As Beautiful As Your Work

When I thought about whom I could write for the topic, “women who make their work beautiful”,



I could think of nobody else other than my maternal aunt.

My mother’s eldest sister – Priyamvada Karande – is a published award-winning author. She has written many books till date, in addition to writing articles for several newspapers and magazines in Marathi. She has won the Maharashtra State Award for her book of children’s short stories.

She primarily writes on the quirks of human behaviour which she observes in her day-to-day interactions. Her stories mostly have a positive theme running through them. Her genuineness and her fascination with people shines through her stories.

What I find extraordinary about her is that she has been doing this for the last 45 years. Since her school and college days, she was interested in literature and writing and used to write plays for her college annual functions. Then, she graduated onto newspaper and magazine articles and finally books.

Her sense of purpose and her energy is tremendous. One hour with her and you get so inspired to go back to your own work with renewed vigour. For her, writing is a form of self-expression; she is most happy when she is seated at her study table with a pen in hand and a blank paper in front of her.

Words come easily to her and she is able to churn our articles and stories based on even the simplest of experiences or incidents. Without a keen eye for detail and a passion to always perform your best, I believe, this would not be possible.

Through her writing, she teaches children about freedom fighters in an easy way; she entertains us with her humane stories; she leaves us wiser for having read her articles.

Even today, in this day and age of technology, she meticulously writes on foolscap paper, takes photo-copies and personally goes to deliver at the required offices. Fame has not affected her in the slightest bit. But, that is not to say she is a stranger to technology. She has her own e-mail id with which she communicates with the world at large; she recently started her own blog (http://manmanasitmajhya.blogspot.in/) and she seems as at ease handling a laptop as she does a pen and paper.

I am very proud of my aunt for being a woman who is able to bring meaning to not only her life but to those hundreds and thousands who read her. Through her sheer dedication, commitment and will to churn out prose or poetry, she embodies for me the spirit of the woman who makes her work beautiful.

I am writing this post for http://mia.tanishq.co.in/ in association with Women’s Web.