Magsaysay for another generation of Amtes

NAGPUR: “Baba would have been very happy today had he been alive!” That was how Dr Prakash Amte, son of the legendary social reformer Murlidhar Devidas Amte, reacted to the announcement on Thursday that he and his wife Dr. Mandakini were among the 2008 recipients of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award.

“It’s a great honour for us, considering that we had never expected or anticipated anything like this when we started working in Hemalkasa 35 years ago,” said Dr Prakash. “It came unexpected,” he added.

It is perhaps for the first time in the history of the Ramon Magsaysay award, considered Asia’s Nobel, that father and son have both got the honour for community service.
Baba Amte had received the Magsaysay in 1985.

The award comes to Dr Prakash and Mandakini Amte in recognition of their tireless and dedicated work for “enhancing the capacity of the Madia Gonds to adapt positively in today’s India, through healing and teaching and other compassionate interventions.”

The couple told DNA from their Hemalkasa centre that they would be accepting the award on behalf of the entire community and extended family of tribals, the well wishers and tens of supporters in their journey until now.

‘Care with love’ is the soul of Hemalkasa’s Lok Biradari Prakalp (LBP), which was started in 1973 by the young couple after Baba Amte expressed his wish to start work with the Madia Gonds. “We did not hesitate to volunteer for the mission the moment Baba expressed his wish to work in Bhamragarh in Gadchiroli,” they said.

It was an era when the area was cut off from the world. But the young doctor couple readily forfeited a promising city career for the cause of the Gonds.

Three days ago, in Solapur’s Mahatma Gandhi Zoo, a gathering was stunned to see Dr Amte patting a leopard in a cage and the cat reciprocating with love. He had gone there to receive an award the late Nirmalkumar Fadkule award for social service.

Dr. Prakash once reminisced of Baba’s one question to Dr Mandakini before their marriage: “Are you sure you want to marry him? Because he has decided to spend rest of his life in this jungle.” She had replied in the   affirmative.

The Ramon Magsaysay award comes as a mark of their astonishing journey together, overcoming the times when they had to live in a small hut with no electricity, forget any luxury, and reptiles moved freely around. It was also an era when the tribals would run away from people clad in clothes.

A French couple, Greet and Guy Barthelemy, who had worked with the
Nobel laureate, Dr Albert Schweitzer, in the jungles of Africa, were so deeply impressed by their work in Hemalkasa in 1993 that they christened them the Schweitzer couple of India.

After returning to France, they followed up the matter with the Kingdom of Monaco and persuaded them to bring out a stamp in the honour of the couple, just as it had brought out the stamp in 1955 to honour Dr Albert Schweitzer. The Principality of Monaco acceded to their request and brought out a postage stamp in their honour in 1995. This was only the second time that the kingdom of Monaco brought out a stamp to honour a foreigner for humanitarian work.

Earlier this year, the US government had rejected visa to the doctor-couple but later cleared it after realising the mistake. They were invited by the Bruhan-Maharashtra Mandal in North America to attend a convention in June.

The government of India awarded them Padmashri in 2002. The Amtes have received numerous awards, but as Dr Prakash put it: “The love and affection that we get from people is our biggest award.”

The tradition of service continues, with their two sons Dr Digant and Aniket joining their father in taking the work further on a path shown by Baba.