Tributes to an elder sister Prof Dr Sunita Bapat

Lokmat News Network 

Justice (retd) Arvind Savant

Our eldest sibling Prof Dr Sunita Surendra Bapat, ‘Akka’ as we fondly called her, breathed her last in the arms of her three children Smita, Ashwini and Anand at Pune, recently. She would have completed 87 years on December 22, 2023.

Born on December 22, 1936 at Jalgaon, Akka was a brilliant student with a quick grasp. Before she could complete 15 years of age, she had to appear for the Matriculation examination, for which the Rule required the student to have completed 15 years as on June 1. Akka was 14 years 7 months by June 1950. So, her case was referred to the Civil Surgeon for testing her mental faculties. That was the rule. The Civil Surgeon visited the classroom and put a few questions which Akka answered correctly. The Civil Surgeon then wrote on the blackboard: “Time flies. We cannot time our actions like birds.” Akka was asked to correct the sentence. She walked up to the blackboard and wrote: “Birds fly. We cannot time our actions like birds.” The Civil Surgeon certified her to be mentally mature enough to appear for the Matric examination.

This was a turning point in her life. She passed Matric in 1950 and Inter Science examination in 1952, when she was 16 years 7 months. For admission to the Medical College at Hyderabad, she had to be 17 years plus, as on June 1, 1952. She was denied admission to the Government Medical College Hyderabad though she was high up in the merit list. This resulted in her joining the Women’s College Hyderabad for B Sc, followed by M Sc. She passed both the examinations with flying colours.

We came to Mumbai. Akka joined the prestigious Institute of Science (formerly, The Royal Institute of Science) and registered herself for Ph D with the renowned Director of the Institute Dr D V Bal, a scientist of international repute. Soon, Dr Bal saw the spark and brilliance in Akka and she completed her Ph D with thesis.

Akka had an elephantine memory coupled with the capacity to narrate the sequence logically. Our father, V R alias Dadasaheb Savant, a scholarly student of English literature, used to recite to us passages from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Othello, Julius Caesar. Akka could reproduce them word by word correctly – whether it was Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ or any other classical passage from Julius Caesar “Et tu Brute?” “Friends, Romans, Country men, lend me your ears,” or I came, I saw, I conquered.

With her congenial nature, Akka had a large circle of friends and admirers studying for Ph D. Some of them visited Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (then Aurangabad) for sightseeing and stayed at Bapatwadi. Even Dr Bal visited Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and stayed at Bapatwadi. On marrying Surendra Bapat, Akka settled down with the Professor’s job at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University. Surendra Bapat was a thorough gentleman and a great sportsman. His toss and drop Badminaton game reminded people of Nandu Natekar the great, with the same grace. Akka was due to be promoted as the Head of the Department on the retirement of Dr Mehdi Ali. The joint family of eight married siblings in Bapatwadi did encourage her to accept the promotion. But Akka preferred to immerse herself in the joint family responsibilities, rather than accept the promotion. The gain of Bapatwadi was obviously the loss of the University. She was a completely satisfied person with her family and knew how far to pursue her academic career: “Thus far and no further”.

In our Akka’s passing away, we have lost the motherly figure amongst we five siblings. We can only pray that her soul rests in eternal peace. Om Shanti Shanti!!!!

(The writer is former Chief Justice, High Court of Kerala).