Her rhymes remembered

Nov 27, 2012, 08.54 AM IST

During her lifetime, Marathi poetess Padma Gole epitomised feminism. Not only were her poems creative, but they were an aesthetic and realistic presentation of her life.

In her memory, Dr Vandana Bokil-Kulkarni, city’s theatre aficionado and professor of Marathi literature at SNDT women’s University and Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeth spearheaded Akashwedi, a two-hour poetry recital on Saturday at SM Joshi auditorium. The event depicted the era, psyche and rebellion of celebrated Marathi poetess Padma Gole.

The poems were recited by Dr Kulkarni and Mrunmayi Shivapurkar along with acclaimed vocalist Anuradha Kuber who added melody to the poems and who has been one of the few performers of the ‘Bhendi Bazar Gharana’ gayaki, harmonium player Chaitanya Kunte and Vibhav Khandolkar, disciple of Pandit Ramdas Palsule who put together an incredible melange.

Dr Kulkarni not only directed and recited Gole’s poems, but also conducted a two-month long in-depth study on her life, events, glories and tragedies and then chose about 30 most pertinent poems out of an extensive collection of about 350 of her outstanding works.

Gole’s son Prakash, chairman of The Ecological Society, Pune and daughter-in law Swati, (retd) professor of SP College and Sushama, wife of her deceased son Sudhir, together conceived of and produced Akashwedi to mark the centenary year of Gole’s birth.

Dr Vandana Bokil-Kulkarni

Swati smiles, “She was an epitome of subtlety coupled with dynamism. Her writing was influenced by feminist writer Vibhavari Shirurkar’s teachings. Her life was an epic model of intellectual awakening and creative development.”

Padmatai, as she was popularly called (1913-1998), was born to the aristocratic family of the Patwardhans of Tasgaon near Sangli, who carried forward the legacy of the Sardars of the Peshwa dynasty and married businessman Vishnu Gole in the year 1932. Right from the tender age of 15, she started composing poetry often cantered on nature, affection and the simple joys of life.

“The most remarkable aspect of her work is the fact that it was creative yet realistic reflection of her life. So as she matured, she grew up and progressed in life, her poetry transgressed to altogether another level,” adds Dr Kulkarni.

What made Gole a cut above the rest was her candid expression of love embedded in her poetry, in an era that was primarily patriarchal and adhered to following taboos pertaining to voicing liberal opinions especially concerning romantic writing.

“With time, there were strong elements of feminism and Gandhian ideology that blossomed in her writing. Issues like women’s education, employment and emancipation were portrayed incredibly through poems like Nahi me nusti naar and women-centric plays like Navi Janeev and Swapna, that she wrote and performed in the early ‘60s, sans male characters,” added Dr Kulkarni.

Akashwedi was a journey that traced the life of Gole and threw light on how it ran parallel with her poems and literary work. “The work spells the transition of an idealistic woman into a rebel and a profound writer.

The performance mirrored three fundamental shades of her life being the zealous lover, the motivated feminist and the calm thinker,” concludes Dr Kulkarni.