The Expression Hub

Genre: Autobiographical memoir

Author: Sudhir Phadke

“The truth is we all face hardships of some kind and you never know the struggles a person is going through. Behind every smile, there’s a story of personal struggle.”

Adrienne C. Moore

Believe me despite Marathi being my mother tongue, I take ages to read a complete novel in the language. I know that this is not something to boast about, but just thought to share it with my readers. The fact is that if I start a novel in Marathi, I literally never complete it or struggle too much that I just kind of leave reading the book.

However this time I was determined to work upon it . So I decided to start small. Thus this is how the book came into my hand. It is a 200 something pages read. But remember I had to work upon weeding my bad habit. Thus I took upon the challenge.

Well, the novel is an incomplete account not a whole autobiography of Sudhir Phadke ji. Sudhir Phadke ji (Ram Phadke) was a singer, music composer and a freedom fighter. He is however famous for his work in Geet Ramayan. Geet Ramayan is a collection of 52 songs that was written by Gajanan Digambar Madgudkar and composed by Sudhir Phadke. In other words you can call it a musical version of the epic written by Maharishi Valmiki.

He chronicles his journey of how he had to undergo a lot of struggles before striking gold in his field. He had many opportunities come on his way, but fate also played cruel tricks on him hard before giving him his big chances. He literally begged on streets, thought of committing suicide and what not. Sometimes I really wonder why is life full of drudgery for people before they are given their golden chance. But I guess the adage ‘ no pain no gain ‘ holds true for all.

So overall the novel is an interesting read. This is because it reveals various facets of Sudhir Phadke ji as a person. Also you feel for the struggles he had to undergo that you literally thank the almighty for the great life he has given to us. Do tell me about your experiences in the comments section.

Rating: ***and a half

“The harder the struggle, the more glorious is the triumph. Self realization demands very great struggle.”

Swami Sivananda

Que: Name the union territory for which Sudhir Phadke ji put his life in danger as a freedom fighter.

a. Delhi

b. Puducherry

c. Dadra and Nagar Haveli

d. Chandigarh