The Portrait of a young man as an activist refuses to fade away from the memory lanes .
I grew up inspired by George Feranandes. In the 1970 as a teenager and till mid eighties he was my hero . His fight against emergency and his high voltage trade unionism , his irreverent attitude and dare devil approach impressed me.
He personified many ideals and I wanted to grow as some one like George in the 1970s and early eighties . I was happy to meet him in Mumbai in the late eighties , though my early admiration began to dwindle . By the 1990s, I was disillusioned and disappointed .
But in personal interaction he remained the same George with so much of warmth and personal charisma . Remember meeting him with Prof. Sadanad Varde and Prof. Madhu Dantavate. In mumbai, my friend Nilu Damle used to work closely with George in the late 1960s. I heard a lots of George stories from him. And then my friend MilindKokje used to say that even when sitting in a star hotel , if George speaks about poverty you will believe it..When he ended up joining sangh Parivar , it was a total fall from the pedestal .And totally disillusioned .
But he remained a supporter of human rights , social justice and democracy . It is he who did everything to ensure friends and civil society activists from Pakistan to participate in the World Social Forum in Mumbai .Around nine hundred civil society representatives from Pakistan crossed waga boarder to participate in the Mumbai WSF.
Because George was a man of many parts ,a rare species . There was no one like him..What a journey .! From Mangalore to Pune. From theology in Pune to the high voltage tradeunionism in Mumbai .Giant killer , winning election against the big man SK patil To jail. The industry minister who drove his fiat car to work. To Bihar . In parliament . Cabinet Minister who took away the gates of his house and allowed Burmese democracy activist to stay at his home.
Man who fell in love many times , though never forgot people and lovers he met on the way.
Man who fell in love many times , though never forgot people and lovers he met on the way.
There was one and only George Fernades, personification indomitable spirit of a man as an activist. .He was one of the most accessible leaders . I cherish the few meetings with him when he remembered my name and his name . It is an irony that a man with such sharp memory faded away in his memories , slowly moving beyond the stage of memories of life .
Salutes to George who ignited politics in the beginning of my youthful dreams .
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