Shyamchi Aai
Encyclopedia
Shyamchi Aai is hailed as one of the greatest tribute to mother's love in Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

 literature. This book has been written by famous author and social activist Sane Guruji.

This book is an autobiography of Sane Guruji belonging to a Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...

 family in Konkan
Konkan
The Konkan also called the Konkan Coast or Karavali is a rugged section of the western coastline of India from Raigad to Mangalore...

 region of rural Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

 during British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

. Sane Guruji (now an adult) who was fondly called as Shyam during his childhood is narrating his memories to a group of children in a daily night sitting.

Chapters in the book are named as ratra meaning night in Marathi. They are named as 1st night, 2nd night and so on. Every passing night the story takes you into the family setting in rural Konkan and its beautiful sea side land scapes along with adjoining ranges of Sahyadri.This book is representation of Love of mother for her child in this world.

As the title suggests the central character is Shyam's mother and the kind of enormous influence she
has on Shyam's life and upbringing. It involves sticking to one's ideals even though one is neck deep in abject poverty.

The narration is flamboyant and involves you in the setting in a smooth manner. As the narration progresses we came to know the deterioration of Shyam's debt ridden family. The communication between father-son, mother-son, siblings is exemplary. It shows if love is present then how content a person's life can be no matter what how poor he is.

Like life, the book starts with Shyam's mother getting married into a wealthy family and its slow progression into debt ridden poverty and ends with illness and death of his mother.

The book was adapted as a movie which won President's Medal as best feature film.Sane Guruji died in 1950 and his work as a writer continues to illuminate lives of children .

Transalation

It is now available in English, translated by, Aaditi Kulkarni, who is a Canadian National currently residing in Mississauga, Ontario. The publication ceremony of the English edition book was held on the 22nd of May'08 in Pune, India.
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