This great book titled Amcha Baapani Amhi (Our Father and Us), “the book, written in Marathi, is a moving tribute to a father from his children. But it is also an evocative portrayal of how an unlettered Dalit inspired his children to reach for the stars. That inspiration came from within, largely based on his experience of life at the very bottom of a caste-conscious society.”
Today, 14th April, is the best day I can show gratitude to a book that has influenced me the most in my life, “Amcha Baap An Amhi (Our Father And Us)” by Dr Narendra Jadhav. I read it when I was 15 years old. Dr Jadhav is the former member of the Planning Commission of India, is one of the leading economist of our times. This book is a strange and beautiful mixture of biographies of the Jadhav family that produced many brilliant citizens and intellectuals for India while battling against caste prejudices and financial troubles. This is a heart-touching and inspirational story of how a Dalit family by following Dr Ambedkar’s path overcame problems we don’t even think about. Babasaheb is the “Muknayak” (silent hero) of the book. I have read a lot of Ambedkar over the years, from his politics to his economics, but whenever I imagine Ambedkar as the magnificent persona and what he means to us, I try to be a family member of the Jadhav’s.
Dr Narendra Jadhav is the eye through which I will always look at Dr Ambedkar, the family guardian and a hero for us Indians.
This strange, yet simple, but atypical biography means something to me that I am not able to put down in words easily. This book is just not about Dr Jadhav, his family and Babasaheb. This book is about family values, hope, aspirations, optimism, never falling prey to pessimism and cynicism, crawling out of tragedies, just by the sheer power of will.