Madhuriben Desai’s story of grit, determination and learning in the times of adversity

A Gujarati author and a teacher, Madhuriben Desai is one of those rare women to be educated in the early 1930s and 40s. Born in January 1932, in a small village called Umreth in Gujarat, Madhuriben’s father was a well-known and sought-out teacher in the village. “My mother was a teacher, too. She would teach young children at a local school. I found that too be very inspiring, because in those days, many women did not have the privilege of getting educated,” says Madhuriben.

At the age of eight, Madhuriben lost her father. Being the eldest daughter, she had to shoulder the responsibility of running the household and raising four siblings with her mother. Even during those tough and difficult times, her mother saw to it that Madhuriben had a good education. It was her mother’s grit and determination, in times of adversity, which left a deep and lasting impression on Madhuriben’s mind.In order to receive better education, the family moved to Baroda. Madhuriben went ahead to finish her Diploma in Teacher’s Training from Dakshinamurti Bal Adhyapan Institute at Bhavnagar. She landed her first job at the Experimental School under the aegis of Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, in 1951.

“Marriage brought me to Delhi, where I joined the prestigious Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in 1961, and worked for the next 30 years. The Nursery Department was nurtured and developed under my guidance and supervision.”

Madhuriben’s creative pursuits were further honed while teaching Batik and paper flower-making to senior students. She also curated several exhibitions there, which impressed scholars like Dr Kapila Vatsayan; Smt R Sengupta, founder of Lady Irwin School; and famous playwright B. V. Karanth. “After retiring from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, I also worked, for a decade, as a consultant advisor at Shishu Mangal School run by Gujarati Mahila Mandal,” says Madhuriben.

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In the year 1985, Madhuriben Desai won the coveted Raja Rammohan Roy Teacher’s Award. It was after her five decades of teaching and retirement that Madhuriben began reflecting on her experiences as a teacher. “This led an urge in me to write. I wrote several articles for Gujarati journals, which were very well-received. Looking at all those postcards, and listening to the readers’ feedbacks, I thought I would write in a more focused manner,” she says.

In 2010, her book Bal Vikas ni Sachi Samjhan was published in Gujarati by R. Sheth and Co. in Ahmedabad. It became a bestseller, and in due course of time, four more editions were published. It is now considered a reference book for teachers, parents and Teacher’s Training Institutes in Gujarat. The book revolves around the upbringing of a child, acting as a bridge between parents, teachers, school and society. “Real incidents and experiences with my students form the core of all my writings,” says Madhuriben. The book has now been translated in Hindi, slated to be published soon. She continues, “The fact that my only book became a bestseller, and was able to reach out to such a large audience, has been a real high point in my life.”

Madhuriben says that Shree Kishorekant Yagnik, the then Principal of Experimental School, Baroda and Smt. Jashiben Nayak, founder Vice Principal of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, were her inspirations, mentors and guides during her journey as a teacher and a writer.

“I am not a literary person, but essentially a teacher who loved her young students, and learnt life’s lessons from them. I had ample time to devote to reflect on my experiences as I started writing much after my retirement. My medium of writing is Gujarati, which, as my mother tongue, has enabled me to express myself freely and wholeheartedly,” concludes Madhuriben.