As the women behind the enduring movement of pre-primary education turns 75 today, a host of her friends, well wishers and co-workers come together to compliment her on her work and mission.

Sudhatai Gokhale
“We have been travelling in and around India together,”says Sudhatai Gokhale, an old friend of Nirmalatai. Sudhatai knew Nirmalatai since the time they were both working together in Students Welfare Association, Pune. “The one quality I admire in Nirmalata is the way she co-ordinates with the friends from France. She very successfully bridged the gap between the two cultures and this association in turn reached out to those unprivileged in the rural India, giving them a new lease of life,” says Sudhatai.

Ulhas Joshi
“She is my guide”, says Ulhas Joshi, who knows Nirmalatai since 1979 and is a Member of Association of Friends of France. She has the capacity to motivate all kinds of people. She is highly energetic. And once if she takes up the task, she sees to it that it is done to her satisfaction. “ Her flawless fluency in French language finds no match. She went to France, learnt French and now she interacts with the people there so effortlessly in fluent French. I have gained a different outlook towards life all because of her”, says Joshi.

Maniktai Kotwal
“All her activities are amazing,” says Maniktai Kotwal, a trustee of Vanasthali. “It is very difficult to convince the villagers about the importance of education at the grass-root level and Nirmalatai had been successful in doing that. She has been working with Association of The Friends Of France (AFF) which carries out cultural exchange programs since 1967. And even while interacting with her French friends she always laid down her terms very frankly. Foreigners have invested good faith in her since long.”

Shalaka Thakur
“Today we have pre-primary schools at 12 odd districts of Maharashtra, thanks to tai”, says Shalaka Thakur executive editor of the publications of Vanasthali. She also says that tai basically understood the reasons for the increasing dropouts in the schools at the villages. It was clear that a city-bound candidate would not be able to take up the task of educating the children in the villages. Therefore, it was the need of the hour to engage the teachers at the regional level for this task. So tai herself took up the challenge and started grooming the teenage girls in the villages who today are educated to at least the 8th class.