The Apte anthology

According to the information provided by Sudhir Ramchandra Apte, this is the third publication of the book. The first was in 1914 by Govind Rao Vinayak Apte, a pioneer who first conceived the idea of coming out with a book in which would be compiled information of all the Aptes in the country. The book was later updated in 1939, while the third version is being released after a gap of almost sixty years. The idea for this present book was mooted by Madhav Laxman Apte. He. along with his brother, Arvind Laxman, formed a committee which took up the responsibility of collecting and compiling all the information into a book. The book holds data such as the family history, the various members of each family, their expertise, their interests, habits, profession and even their addresses and telephone numbers.

The book, a massive family tree, goes back sixteen generations. Vishwanath Bhatt is the mool purush the first known person from whom the other Aptes claim origin. He was born near Chiplur in Ratnagiri district, probably some time in the 13th Century. The Aptes belong to the Kaushik gotra of Chitpavan Brahmins in the Konkan area.

Among the most well-known Aptes in the present generation are Vaman Rao Shivaram Apte, who was the first principal of Fergusson College and has the added distinction of being the editor of the landmark Sanskrit-English dictionary. Other prominent personalities are Hari Narayan Apte, well-known author, Vishwanath Govinda Apte, editor and founder-member of Ananda, Shanta Apte, actress, Madhu Apte, comedian, and a host of others.

There are about 7000 Aptes estimated to be spread out all over the world, but information from only 800 have been obtained. Even so, this little fraction has led to a voluminous 600 pages at a cost of Rs. 500. The book comes complete with photographs too, of some of the prominent members of this extended family. The publishers are, you8217;ve guessed it, team of Aptes again, Valmini Publishers. The work of compiling all the data has been done by a team of volunteers who laboured tirelessly, printing forms, mailing them to various families, collecting data, recording them, obtaining more information and finally computerising them.

The work does not end here. For the enthusiastic Aptes, it is only the beginning. They plan to form a proper organisational structure, meet more often, establish a trust to offer financial help and scholarships to needy students. They plan to convert all the written material into a floppy which can be easily accessed and they also have plans to have a site on the Internet. All this, they hope will be instrumental in reaching out to more of their clan, who will feed in more information of their whereabouts. So as they delve deeper into their roots, they are also trying to keep track of the fast spreading branches.