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National NetworkBaba Amte laid to rest with state honoursVivek Deshpande

Posted online: Monday, February 11, 2008 at 0052 hrs

ANANDWAN

(CHANDRAPUR),

FEB 10: Isliye rah

sangharsh ki ham

chune/Zindagi

ansuon me nahae

nahin/Shaam sehmi

na ho, raat ho na

dari/Bhor ki ankh

phir dabdabai na ho

(We must choose the

path of struggle, solife shouldn't get

drowned in tears.

The evening

shouldn't get

enveloped by awe and night shouldn't be fearful. And the dawn shouldn't crack with tears

welled up in its eyes) .Even as an emotionally overwhelmed Medha Patkar wiped her tears to sing the lines in chorus

with a group of activists, people stopped and listened. Haath lage nirman me, nahi marane,

nahi mangane (let's use our hands to create, not beg or beat). Bharat Jodo, Bharat Jodo (Knit

India), she called out. People raised their fists in air and echoed it.

They were paying tribute to a legendary man who had epitomised the thoughts in his lifetime

near the place where he was laid to rest. Baba Amte was cremated on Sunday with full state

honours where he had started his extraordinary life as a messiah of the poor and the

ostracised.

Amte died of leukemia on Saturday at the age of 93.

In attendance were Chief

Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh,

some of his Cabinet colleagues,

distinguished people from all

walks of life, and, of course,

thousands of his admirers and

followers.

Earlier, when vehicle carrying

Amtes body was taken through

the main streets of Anandwan,

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surging crowds jostled with each other to walk along, chanting Bharat Jodo, Bharat Jodo in

chorus with Baba's family members. And when the body was lowered into the burial pit, they

gave way to tears.

But Amte never wanted to be lost for eternity. So, he had wished a burial instead of cremation

by fire and a sapling to be planted at the spot, so he could be reborn as a tree. That wasBaba's concept of memory garden, says elder son Vikas. He wanted every bit of his body to

be useful to micro-organisms after his death. Cremation by fire, he thought, was

environmentally damaging, he added.

Decades ago, Amte had laid the foundation for Indias environmental movement when he had

fought a valiant and

successful battle against

the proposed Inchampalli-

Bhopalpattnam dam across

Godavari on the border of

Gadchiroli district and had

prevented a pristine forest

and lakhs of trees from

being destroyed.

Today, he had sought to

become a tree himself.

Years later, when Medha

Patkar launched her

Narmada Bachao Andolan

against Sardar Sarovar

Project, Amte had teamed up with her and had spent 11 years of his life as a recluse on the

banks of Narmada. And when he was being bid farewell, wife Sadhanatai watched in grim

silence. She was the one to be always with him through thick and thin.

We have no regrets. He had

lived his life to the fullest and

did the noblest possible he

could. Yet, it would be hard to

come to terms with his death,

said granddaughter Sheetal.

None would. After all, it's the

death of a man with a never-

say-die spirit.