PRABHU TARUN HISTORY

PRABHU TARUN HISTORY

The Pathare Prabhu community being one of the earliest settlers in the southern parts of Mumbai had a very social life considering that the community people lived in close proximity from each other mostly around Girgaon area formerly known as ‘palav’. Living in the same locality brought the young and the old together almost daily as the jobs were not as demanding then as they are now. People would get ample time to socialize and spend their free time with family and friends which was instrumental in keeping the community people together and united. The young and the old would meet for festivals, functions and almost daily after work. A magazine named ‘Prabhu Masik’ was the first Pathare Prabhu magazine which was shut down due to some reasons. Thereafter a group of like minded youngsters of the community thought of starting a monthly periodical for the community. A group of young socialites like Chandramadhav Trilokekar, Shivshankar Talpade, Vishnupant Kothare, Moreshwar Ranjit, Madhav Dharadhar and Dada Jayakar conceptualized the idea of starting a monthly newsletter in Marathi and named it ‘PRABHU TARUN’. Following their ideologies, this group of people formed a tag line for their news letter, ‘Tatvacha banda jeev murtila kon vichari!’ meaning “A man governed by principles will not worship an idol”. A special Diwali edition was published yearly which is in the form of a magazine. Incidentally another monthly periodical named ‘Prabhu Prabhat’ was started by another group of youngsters from the community which was launched a few days before Prabhu Tarun was launched.

Vishnupant Kothare
Editorial term from
1923-1967

Prabhu Tarun was established on 25th August 1923 on the auspicious occasion of ‘Narali Poornima’ and ever since then the newsletter is being published on the 16th day of every month without fail till date. Due to the selfless efforts taken by its founder members and the invaluable contribution by other fellow Pathare Prabhus the newsletter became a popular reading material as it gave an insight to the happenings of the community and its people. It was a paper ‘of’ the Pathare Prabhus, ‘by’ the Pathare Prabhus, and ‘for’ the Pathare Prabhus. The first editor of Prabhu Tarun was Mr. Vishnupant Kothare, who was a graduate in those times with a degree in Arts. Nevertheless we Pathare Prabhus, do boast of being a community having 100% literacy since those days. Mr Vishnupant Kothare with his supporters like Mr.Vishnuraj Nayak, Mrs.Sudha Nayak, Mr.Madhav Nayak, Mr.Shrikar Rane etc. shouldered the mantle of editorship from 1923 to 1967.

Suhas Kothare
Editorial term from
1967-1998

The mantle was passed onto Mr. Suhas Vishnupant Kothare in the year 1967. Mr. Suhas Kothare since childhood had been a witness to the activities and discussions of his father’s peers and would take active part in the conversations relating to the social issues of the community. Mr. Kothare had selflessly dedicated himself to the wellbeing of the community and contributed in retaining our culture and traditions. He would address relevant social issues of the community in the news letter which needed to be resolved thereby giving a new and fresh vision to the subject matter and helping in resolving it. Mr. Kothare’s editorship gave Prabhu Tarun recognition of being a newsletter of high literary value which was appreciated by the classes. Mr. Suhas Kothare was renowned for his command over the Marathi language and his speeches were well appreciated by the highly educated class of the community. Having received accolades for his writing from renowned personalities like Mr. P.L. Deshpande, Mr. Shriram Lagoo, Mr. Madhav Gadkari etc. the newsletter gained popularity for his articles.

The activities of Yuva Manch lost its momentum with the demise of Mr Suhas Kothare in 1998. Yuva Manch lost its father figure however Mr. Vihang Nayak who had taken over as the editor of Prabhu Tarun organized a seminar and a Fun n Fair with the active participation of Yuva Manch in the year January 1999. Incidentally that function was the last function organized by that team of enthusiastic youngsters. However Mr. Nayak did keep the spirit of Yuva Manch alive by commemorating the birth anniversary of Mr. Suhas Kothare by naming it ‘Yuva Din’. ‘Yuva Din’ was celebrated by the Yuva Manch members in the memory of its founder on 24th November for 5 years after the demise of Mr. Suhas Kothare.

The social issues relating to the Pathare Prabhu community were tactfully handled by him which gave him a respectable and a well deserved position of the Editor. Being a peace loving man, he was instrumental in resolving the tiff between the two publications of the community after an age long disagreement between the two. Mr. Suhas Kothare and the then Editor of Prabhu Prabhat Mr. Pramod Navalkar shook hands to give birth to an ever lasting friendship between the two publications Prabhu Tarun and Prabhu Prabhat which has sustained till date. The friendship between the editors of the two publications has brought major changes in the community as although they functioned differently, they shared the common goals of offering selfless service to the community people.

With the high literary value of the news letter, the community members looked upon Prabhu Tarun with respect and Prabhu Tarun got noted and well versed writers to contribute their articles in the news letter. Prabhu Tarun has been privileged by the articles from various noted writers like Mr. Pratap Velkar, Mr. Mukund Ajinkya, Mr. Madhav Prabhakar, Dr. Sadashiv Gorakhshkar, Mrs. Vidya Vijayakar, Adv. Ketki Jayakar, Dr. Suman Navalkar, Mr. Nandakumar Vijayakar to name a few from our community who with the passage of time went on to become a life long part of the Prabhu Tarun family. Under the able guidance and support of Mr. Sadashiv Dhurandhar who was a father figure to Mr. Suhas Kothare, he built the Prabhu Tarun Empire with the support of his closest friend Mr. Vihang Nayak and other friends and supporters like Mr. Bansidhar Dhurandhar, Dr. Surekha Dhurandhar, Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar, Mr. Ravindra Mankar, Dr. Vinod Dhurandhar and Mr. Sunil Kothare. The news letter would reach the postal department without fail before the 16th of every month due to the efforts of Mr. Pramod Bhogate of Snehesh printers, who has also become a part of Prabhu Tarun for his contribution for all these years. Mr. Kothare also had tremendous support from his wife Smt. Suhasini Kothare who played an active part with the proof checking and sending the material to the press on time besides being a perfect hostess to the numerous meetings that were held by the board.

Mr. Suhas Kothare had another objective in mind, that of getting the youngsters of the community together and giving them a platform to showcase their talent. There have been many such youngsters who have been encouraged for the amateur talent that they possessed and due to the platform being offered to them at that time have pursued their talent to master their art. A number of people still appreciate and recognize the importance of getting a platform at a stage when they want to showcase their talent however getting a platform to display their talent is difficult to get. Although he believed in team work and encouraged youngsters to take responsibilities, they always knew that they had someone to lean on in difficult times. Seeing the enthusiasm of the youngsters, Mr. Suhas Kothare thought of giving the youngsters a platform of their own. This brain child of Mr. Kothare was named ‘Yuva Manch’ which was launched in 1995. Prabhu Tarun has been encouraging amateur talent under the able guidance and leadership of Mr. Suhas Kothare with their ever successful and memorable shows like 'Padgham' followed by ‘Utsav’, ‘Saurabh’, ‘Setubandhan’, ‘Rang Tarang’ etc. and thereafter like the ever memorable 'Amrutmahotsav' - 75th Anniversary of Prabhu Tarun which was celebrated throughout the year with 4 major events showcasing the talent of our community people young and old in the year 1997 – 1998. With the help of multi talented personalities like Mrs. Vidya Vijayakar, Mr. Sujan Rane, Dr. Gajanan Vijayakar, Dr. Praful Vijayakar, Dr. Pradip Vijayakar and valuable contribution from people like Mrs. Pratima Pradhan, Mr. Pradip Kothare, Mr. Subhash Rao, etc. he accomplished the task of providing a platform to our youngsters. During the 75th year celebration of Prabhu Tarun, a book named Nivadak Prabhu Tarun was published wherein articles written by various writers were chosen from the editions of 75 year’s editions of Prabhu Tarun by Mr. Suhas Kothare, Mr. Vihang Nayak and Mr. Sujan Rane. Smt. Suhasini Kirtikar was appointed the editor of this book. During his term of editorship, a trust was formed for Prabhu Tarun in the year 28th November 1989. The initial board of trustees included Mr. Suhas Kothare, Mr. Vihang Nayak, Mr. Bansi Dhurandhar, Mr. Ravindra Mankar, and Mr. Sunil Kothare. Mr. Kothare thought of introducing the concept of having a co-editor to share the space with him and accordingly Dr. Surekha Dhurandhar was appointed as the first Co-editor of Prabhu Tarun. Thereafter Mr. Vinod Pradhan and Mr. Deepak Dhairyawan were included as the co-opted members of the executive committee of Prabhu Tarun.

With the untimely demise of Mr. Suhas Kothare on 6th September 1998, following a brief illness, the mantle was handed over to Mr. Vihang Nayak. Mr. Kothare led the Prabhu Tarun team for a period from 1967 – 1998. Already shouldering numerous other responsibilities, Mr. Nayak took over from where Mr. Kothare had left with the attitude that ‘the show must go on’. Despite of being over burdened with other commitments, Mr. Vihang Nayak, effortlessly stabled the Prabhu Tarun family which had shaken due to the demise of the ex-editor. Mr. Nayak kept up with the literary standard of the publication and introduced various new concepts to actively involve the younger generation. In the year 1999, Dr. Sadashiv Gorakhshkar suggested that a seminar be organized amongst the noted speakers of our community to discuss about the future of Pathare Prabhus. Mr. Vihang Nayak and Smt. Suhasini Kirtikar along with the support of Mr. Bansidhar Dhurandhar, Dr. Surekha Dhurandhar, Mr Ravindra Mankar etc. arranged the seminar named ‘Pathare Prabhu in 21st Century’ followed by the memorable Fun n Fair organized on the ground at Rane wadi, Andheri which gave an overwhelming response to the first event under the leadership of Mr. Vihang Nayak. The Fun n Fair sported a retro-festive look as most of the people came dressed in their traditional best.

Vihang Nayak
1998-2008

Thereafter Mr. Vihang Nayak, encouraged youngsters to contribute articles for Prabhu Tarun by converting the Marathi periodical to bi-lingual. The youngsters were given an opportunity to express themselves freely in the language they are comfortable writing. This gave birth to a new look of Prabhu Tarun which started having articles from the young and old in Marathi and English. The Diwali issue also had a conceptualized look wherein the cover page of the Diwali issue sent some social message to the readers which was explained to the readers in Mr. Nayak’s editorial. During Mr. Nayak’s term as Editor, Mr. Mukundrao Vijayakar who was the Ex-Principal of J.J. School of Arts started a cartoon series for the 1st time under the name ‘Vijayakari’. Thereafter Mr. Pradip Kothare took over the cartoon series under the name ‘Hasya Rekha’. In the meanwhile the Co-editor had also changed places with Mrs. Suhasini Kirtikar who was appointed as the co-editor from the year along with Mr. Vihang Nayak as the Editor.

Prabhu Tarun reached a new height following a joint decision taken by Mr. Vihang Nayak and Mrs. Suhasini Kirtikar of introducing a pair of guest editors for each month for an entire year who would be editing the monthly newsletter. Accordingly the editor and co-editor chose 24 guest editors, mostly youngsters who were made to form pairs amongst themselves and edit the Newsletter for the month allotted to them. The guest editors were given complete freedom by Mr. Nayak to express their views in any form in the newsletter. The concept of guest editors was an absolute hit as everybody took upon the responsibility with zest and gave a variety of matter in the news letter in the form of articles, visuals, layout, appearance, etc. which was appreciated by the community at large. Mr. Vihang Nayak had an uncanny way of getting youngsters interested in the working of the news letter by encouraging them and involving them in the functioning of the news letter. Mr. Nayak gelled well and became popular with the young and the old like wise due to the natural and effortless rapport that he built with them. When the ship had stabled and was gaining speed, under the leadership of Mr. Vihang Nayak, he fell prey to the fate of nature and the Prabhu Tarun family lost its second editor in a span of 10 years when he lost his life in a fatal accident on 9th June 2008. Although Mr. Vihang Nayak reigned the Prabhu Tarun editorship for only one decade from 1998 - 2008, his contribution towards the newsletter is abundant and unforgettable.

Left with no captain, the Co-Editor of Prabhu Tarun Smt. Suhasini Kirtikar strongly took hold of the reins of our news letter and was unanimously voted as the editor of Prabhu Tarun by the trustees from August 2008. Having come from a highly qualified educational back ground and being a Professor in a college besides being actively involved in various activities relating to literature, Smt. Suhasini Kirtikar preserved the literary values of the newsletter which had been built up by our ex-editors. With the shocking and untimely demise of Mr. Vihang Nayak, there were major changes that took place in the functioning of the newsletter. Following the election of the editor, under the unanimous decision of the Prabhu Tarun board members and the co-opted members of the executive committee namely, Mr. Ravindra Mankar, Mr. Vinod Pradhan, Mr. Bansidhar Dhurandhar, Mr. Deepak Dhairyawan and Mrs. Suhasini Kothare, two more trustees were welcomed on board namely Mr. Gunjarav Vihang Nayak and Mr. Deepak Suhas Kothare.

Our editor Mrs. Suhasini Kirtikar introduced the concept of having Co-editors in the form of a team to work along with her on the news letter with a view to encourage young talent and share the responsibilities of the newsletter. Following a discussion amongst the editor and the trustees, four co-editors were voted for and chosen by the Editor and the trustees. Once again following a unanimous decision, Ms. Vaijayanti Kirtikar, Mrs. Meenakshi Jayakar, Mrs. Mayura Nayak and Mrs. Sanjana Kothare were chosen as the Co-editors for Prabhu Tarun from August 2008. The newly formed editorial team, as a part of Yuva Manch which was re-launched in February 2009, as a part of their activities and objectives thought of reserving a space in the form of one page named ‘Yuva Manch’ in the news letter especially for youngsters to voice their opinion. Now the present team of Prabhu Tarun, our editor Mrs. Suhasini Kirtikar along with her team of co-editors, proudly carries the mantle of preserving our heritage to pass it on to the next generation.

The concept of working as a team has been encouraged by Prabhu Tarun throughout its inception with the contribution from numerous people in some way or the other. There have been several names who have been instrumental in building up this empire of Prabhu Tarun and we the board of Trustees, the editor and the co-editors thank one and all for lending us their support and look forward to your love and contribution towards our publication which is ‘of’ the people, ‘by’ the people and ‘for’ the people of this community. We Pathare Prabhus!!!

- Sanjana Kothare