A LIFE FULL OF EXPLORATIONS

Dignity Foundation member Urmila Rau Lal has had a very interesting time so far as an academician, historian, traveller and author, as narrated by fellow member and friend Abha Choudhuri.

We met at the turn of this century, Urmila Rau Lal and I, at Manney’s, Pune’s once iconic bookstore. Ours is truly a senior citizen level friendship, having met when I had crossed that rather scary threshold of a disturbing new stage of life, whereas she, just five years older, was in her enthusiastically active mid-sixties, flaunting senior citizenship like a Badge of Honour! Urmila Lal is a Maharashtrian, a descendant of the historically and culturally acknowledged Maratha kingdom of Thanjavur ensconced in the south of Tamil Nadu. It was a proud colony, established in 1676 by Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhosale. This kingdom endured until long after the British Raj had eclipsed the parent empire following decisive battles with later, less well-led Maratha armies.

I remained in awe of Urmila Lal, having heard that she was working on a biography of her renowned paternal progenitor, Sir Thanjavur Madhava Row. More than a century earlier, he had been the highly impactful Diwan of Travancore and later of Indore and of Baroda. This biography was published in 2015, but Urmila Lal had become partially disabled by a debilitating condition, one unfortunately still not accurately diagnosed, affecting her legs and her freedom in walking unaided. However, this courageous and spirited lady can well manage without anyone’s support – other than her soldier husband’s encouragement – when she decides to travel across India and even overseas.