Aajibai Banarase (1910 – 3 December 1983), born Radhabai Dahake, was an Indian community leader in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. ("Ajibai" is not a personal name, but an address of familiar respect by which she was generally known; she was also called "Londonchya Aajibai," or "London's grandmother", in the

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

community.)

Early life

Radhabai Dahake was born in Choundi,

Yavatmal Yavatmal ( is a city and municipal council in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Yavatmal District. Yavatmal is around 90 km away from divisional headquarters Amravati while it is away from the stat ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. She married young, to Tulshihar Dehenkar, and had five daughters. She was widowed at age 33. She remarried in 1945, to Sitarampant Banarase, an older widower with grown sons, Vitthal and Pandurang, already living in London.

In London

Banarase moved to London with her second husband, and worked in his sons' boarding houses there. She was widowed again in 1950. In 1953, rejected by her husband's family and without other material support, Banarase borrowed money and bought a house in London's Hoop Lane, and she subleased rooms to Indian students. She also had a catering business; her Indian cooking was especially appreciated by homesick young Indians. In time, she owned twelve houses and a fleet of cars, and by 1965 she opened a Hindu temple at her home in

Golders Green Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. A smaller suburban linear settlement, near a farm and public grazing area green of medieval origins, dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and ea ...

, visited by Indian dignitaries while in the city. She also funded a well and a temple in her hometown, Choundi. In London she was president of the Maharashtra Mandal London. Her granddaughter, Shyamal Pitale, was president of the

Maharashtra Mandal A Maharashtra Mandal is a social group formed to preserve the culture of those born in the Indian state of Maharashtra, and speakers of its language, Marathi, who live outside the state. Such groups exist in India and throughout the world, examp ...

in 2019.

Personal life

Banarase died in 1983, aged 73 years, in London. The

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the 1998 Greater London Authority referendum, Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first Directly elected may ...

attended her funeral, to pay respect to her work in the city. A biography, ''Kahaani Londonchya Aajibainchi'' by

Sarojini Vaidya Sarojini Shankar Vaidya (Devanagari: सरोजिनी शंकर वैद्य) (15 June 1933 – 3 August 2007) was a Marathi writer and specialist in the society and culture of 19th and 20th-century Maharashtra. Academic career ...

, was published in

in 1998. The biography was adapted into a play, ''Londoncharya Aajibai'', by Rajiv Joshi, and toured in Great Britain in 2015, with veteran actress

Usha Nadkarni Usha Nadkarni (born 13 September 1946) is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Hindi and Marathi films and television who is best known for her role of Savita Deshmukh in the popular show ''Pavitra Rishta'', for which she was nominated ...

playing Banarase.

References

External links

"London's Grandmother"
(2015), a student film about Aajibai Banarase, in English, on YouTube. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Banarase, Aajibai 1910 births 1983 deaths People from Yavatmal district Indian businesspeople Marathi people