: सुनीता देशपांडे) (July 3, 1926 - 07 Nov 2009) was a 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...

 writer from 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...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Her maiden name was Sunita Thakur.She was born in Kudaldeshkar Goud Saraswat Brahmin community.She met Pu La Deshpande (पु. ल. देशपांडे) in 1945, and they were married the next year on 12 June 1946.

Sunita-bai was a prolific reader during her youth, but began writing rather late in her life. She wrote her memoirs Aahe Manohar Tari... (आहे मनोहर तरी...) in 1990 (Mauj Publ.). The book received many awards. It has been translated into Gujarati

Gujarati language

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

(manohar chhe pan by Suresh Dalal, SNDT, Mumbai 1992),
Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 (Hai Sabse madhur phir bhi by Rekha Deshpande,
Orient Longman 1996), Kannadaa (Balu Sogasadaru, by Uma Kulkarni, Mahila
Sahitya, Hubli) and English (..And Pine For What Is Not, by Gauri Deshpande, Orient Longman, 1995).

Several years ago, she and her husband presented many public programs of reciting the works of poets including Arati Prabhu, (चीं त्र खानोलकर) (Bal Sitaram Mardhekar, and Balakrishna Bhagwant Borkar.

She acted in marathi movie Vande Maataram, plays Sunder mee honaar,
Raajemaster, and Rajamaataa Jijaabai (solo show)

The couple donated large sums of money to charitable causes.

Pu La Deshpande died on 12 June 2000.

Sunita-bai,as she was fondly known as,was also a prolific correspondent.Her book "प्रिय जी.ए." (Her collection of numerous letters written by her to her pen-pal and famous Marathi writer G. A. Kulkarni

G. A. Kulkarni

G. A. Kulkarni or simply "GA" , was a legendary Marathi writer of short stories.GA grew up in Belgaum. After earning his masters degree, he taught English at JSS College in Dharwad for about 30 years. He had very strong liking for Dharwad and Belgaum. For medical treatment of his eyes, he...

 won her the first "G A Kulkarni Award" for her remarkable literary contributions and influence in 2008.
Sunitabai Deshpande died on November 7, 2009 due to old age at her residence in Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

. She was 83 years old.

Literary work

The following is a partial list of Sunita Deshpande's books:

• आहे मनोहर तरी... (Ahe Manohar Tari...) (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 1990)
• प्रिय जी.ए. (Priya G. A. : Collection of letters written in Marathi to writer G. A. Kulkarni
  G. A. Kulkarni
  G. A. Kulkarni or simply "GA" , was a legendary Marathi writer of short stories.GA grew up in Belgaum. After earning his masters degree, he taught English at JSS College in Dharwad for about 30 years. He had very strong liking for Dharwad and Belgaum. For medical treatment of his eyes, he...
  
  )(Mauj Pub., Mumbai 2003)
• मण्यांची माळ (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 2002)
• मनातलं अवकाश (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 2006)
• सोयरे सकळ (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 1998)
• Sammantar Jeevan (Sun Pub., 1992)

Reference

• http://www.indiainternational.com/pulabahurupi80/pula9.html

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