Journalism of Courage
Maharashtra has become the only state in India to find place in the central library of Milton Keynes,a large town in north London. The Maharashtra Mandal of Milton Keynes recently put up a display of Maharashtra Tourism between March 1 and 31 to coincide with the Maharashtrian New Year Gudi Padwa. The Mayor of Milton Keynes Jan Lloyd inaugurated the exhibits in a simple ceremony.
According to Ravi Gadgil,who hails from Pune and is a member of the Mandal,the Mayor also handed over about 500 latest Marathi books collection purchased by the Milton Keynes Council to the Central Library. Some of these were Aahe Manohar Tari by Sunitabai Deshpande,Aapulki by P L Deshpande,Amcha baap ani amhi by Narendra Jadhav,Atha uttarachi kahani by G P Pradhan to name a few.
The display covered tourist attractions in Maharashtra including forts,beaches,Deccan Odyssey Train,Mumbai tourist points and so on. The display covered geographical descriptions,traditional outfits,customs and cultures of various parts of Maharashtra, said Kruti Gupte,another member of the Mandal. More than 10,000 people visited the display during the traditional opening ceremony. According to the volunteers,the visitors took keen interest in the forts and children were astonished to see portraits of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj put up in the display. The visitors were thrilled and excited about forts and scenic beauty of Maharashtra.
They were astonished to find that a single state has hill stations,beaches as well as metro cities to offer, Gadgil said.
Anupama Puranik led the volunteers to put up the exhibits.
This was second year that the Mandal had displayed information about Maharashtra at the library. Last year,the exhibits were about Maharashtra culture. The Mandal further plans to hold exhibitions on themes like Maharashtrian literature,history and progressive nature of the state. The Milton Keynes council does not charge to use their library space for this display.
