accepting the offer for two reasons. Firstly, he had not heard back from the Bombay University anything about his job application. And secondly, he had enormous respect for Dr Bhanage who apart from being a very good teacher was also a great idealist. Joshi soon left for Kolhapur, found a room in a non-descript guest house and began his job. This College was launched by Legal Education Society which was largely controlled by Kumbhar. This Commerce College, first outside Mumbai-Pune region in Maharashtra, was a matter of prestige for Kumbhar and he was supporting it in every possible way. But the actual running of the college he had left to Dr Bhanage. The College was located in an old building called Tofkhana Building in Bindu Chowk of Kolhapur. Dr Bhanage was a small-built man but was full of confidence and idealism. He was always meticulously dressed in a suit and having taught at a College like Sydenham had good command over academics. It was not easy finding good professors in a place like Kolhapur. Somehow using his own contacts Dr Bhanage managed to find four professors so that classes could start. This happened sometime in August 1957. Within three days of starting his job Joshi received the letter of appointment from Bombay University. Again, Joshi found himself in a dilemma. A part of him strongly wanted to return to Mumbai. But somehow Dr Bhanage persuaded him. The gist of his argument was, “Having accepted this job it would be immoral to leave abruptly. Moreover, Bombay University can easily find another person to do your job but for us it would be very difficult at this stage to find someone else.” Eventually Joshi agreed to stay on for that academic year. A little over hundred students had enrolled in the college. Many of them looked overage and were doing a small job somewhere. To make it convenient for all, the timing of the college was fixed from 7.30 to 10.30 in the morning. Almost all 34
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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
