Sunitabai Deshpande

Sunita Deshpande (born July 4, 1926) is a Marathi writer who is better known as the wife of Pu La Deshpande.

Born Sunita Thakur, she met Pu La around 1945. His first wife (nee Divadkar from Karjat) had died within a few days of their marriage. Sunitabai was not yet 20. They were married in Ratnagiri on 12 June 1946. Sunitabai shaped PuLa's career. He was easy going and she had iron will. She channeled his energies towards writing, which provided the best scope for his multi-faceted genius.

Sunitabai Deshpande was herself scholarly. She was a prolific reader, who was more discriminating in her tastes than her more famous husband. Very late in her life, she began to write on her own, and made quite a name for herself as writer.

Her book of reminiscences "Aahe Manohar Tari" was published in 1990. It is not strictly an autobiography but a wandering collection of memories. The book became hugely popular, won many a prize, and its translation into Gujarati, too, won an award. The book's English translation is named 'And Pine For What Is Not'.

The couple donated millions of Rupees to charitable causes, and Pu La Deshpande acknowledged that it was Sunitabai who was behind the good deed. She also kept tab on how the money was spent and made sure that it was properly utilized.

She and Pu La presented programs of poetry reading. The poets thus honoured were Khanolkar (Arati Prabhu), Mardhekar, and Borkar.

List of Books

* Aahe Manohar Tari
* Priy_ G A (Collection of letters she wrote to writer G. A. Kulkarni)

References

* [http://www.sahitya-akademi.org/sahitya-akademi/awa505.htm]
* [http://www.indiainternational.com/pulabahurupi80/pula9.html Sunitabai's philanthropy]

Persondata
NAME=Deshpande, Sunita
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Thakur, Sunita
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Indian memoirist
DATE OF BIRTH=July 4, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH=India
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=