay in the school to listen to his stories. there was a small library by Sane Guruji's name and I remember reading the books by sitting at the Brahmendra swami temple nearby.

After marriage Kusum became Sou Sushila Rahalkar. Her husband Shri. Baba Rahalkar adopted  business as career leaving his service from LIC and opened a grocery shop in Shanivar peth at Satara. He developed that business and the shop became famous in the area. Kusum also helped him by preparing many household food products with the help of women workers.

The shop is still managed by her two sons, Shri and Suhas both married and staying together as joint family. Both the sons of Shri got married and stay in Pune.

The snapshots  taken during my visit show  Kusum with families of  Shri and Suhas staying in Satara.

Godbole family had two daughters Kusum and Mangala and one son Narsinha (Bhargav based on Bhargavram temple in Dhavadashi). Bhargav who was about 3/4 years younger than me was very clever from childhood and good orator. He was trained by his father with religious discipline.  He was working as sub editor of Tarun Bharat and later serving as most efficient officer in LIC. However after marriage, he did not take care of his health and  expired at an early age. His  photo after marriage is given below.

Mangala, younger sister of Kusum got married to Nana Rahalkar  and had three daughters expired due to heart failure some years back. I met her daughter Shilpa Joshi who is staying in Satara.

Besides dwelling in history of Rahalkar families, I had an opportunity to revisit my childhood residence near Panchpala houd (Tank with five parts). My grand father ( fathers father stayed in Jakatwadi a village near satara and was working in collector office. He purchased a house in Mangalwar peth.

My father after marriage stayed there for 3/4 years and then shifted to rented house owned by Phanasalkar near Panchpala houd. My primary and secondary school education was with residence as 181 Somawar Peth, Satara one bedroom house in chawl facing the tank.

After SSC, we got opportunity to stay in two storied house of Phanasalkar as the owner lady mai went to stay in Pune with her son. Below you can see the house and view of our house from Rajwada side.





My primary school was near Vithobacha nal where now Shahu stadium is errected. Shilpa Joshi stays nearby. So I could refresh my memories of the location.

( Note - Many of the above photos are old snapshots and are taken from old album from Rahalkar families )

Visit to Nasik

When I was in USA with my son, I learnt that Ninad my aunt's ( aunt - mother's sister) grandson expired due to sudden heart attack. It was a great shock to his parents and my cousin and I decided to visit Nasik to meet them after going to India. Ninad and his parents, Bhushan and Sou. Suvarna had visited Sangli in April 2016 and I had fresh memories of that visit.

Ninad, son of Bhushan Paranjape was very clever and rank holder since childhood. He did his MBA from Chennai and was working with world famous Mackenzy on Smart Pune project. On October 26th 2016 he collapsed due to sudden heart attack while sitting in a hotel after breakfast and waiting for taxi with his colleagues.

I went to Nasik on 19th Feb. 2017. Bhushan had come to receive me at stand. I could share my grief and feelings with Bhushan, Sou. Suvarna and  Manali.  They showed a great restraint over their feelings even after such calamity and  enquired about my health and other relatives. They told us his many childhood memories, events and achievements. Though not spoken explicitly, the sadness in their hearts did influence our conversation.   I learnt the whole episode and felt very bad about the suffering they have to carry for whole life.

 I stayed on that day with my aunt (Bhushan's mother)  Usha Paranjape who is just one and half year older than me and I considered her as my elder sister and in childhood we  both accompanied each other in play and other household duties and I always looked to her for guidance. She had suffered a lot in her life right from birth but endured all hardships bravely and with emotional stability. She was greatly disturbed and feeling very sad due to untimely loss of her grandson.  Snapshot of Mr. Sharadrao and Ushamavashi taken during their visit to Sangli)


She narrated many events from her life and it was a memorable night for me to listen to her speaking. She showed me her articles where she expressed her feelings. I was greatly influenced by her thoughts, her writing and her matured vision towards life philosophy. I requested her to give her articles so that I can publish them for benefit of all. She gladly gave that treasure to me.  ( I have published some of her articles on mymarathi.com in Marathi Sahitya ->Lekh section. I give below snap of her handwriting from her own autobiography.

Next day morning I went to my other aunt older than Usha. Mrs. Vimal Datar whose family also was in Nasik for many years.  While talking to her, I got some precious memories about my grandfather (Mother's father).

He (Ramkrishna Janardan Sathye) was very clever, simple in living and worked as clerk with Kanhere Sardar in Satara.  He took part in Gandhi's Salt march and was jailed for 6 months. He had 7 daughters out of which 5 survived. There names were Akka, Dwarka, Champutai (my mother), Thaku (Vimal Datar) and Bagu (Usha Paranjape). Hexpired when I was about three months old and my grand mother had to leave Akale and stay at Satara with two unmarried girls at that time.  She was hardworking and kept her self respect by staying separate instead of at our house.


Vimal also handed over two of her writings describing the character of my grandparents. See the sample of her handwriting.

I could meet all her family ie. her son Dhananjay and daughters Sumedha Mahabal and Nayana Chipalunkar all having their children grown up and married.

Photo - Bhushan, myself, Vimalmavashi, Dhanajay, Sou. Nayana and Sou. Sumedha)

I also visited Madhavi Dixit, daughter of Shubhangi's elder sister who was very fond of Shubhangi and she wanted to meet me after Shubhangi's sad demise.

The visit to Nasik gave me opportunity to meet my aunts and reestablish close relations which had lapses in information exchange due to infrequent visits.

Visit to my birthplace Akale village

 For getting official birthdate certificate from my birth place Akale village in Satara district (About 12 km from Satara) I visited the village after long time. I was under impression that the village has got submerged in Kanher dam and thought I have lost the chance to visit that place. But Akale village being on downstream side from Kanher it survived.  We went by car  directly to Akale . Shri. Yadav and Shridhar Tandale of Dnyandeep were with me.


I was pleased to see the arch at the entrance and took a snap of it.

There was Grampanchayat and land record office. but the Gramsevak was not present as he had gone to Kolhapur for training.  

We met Mr. Gharage, assistant to gramsevak and kept our application with him. He told us about my grandfathers house when I asked himabout sathye family. He told that the house was adjoining to siddheshwar temple near Malwadi ( a new village which was formed  containing part of old akale village. We went to Siddheshwar temple and saw adjoining abondoned house which might be my birthplace. I was thrilled and happy to see the temple and house.

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We also went to see the Kanher dam and took some snaps.

Though i could not get the birth certificate, I got the  opportunity to visit my birthplace and our trip was successful in that respect.

Cleaning of open gutters

It has been observed that open gutters constructed in cities and towns for storm water runoff are being used to carry wastewater, either untreated or partially treated in septic tanks. In slum areas of any city this is a common system of carrying wastewater. These open gutters are often choked due to solid waste dumped in it. There are many cases, where the gutters do not have proper slope of free flow outlet and remain flooded and stagnant most of the time. Mosquito breeding, ground water pollution and chances of direct skin contact of wastewater to playing children are the direct results of allowing such gutters to function.

Construction of such gutters is considered to be a short term, low cost solution to solve water pollution problem in residential area, but it leads to permanent source of pollution and receptor of street cleanings and solid wastes. City authorities try to keep the gutters clean by periodic removal of solid wastes and spraying insecticides. However, due to new construction of houses or road repairs these gutters are often found to be blocked at many places and the percolation of wastewater remains the only alternative for emptying these gutters.

Even though, it is essential to abolish this system and replace it with underground drainage system, it is not possible to provide interim relief until necessary financial sanction is obtained and the long term project of under-drainage extension is completed.

Never the less, in to order to protect health of people and reduce pollution, it is duty of the city authority to provide portable pump and tanker system for regular of emptying of such stagnant water and transfer it to nearby manhole chamber of existing underground drainage system. Diesel operated slurry type open impeller pumps and tanker system used for septic tank cleaning can be employed for the purpose. The lifting of such stagnant water at least two times a week will prevent mosquito breeding. Cleaning of gutters also will be easy. Citizen and public representatives should insist on such measures to be implemented till alternative long term permanent solution of under drainage system is completed.

Such measure will reduce the ground water pollution, mosquito breeding, skin diseases, expenses of insecticides and health hazards.

Go International

My Civil Engg. Dept. of Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli organised "International Conference on Recent Advances in Civil and Environmental Engineering" on 4th and 5th March 2017. I was fortunate to witness the entire episode right from its inception. To be frank, I was little bit worried and doubtful, whether proposed modifications in infrastructure, invitations to speakers, all the planned activities like reception, transport, accommodation, finance, scrutiny of invited papers and publication of proceedings can be completed in a short duration of about one and half months. I attended department meetings and was happy to notice excellent coordination between the faculty and staff in these arrangements. There was good response to call for papers from experts and research workers. A team of professors and technical consultants from Netherlands gave a real international flavour to the conference. Senior professors from IITs and research institutions presented their papers on various topics. The conference was well attended by large number of delegates and students.

Organising International Conference was a daunting task but the department took it as big challenge and proved its capability. It was a well organised team effort of faculty, staff and students of the Civil Dept under dynamic leadership of Dr. P. G. Sonavane, HOD Civil Dept. The conference was a great success and earned memorable reputation to Civil Dept. as well as for college.

Going International is the need of the day. It was revealed to me more explicitly when I listened to presentations of foreign experts. Though the papers presented by Indian experts were equally rich in technical details and innovative concepts, I found that all foreign experts had actual field experience of working in many countries, whereas Indian counterparts have concentrated their work at local level within India barring few exceptions. Much of the research done in India was limited to laboratory or academic level as actual field scale applications were not possible due to various reasons. On the other hand, due to global vision, the foreign experts had more financial backing, practical experience and greater acceptability for their research by developing countries.

In my opinion, this International Conference has shown us a new way for planning our research projects from local applicability level to international platform for harnessing necessary financial resources and making them more effective and capable of turning into technology innovations.

GreenTech2017_Kolhapur Report

GreenTech2017 organised jointly by Dnyandeep Foundation, Sangli  and Kala Prabodhini, kolhapur  was held on 25th Feb. 2017 at Kolhapur.

Retd chief Engineer Subhash Deshmane gave presentation on EnviroTech-Square, a new consultancy firm for environmental project Management. He explained the importance of proper planning and monitoring of projects and gave details of  Water Supply project for Singapore which met the stringent requirements of water quality and included ambitious plan of recycling wastewater.

Chairman of the seminar Shri. Shashikant Phadatare, Retd Deputy director, Town and country Planning, Maharashtra state explained the problems in smart city development. He pointed out that large floating population in mega cities overburden the infrastructural services and must be accounted for in the planning new amenities. Development of slums also is a matter of concern which affects the social homogeneity and degrades  environmental quality.

Prof. Ajay Deshpande, Secretary, Inst. of Engrs described technique of drip irrigation and how it can reduce water requirements significantly.

Shri. Sudeep Bahulekar introduced Solar rooftop PV system and discussed how it can be employed  to achieve power generation and use it off grid, in hybrid mode or reduce electricity bill by net metering. He also highlighted economics of the system and declared that Dnyandeep Foundation shall provide assistance in setting such systems.

Shri. Omkar Pethakar of Dnyandeep Foundation showed how digital marketing is green marketing and stressed the need of using digital tools for effective, economical and energy conscious marketing of products and services.

Shri. Girish Arekar described the software development work carried out by him  for Green Technology.

Ar. Mrs. Girija Kulkarni, Principal of Kala Prabodhini described the role of 5 R, Reduce, Recycle, Reuse and Reject. She showed two videos 1.  Recycle and reuse of Coconut 2. Innovative use of ordinary items in interior decoration.

Dr. S. V. Ranade explained the motive of launching www.envis.org and urged environmental engineers and green architects to use this website for information exchange and for building a proactive strong network of Environmental Resource Group for effective and rapid sustainable development in India.

Ar. Begampure, chairman of Kalaprabodhini proposed a vote of thanks.

More than 100 architects, engineers, college professors  and students attended the seminar.   

दुहीपेक्षा समन्वयानेच विकास शक्य

महाराष्ट्रातील इतर जिल्ह्यांच्या तुलनेत राजकीय नेतृत्वात आघाडीवर असणार्‍या दिग्गज नेत्यांचे कार्यक्षेत्र असणार्‍या सांगली जिल्ह्याचा विकास मात्र अंतर्गत दुहीमुळे खुंटला आहे. सांगलीचा तो इतिहासच आहे असे सखेद नमूद करावेसे वाटते.

पक्षापक्षात दुही असू शकते हे मान्य केले तरी एकाच पक्षात एवढी टोकाची दुही फक्त सांगलीतच पहायला मिळते. आणि सर्व पक्षात त्याचेच लोण पसरले आहे. मी मुद्दाम नामोल्लेख करीत नाही कारण ही दुही प्रसारमाध्यमांना हाताशी धरून या नेत्यांनीच जगजाहीर केली आहे. सांगली जिल्ह्याच्या सर्वांगीण विकासावर याचा फार हानीकारक परिणाम झाला आहे.

दुर्दैवाने याची झळ सांगलीतील अनेक सामाजिक, सहकारी आणि शैक्षणिक संस्थांना बसली असून त्यांच्या प्रगतीत अनेक अडथळे येत आहेत.

वालचंद इंजिनिअरिंग कॉलेज याला अपवाद नाही. जागेची कागदोपत्री मालकी असणारी महाराष्ट्र टेक्निकल एज्युकेशन सोसायटी आणि वालचंद कॉलेजचे विद्यमान व्यवस्थापक मंडळ यात सुरू झालेला वाद कायदेशीर, राजकीय व झुंडशाहीच्या स्थित्यंतरातून पुढे सरकत आहे व त्याचे नेतृत्व एकाच सत्ताधारी पक्षाचे आमदार व खासदार करीत आहेत. यावर  सर्वमान्य तोडगा काढणे त्यांना सहज शक्य आहे आणि ते त्यांच्या राजकीय भविष्याच्या दृष्टीनेही अत्यंत महत्वाचे आहे.

वालचंद कॉलेज माझे श्रद्धास्थान आहे.  १९६६मध्ये याच कॉलेजमधून बी.ई. सिव्हील झाल्यानंतर २००३ पर्यंतचा माझा कार्यकाळ याच कॉलेजमध्ये व्यतीत झाला आहे. कॉलेजच्या प्रगतीत प्रशासन प्राध्यापक आणि विद्यार्थी यात एक अतूट स्नेहबंध होता, संस्थापक स्व. धोंडुमामा साठेंच्या स्वार्थत्यागातून आणि जिद्दीतून सुरू झालेल्या कॉलेजच्या शैक्षणिक प्रगतीत वालचंद ट्रस्ट, महाराष्ट्र टेक्निकल एज्युकेशन सोसायटी या दोन्ही संस्थांनी एकोप्याने काम केले. कॉलेज स्वायत्तता मिळवण्याचा अर्ज करतानादेखील त्यांच्यात एकवाक्यता होती.

स्वायत्ततेचा अर्थ स्वातंत्र्य असा धरून वालचंद कॉलेज प्रशासनाने आपल्या सर्व कागदोपत्री व्यवहारातून महाराष्ट्र  टेक्निकल एज्युकेशन सोसायटीचे नाव कमी केले आणि मालकी व व्यवस्थापन या विषयावर वाद सुरू झाला.
मी आणि माझी संस्था ज्ञानदीप इन्फोटेक प्रा. लि. आम्ही दोघेही या वादात काही कारणामुळे ओढले गेलो. सुरुवातीच्या काळात एचसीसीच्या आपत्ती व्यवस्थापन प्रकल्पासाठी विद्यार्थी प्रशिक्षण देण्याचे तसेच एचसीसी इन्फोटेकबरोबर सहकार्य करण्याचे मी प्रयत्न केले.

माझी कंपनी स्थापन केल्यानंतर लगेचच मी वालचंद कॉलेज तसेच वालचंद कॉलेजच्या माजी विद्यार्थी संघटनेच्या वेबसाईट तयार करण्याचे काम हाती घेतले. वालचंद कॉलेजशी परस्पर सहकार्य करून २००३ मध्ये एक महिन्याचा वेबडिझाईन कोर्सही आम्ही विद्यार्थ्यांसाठी घेतला. स्व. धोंडुमामा साठेंनी स्थापन केलेल्या महाराष्ट्र टेक्निकल एज्युकेशन सोसायटीचा सदस्य व्हायचे माझे पहिल्यापासूनचे स्वप्न होते.  २००६ मध्ये  मला संस्थेचे सदस्यत्व मिळाले. मात्र त्यावेळीच दोन्ही संस्थांची फाटाफूट सुरू झाली होती.

वालचंद कॉलेजच्या वेबसाईटवर स्व, धोंडुमामा साठे यांचा फोटो, महाराष्ट्र टेक्निकल एज्युकेशन सोसायटीची माहिती तसेच वालचंद कॉलेज व्यवस्थापक मंडळाचे अध्यक्ष या नात्याने श्री. अजित गुलाबचंद यांचे फोटो व माहिती होती. त्याबाबत कोणत्याही गटाचा आक्षेप नव्हता.

२००८ मध्ये कॉलेजकडे वेबसाईटचे संचालन त्यांचे विनंतीवरून दिले. तेव्हापासून कॉलेजमार्फत सर्व माहिती वेबसाईटवर घालण्यात येत होती. २०१० मध्ये एकदा सहज कॉलेजची वेबसाईट पहात असताना मला महाराष्ट्र टेक्निकल एज्युकेशन सोसायटीची माहिती असलेल्या पानावरील स्व, धोंडुमामा साठे यांचा फोटो नसल्याचे दिसले. सोसायटीचा सदस्य या नात्याने मी एक इमेल महाराष्ट्र टेक्निकल एज्युकेशन सोसायटीस पाठवून योग्य ती दुरुस्ती कॉलेजकडून करून घेण्यास सांगितली. मात्र  महाराष्ट्र टेक्निकल एज्युकेशन सोसायटी आणि कॉलेज प्रशासन यातील सुसंवाद संपला असल्याने योग्य ती दुरुस्ती न होता या इमेलचा व वेबसाईटवरील माहितीचा वापर कायदेशीर लढाईत हत्यार म्हणून वापर करण्यात आला.

असे झाले तरी माझे आणि कॉलेजमधील शिक्षक, विद्यार्थी, माजी विद्यार्थी यांचे संबंध सलोख्याचे होते. मात्र एका शिक्षकाने माझ्यावर खोटी बदनामी करणारी इमेल पाठविल्याचा आरोप करून मोबाईलद्वारे सर्वांना कळविले. जसा माझ्या संस्थेचा परस्पर सहकार्याचा करार वालचंद कॉलेजशी होता तसाच तो महाराष्ट्र टेक्निकल एज्युकेशन सोसायटीशीही होता. माझ्या संस्थेचे ऑफिसही मी त्यांच्या जागेत उघडले होते. कॉलेजच्या व्यवस्थापनाबाबतच्या कायदेशीर लढाईत मला स्वारस्य नव्हते. कॉलेजशी संबंध पूर्ववत रहावेत यासाठी मी माझ्या संस्थेचे ऑफिस दुसरीकडे हलविले.

कॉलेजच्या माजी विद्यार्थी संघटनेचे काम मी पूर्वीपासून करीत होतो. मोठ्या प्रयत्नाने कॉलेजमधील एक खोली आम्ही त्यासाठी मिळविली होती. त्या माजी विद्यार्थी संघटनेची स्वायत्तताही धोक्यात आली आहे. कॉलेजच्या सर्व सार्वजनिक कार्यक्रमात मी आवर्जून उपस्थित राहतो तसेच विद्यार्थी शिक्षकांशी संवाद साधतो.

कॉलेजच्या माजी विद्यार्थी संघटनेचे काम मी पूर्वीपासून करीत होतो. मोठ्या प्रयत्नाने कॉलेजमधील एक खोली आम्ही त्यासाठी मिळविली होती. त्या माजी विद्यार्थी संघटनेची स्वायत्तताही धोक्यात आली आहे. कॉलेजच्या सर्व सार्वजनिक कार्यक्रमात मी आवर्जून उपस्थित राहतो तसेच विद्यार्थी शिक्षकांशी संवाद साधतो.

मला स्वत:ला तसेच सर्व आजी माजी विद्यार्थ्यांना तसेच सध्याच्या शिक्षक, विद्यार्थी, कर्मचारी यांना  कॉलेजच्या भवितव्याची काळजी आहे.

कोर्टाने ’आई किंवा वडील यांच्यात एकाची निवड कर’ असे सांगितल्यावर बालकाची जी स्थिती होईल तशीच थोडी फार स्थिती सर्वांची झाली आहे. स्थानिक प्रशासन, कॉलेजमधील सर्व शिक्षक तसेच मा. डायरेक्टरपासून  सर्व पदाधिकार्‍यांचे कॉलेजच्या प्रगतीसाठी होत असलेले योगदान याबद्दल आम्हाला आदर आहे.

या संभ्रम, संशय आणि संघर्षाच्या अवस्थेतून मार्ग काढण्यासाठी परस्पर सद्‍भाव आणि समन्वय हाच एकमेव उपाय आहे. कॉलेजच्या सर्वांगीण विकासासाठी आमदार व खासदार यांनी आपले संघटनात्मक कौशल्य पणाला लावून समन्वय साधावा अशी अपेक्षा आहे.

समन्वय म्हटले की थोडी फार तडजोड आलीच. प्रत्येक संस्थेच्या आपल्या आशा आकांक्षांना मर्यादा पडतील. परंतु समन्वयातून होणारा विकास हा चिरस्थायी असतो आणि सहकार्यातून विकासाची गती कित्येक पटीने वाढते हे विसरून चालणार नाही.

समन्वयाचा हा सुदिन पाहण्याचा योग सर्व वालचंद प्रेमी सांगलीकर जनतेला लाभो हीच सदिच्छा !