Sharad Kale Obituary: Remembering the man who digitised rare books and streamlined finances at Asiatic Society

An IAS officer of 1963 batch, Sharad Kale served as the municipal commissioner of Mumbai from 1991-1995. Kale died late on Friday night and his last rites will be conducted on Sunday

Sharad Kale (83) will be remembered for resolving the financial issues and digitising the Asiatic Society of Mumbai- the city’s oldest public library.

Sharad Kale Obituary: Remembering the man who digitised rare books and streamlined finances at Asiatic Society

I was first introduced to Kale, an IAS officer from the 1963 batch, at a function organised at his official bungalow when he was commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). My PhD subject was Durga Bhagwat’s literature and he had invited her and me to the function. After the function, we never communicated until he retired as BMC commissioner and joined the Asiatic Society of Mumbai as the finance secretary.

Since then, till he passed, we worked closely, and I have been in awe of the way he worked. He went on to become president and then one of the trustees of the society and I became vice president.

When he took over as finance secretary of the society, we were going through financial problems. His presence made a lot of difference. Not only did he streamline the financial issues, but he will also be known for the digitisation work done at Asiatic Society. In the first phase, he was instrumental in digitising the old and rare books. It was because of his efforts that we got ₹5 crore from the state government for the project. For the second phase of digitisation too, he was closely working on choosing the books to be digitised. He was a voracious reader. While economics and mathematics were his favourite subjects, he also loved literature. He was a Jagannath Shankar Sheth Scholar, and Sanskrit was his favourite subject. He also translated Meghdoot of Kalidas from Sanskrit to Marathi.

As a person, we learnt a lot from him. I have never seen him raise his voice or get angry at anybody. He was very good at administrative work, accurate, and loved discipline. While we, as honorary members of the society, visited only when there were meetings, he would without fail be present at the Asiatic Society office between 2-6.30 every day. From him, we learned how to run the society.

His stature was such, because of his meticulous approach to work, we all were disciplined.

Kale died late Friday night and his last rites will be conducted on Sunday. Apart from the Asiatic Society of Mumbai, Kale was associated with the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratisthan, a trust headed by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar. He also served as a trustee of the Pratham Mumbai Education Initiative.

---- Dr Meena Vaishampayan, ex-vice president of Asiatic Society of Mumbai

(As told to Somita Pal)