Tribute from Bhalchandra (Bhalu) Khare, Aaji's nephew:

Today I came to know about the sad but peaceful demise of Smt. Mandamawashi in Hospital at Toronto. Really she was the most loved person in all our Tilak, Pethe, Sathe and Khare families. Almighty God liked her the most and so he carried her away in a very quiet moment without any suffering when she was asleep.

They say very old memories about a person never vanish from your mind. I also remember very vividly Mandamawashi from 1951 when she and Keshavrao stayed next to our flat with Pratibha and Shekhar. Almost every night after dinner she used to be with my parents to sort /pluck vegetables, listen to a good play or music on AIR because whole day she used to work in Income Tax office and Pratibha used to be with us along with her nanny Parvati. Keshavrao used to come home in afternoon after his MBBS studies in college.

And suddenly all Tilaks left us here in Mumbai to be settled in Mombasa. In those days leaving India was a rare but exciting thing and I was feeling nervous about losing the company of Pratibha and Mandamavshi. Years passed by and Mandamavshi’s regular letters used to highlight life in Mombasa along with so many photographs of Pratibha, Shekhar, Hemant and Shashu. She used to send us shirts, pants, drawing books, colour pencils, crayons and what not. I preserved those valuable gifts for a long time and showed them off in school.

And suddenly we came to know in 1957 that Mandmawashi and Kids were coming back to Bombay as Dr. Keshavrao was to go to London for higher studies. Our joy had no limits when actually she came and started staying with Late Dr. Dada Tilak and turn by turn with us and Tai Mavshi. She accompanied us to see Marathi plays in Tilak Mandir. By the way she was popular in Tilak Mandir as a laathi and Jambiya fighter, kabaddi /khokho player from her childhood. All her contemporaries were managing the affairs of Lokmanya Sewa Sangh and were happy to have her back in Vile Parle. But that excitement was short-lived and Keshavrao came to Bombay soon and took all the family back to Africa.

I think in 1966-67 Mandamvshi and Dr.Keshavrao migrated to Toronto with family and settled there for so many years till today. In between she made it a point to attend weddings of Jayantamama Vasanta and Pratibha. My mother couldn't get a Canadian visa, but she could meet Mandamavshi at Sydney in 1986. All the three Sathe sisters had a union there in Sydney then at Saroj’s res. This way she had good rapport with everyone in India. I had a chance to take Dr.Keshavrao and Mandamvshi for an India tour in Dec.1995. Then she was here in India when we celebrated Aai’s 75th B’day in Dec. 1999. She used to express her strong desire to have us all to be with her in Toronto for vacations at least. That chance fortunately came to Vidya and I as dear Kedar had migrated to Rochester for his Ph.D and later joined GE Research division in Albany. In fact when he got married to Sarita in Aug.2004 Dr. Keshavrao, Mandamavshi and Pratibha attended the wedding in Rochester on behalf of us.

We spent a week with her and Dr. Keshavrao in 2005 and 2010 while in Albany with Kedar. One remarkable thing I found at 65 Harbour Sq. apartment was--she had posted many photographs of all relatives from her young days till that moment, in cupboards surrounding the dining table. That shows how she tried to be with everybody at least virtually. She was very enthusiastic at that age of 84 years to give us company for sightseeing and shopping in Toronto. One more interesting aspect I found was that she was not only a good housewife but she had made herself ready to mingle with the third generation of Shahnoor, Sushil, Nisha, etc.because she was as savvy with new technology of computers and mobiles as they are. In those days I became aware of her urge to bring all family members ,relatives and friends together.

Now she is no more with us but I think what is the best service we can offer her--Be positive in life, forgive and love each other.