The Vidwans Family

The Vidwans Family

From Anjarle
to Ahmedabad
                             to America

The Vidwans Family
From Anjarle
To Ahmedabad
To America
Govindrao
Gopalrao-Sumati
Bhaskarrao
Shishir -Ila
Bharat - Neela
Ashok-Shaila
Shobha-Shashikant
Maulin-Hetal
Milind-Sangita
Ranjeet
Amy-Neel
Amar
Ketan-Sandhya
Shama-Ajay
Jughead
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Gopaalrao - the person

Gopalrao Vidwans

As a person Gopalrao was a very principled man. He had obtained a Bachelor's degree in mathematics from the Ferguson College in Pune. In those days, with such a qualification, he could have easily got a job with handsome salary. But, instead he decided to serve Dakshinamurty, an educational institution of relatively small means, and accepted a salary barely enough to sustain his family. This was a 'nationalist' institute following Gandhian principles. During his twenty-year career there he participated in Gandhi's nonviolent freedom struggle against the British Empire, and spent six months in Yerwada prison in Pune. At Dakshinamurty he was a close associate of the then stalwart educationists like Mr. Nanabhai Bhatt and Gijubhai Badheka. Under Gijubhai's advice he trained himself in the Montessori system of child education. Later, when Dakshinamurty closed down, he joined and worked for M/s. R.R. Sheth & Co., a private publishing house who published all his translations.

He was a principled, firm and disciplined person, but at the same time very kind at heart. Since he was born and raised in a poor family, he always had a soft corner for poor people, and never hesitated helping those in need. As a father, he liked to inculcate discipline in his children but the Montessorian in him always reminded him of doing so with the understanding of a child psychologist, in a kind and lovable manner.

His wife Sumatibaai was a woman with practically no formal education. But, she followed his footsteps like any typical Hindu wife. Her thrift way of running the household kept the family happy and nourished even with the limited income that Gopalrao's self imposed lifestyle provided. They understood each other well and lived a happily married life of more than fifty years.