Aurangabad : Early days 04

The first project that I designed for the Municipal Council, Sailu was for a Multipurpose Function hall, with some sports facility. I still remember the day of bhoomi-pujan (ground-breaking), where I was invited to speak about the project in front of the assembled guests. I did the presentation well, and spoiled the whole impact by turning to the President and asking him if this was all I was expected to speak. Anyway, the project was completed to the satisfaction of everyone, the Contractor Mr. Balchandani turned out to be a good choice, the President and the Council very much interested in doing a good project than anything else.

President Advocate Kharkar was a freedom fighter and a man of principles, and would not allow any corruption to happen under his guard. This was rare, even in Marathwada, which was a backward region in many respects except corruption, but I did not know it then. I don’t remember even paying for tea in his presence and he rarely would come to Aurangabad those days so the question of my entertaining him did not arise it at all. Not only that, he would keep a strict eye on the happenings at the site, as I later found out.

Sailu Municipal Council was my only major client at the time, but there were others too. The most notable amongst them was the Vasantrao Naik College, whose Principal Dr. Rajaram Rathod, became a good friend over time, and I did many projects for the college. The first project was the design of the hostel, which was a straightforward block without much scope for design, but later I did the Principal’s Bungalow at the campus and also his own private bungalow in N-3, CIDCO.

But more than the projects, it was the friendships I nurtured here that have lasted me a lifetime. Many illustrious people were working as faculty then, including the Principal Rathod, Dr. Ajit Dalwi, Bapurao Jagtap, and many others. I had a lot of free time in the beginning of my practice and I enjoyed conversation with these learned people about anything and everything. I had a slight leftist leaning at the time due to my previous participation in Yuvak Kranti Dal activities in Solapur, and it turned out that the majority of people at Vasantrao Naik college were either leftist themselves or at least sympathisers of the cause.

This association with Vasantrao Naik College also gave me an opportunity to meet notable people, like Hon’ble Sharad Pawar, whom I met at a school run by Late Mr. Omprakash Shinde. Vasantrao Naik college was at the forefront of the Namantar movement, and many teachers had a direct rapport with the great leader. Pawar saheb was also the Chief Guest at the Inauguration of the Vasantrao Naik memorial at the college, which I had designed, and at time he remembered meeting me earlier, which I found quite remarkable for a public figure who meets hundreds of people every day.  

I became a part of the many activities that were taking place at Vasantrao Naik Collge, and when the college decided to take out a weekly paper, I wrote two articles with tongue-in-cheek humor, my first attempt at political satire, and I think if I had continued, I would have become at least a free-lance columnist, but I started getting more and more work after establishment of a proper office with a reasonably decent set-up, and all thought of being journalist was lost under the pressure of work at the office.