He seldom, if ever, spoke about that period. At one point he had written, ‘As the saying goes, you should not trace the roots of a saint or of a river! I decided to leave behind all connections to my past. Nothing is sweeter than the smell of the burnt bridges!’ That was fine, generally speaking. But while writing a biography you cannot leave such a long period totally blank; especially when it covered the prime of someone’s life. However, during our interviews it became clear that most of those years were almost erased from his memory. After repeated attempts, some details he could recollect and then one had to connect the dots by cross-checking other references. I gave him a three-page proposal for his biography and to discuss that he called a meeting at his home on the morning of 21 May 2012. Those present included his close colleagues like Shailaja Deshpande, Gunwant Patil Hangargekar, Ajit Narade, Shrikant Umarikar, Manavendra Kachole, Anantrao Deshpande, Darshini Bhattajee, Sanjay Kole, Wamanrao Chatap, Ravi Dewang, Jagdish Bonde, Anil Ghanwat, Sureshchandra Mhatre, Badrinath Deokar and a few others. For almost three hours various aspects were discussed and the general direction for writing emerged. Joshi also published a full page note in Shetkari Sanghatak, mouth piece of Shetkari Sanghatana in its very next issue of 6 June 2012 requesting his well-wishers to pass on to me any memories or letters relevant to his work. The response was overwhelming. He personally gave full cooperation. We used to meet every Friday morning at around ten for two to three hours when he would narrate various events or answer my queries or discuss the notes of the previous meeting. Based on all that, I wrote his comprehensive 510-page biography in Marathi, Angarvata… Shodh Sharad Joshincha. It was published on 5 December 2016. Sharad Joshi passed away on 12 December 2015. This 18
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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
