Yesterday afternoon I spoke to Vasant Sarwate. I thanked him for sending me two of his books. I read his obit of Ramesh Mantri रमेश मंत्री and felt sad.
Little did I know by evening I would be sadder.
I have created five entries pf prominent Marathi speaking personalities in English Wiki- Vasant Sarwate, D G Godse, M V Dhond, Y D Phadke, T S Shejwalkar.
Four of them are now dead.
I couldn't have imagined that it would happen so soon after M V Dhond.
19th/20th century Maharashtra produced some great historians.
V K Rajwade, Riyasatkar Sardesai, Vasudevshastri Khare, T S Shejwalkar...
Y D Phadke easily fitted in that tradition.
Unlike Shejwalkar, he was not great original thinker but focused on hard data and facts.
When Ramachandra Guha wrote "A Corner of a Foreign Field", I suggested him to check his fundamental thesis with Phadke.
I like all of his books but particularly like Nathuramayan नथुरामायण. He is not much known outside Marathi reading world because most of his work is not translated in English.
Non-Marathi reading world is poorer for it!
