MUMBAI, April 14 -- On Saturday (April 11), at four o'clock, at the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh in Girgaon, literary figures Madhu Mangesh Karnik and Vishwas Patil drew back the cloth to reveal the likeness of Dr Rajaram Amrut Bhalerao. There was quite a crowd, mainly family, friends and fans of Dr Bhalerao's 87 years of work. Archival photographs were displayed on the ground floor to celebrate the occasion. Rare photographs of 'Bhaubandki' which starred Durga Khote as Anandi, Nanasaheb Phatak as Ramoba, Mama Pendse, Nana Phadnavis and Sakharam Bapu. The play directed by Keshavrao Date won the first prize at the Maharashtra state competition. Known to friends and associates simply as Bal Bhalerao, the bust on the first floor evoked a blend of scientific temper and cultural bohemianism. In one life, he was a giant of Indian medicine, a physician and professor who served King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital and later Hinduja Hospital, specialising in gastroenterology and liver disease, publishing over sixty papers, and receiving the Dr B C Roy Award. In his parallel life, the one the bust celebrates, he was the indefatigable patron of the arts, the chief secretary of the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh (MMSS), an organisation dedicated to the revival of Marathi theatre and founded by his own father, Dr Anna Bhalerao, in 1935. Dr Bhalerao left a thriving healthcare practice in the UK to devote himself to the Sangh, stewarding its legacy for over half a century. He was, as one colleague noted, equally fanatical about both the operating theatre and Marathi theatre. It is this synthesis that informed his every approach to the Sangh's stewardship, a pragmatism that shone through in his conversations. Unlike the others associated with the MMSS there was neither mawkish nostalgia nor cynical bitterness. He spoke of setbacks and triumphs with equal candour, recalling how the Sangh, despite limited resources, worked its way to a gold medal in state-level drama. His counsel was: "The basic philosophy of learning from the young is ingrained in the Indian ethos. If you lose it, God help us." He was a staunch upholder of rational values and a man of remedies and letters, but he understood the necessary nourishment of the soul, too. He once shared an anecdote about buying a tea set for his mother with his first scholarship of Rs.50. Dr Bhalerao said, "My mother was educated till the second grade. She was an untutored young woman from a small village. She used to support her husband in everything he did. But she was very adept at keeping ornaments and ensuring the stage actors could wear nine-yard sarees. At that time the ladies had started to act in the plays. But since they did not know how to wear nine-yard sarees and put on all those ornaments, my mother decided to teach them." In a way, the tea set was doffing its hat to the most important legacy of the MMSS: the number of women theatrewallahs it contributed to the Marathi stage. The legacy he upheld was substantial. The MMSS, established to earn back audiences lost to cinema, flourished under his guidance. In 1964, a modern auditorium, which has been modelled after London's Old Vic and named for his father, was established in Girgaon. This space became the epicentre for achievements: the stewardship of the Mumbai troupe that staged CT Khanolkar's 'Ajab Nyay Vartulacha', a Marathi adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's 'Caucasian Chalk Circle', directed by Vijaya Mehta in collaboration with Fritz Bennewitz. When this production was performed in 1974 at the Festspiele in East Berlin and Zurich, it earned the distinction of being the first play in an Indian language to be staged abroad. The commitment of the MMSS wasn't just to new milestones, but to the sangeet natak tradition. They revived old Marathi classics and spearheaded adaptations of foundational Western works, bringing Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' ('Rajmukut') and Gogol's 'Inspector General' ('Ammaldar') to the Marathi stage. Perhaps his ultimate gesture of faith in the future of Marathi theatre was his unstinting support for the Drama School Mumbai (DSM). Seven years before his passing, he gave the school a rent-free home within the Sangh's building in 2013, ensuring the continued existence of an institution dedicated to training the next generation. It was a move driven by that familiar pragmatism and belief in the aarambhshoor-those who are crazy enough to start things-and a realisation that in a world "where everyone is chasing money, we have come to realise the value of these people who contributed their talent and time for the upkeep of a tradition". That statement, which Dr Bhalerao uttered, could just as easily be his own epitaph. But the biggest tribute is to recall the thousands of talks and lec-dems and workshops plus shows. This included Prithviraj Kapoor who acted for the first time on stage at Sahitya Sangh. Old timers speak of the time, he performed Dushyant and Shakuntala. That was at the first festival in 1944 in the open air auditorium. They also remember a young and dashing Kapoor arriving on a chariot onto the stage. And ultimately that's what remains, the distant memories of cult classics like 'Bhaubandiki', 'Ajab Nyaya Vartulacha', 'Yayati ani Devyani', 'Swayamwar', 'Tilak Ani Agarkar' and 'Katyar Kaljat Ghusli'. And even today, the distinct sound of the pai petti... ....