A private funeral service will be held on Wednesday, September 9, at Elliott Sons Funeral Home in Martinez. Mrs. Deshpande was a native of Mumbai, India and among other things was an accomplished writer with over 12 novels and many other articles to her credit. She was the youngest daughter of the legendary Indian (Marathi) playwright, movie producer, news baron and writer Acharya Atre. Meena earned a Bachelors in Philosophy from Bombay University, and then managed the stage company “Atre Theatres” which staged thousands of performances every year all over India. Later she managed the distribution of her father’s award winning films.
She started her writing career rather late after age 60, with her first book titled “Paschim Gandha”, a travelogue of a young Indian woman in Europe. Fascinated with European literature, she translated works of Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Paul Sartre and Eugene Ionesco. She could bridge the east and west effortlessly with subsequent books in Marathi on American civil rights movement, Marilyn Monroe’s romance with Arthur Miller and her last novel on Pop Icon Michael Jackson that has been sent to press. Her Novel “Hutatma” based on the struggles of the working class Marathi people in the background of political upheavals of that time won a state award for literature and was later depicted in a TV serial by ZEE TV. Her writing style amalgamated the east and the west, the traditional and the modern and her work will continue to serve as an inspiration to young Marathi writers.
She is survived by her daughter Dr. Priya Deshpande, her son in law Dr. Sharad Ghamande, her grandson Salil Ghamande and her son Harsha Deshpande and his partner Paula Begoun, her nephews Raju Pai and Dittu Pai with their families along with other extended family members in both US and India. She was preceded in death by her husband Sudhakar Deshpande and her sister Shirish Pai. The family hope to plan a celebration of her life in near future. The family wants to send their heartfelt thanks to AU staff, nurses and doctors for their compassionate care and especially acknowledge Dr. Varsha Taskar.
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