Introduction
 

Born on October 14, 1960, in a village called Sonhivara that is tucked away in a remote corner of rural Maharashtra. Manik Baburao Munde is an Indian bureaucrat with a difference. A writer and gifted poet whose words cover a wide canvas of subjects, their hues as varied as the topics themselves, he writes in both Hindi and his mother tongue Marathi. He is, in fact, one of the very few contemporary Marathi writers who are equally at ease in Hindi-Urdu and are regulars on the Hindi-Urdu literary circuit.

This writer and poet did not have a literary lineage, nor an impressive academic and creative environment that would help him hone his skills at a young age. The Munde household was illiterate. Manik Munde’s parents were god-fearing, hardworking farmers who lived in this little place situated atop a mountain. Literary activities could not have reached the place that had no access by road and no drinking water supply. People traversed longer distances on camelbacks; even bullock carts were few and far between. Members of the Munde family, along with the others in the village, had to trudge a distance of over two kilometers every single day to find a daily drinking water. Life was tough, survival was a priority; literature and poetry weren’t.

It was Munde’s good fortune that in the very same year that he was born, the village acquired its own primary school that was run by the Zilla Parishad. Though it meant access to education only till class IV, it was a wonderful opportunity for young Munde to reach out to words. Ninety per cent of the children with him were deprived of education. The school matched the conditions of the humble village. It’s ceiling was the blue sky and the uneven ground, the seats of the children. There were no blackboards. A single teacher taught all of them and every one studied the same lesson together irrespective of their levels of literacy.

After completing his primary education Munde went to a secondary school that was run in a village, which was seven kilometers away from his home. That meant walking to and fro 14 kilometers a day merely to be able to continue with his education. At 14, for the first time, Munde saw what a car looked like and the sight fascinated him no end. Living through those days of rural hardships and isolation Munde dreamt of the world.

The higher secondary school that Munde entered into at class seven was in a comparatively bigger place called Parli Vaijanath. He completed his SSC and HSC, (where he studied Science for the latter) he chose the only option available to him, that of joining the college of agriculture in Parbhani. Growing up in a small town, Munde wanted knowledge that would get him into the wider world. A brilliant student, he passed his graduation with distinction and went on to acquire his Master’s degree in Entomology. He also conducted a research on ‘Residues of BHC, DDT and Chlorinated Hydrocarbons in food stuffs and soil’ and submitted a thesis to the university. He was the recipient of Fellowship from Department of Environment, Government of India for Ph.D, which unfortunately remained incomplete due to the job that he later took up with the Government of Maharashtra. Despite of his busy schedule, Munde also managed to pack in athletics, was a keen sportsman, and participated in the inter-university athletic tournaments successfully.

While still in the middle of his post graduation studies, Munde had an opportunity to start serving his fellow countrymen. The Union Carbide tragedy in Bhopal saw him, then working as a Junior Research Assistant under the Pesticide Pollution Scheme, taking a lead in collecting funds from the college campus and sending them to the victims through the vice-chancellor of the university. The VC whole-heartedly supported this task and issued Munde a certificate of merit for his work. The Union Carbide was a company manufacturing pesticides and Munde was, co-incidentally, working on pesticide pollution. Always socially sensitive, Munde felt that it was his moral responsibility to serve the victims of the tragedy.

In January 1985, Munde joined the Maharashtra State Government’s workforce as Agricultural Officer under Agricultural Extension Scheme. Later, he was selected through Public Service Commission as a Sales-Tax Officer, Class-I, and was shifted to Mumbai. Ever since then, Mumbai has been home to him. His honesty and sincerity of work and purpose came to fore when during his tenure of Sales Tax Officer [Enforcement], he investigated a critical forgery case so diligently that the court of law took the cognizance and placed its note of appreciation in the judgment itself. Munde became a proud recipient of a letter of appreciation from the Commissioner for the commendable work done for his countrymen.

Munde’s brilliance of work and his administrative abilities have been consistent features of his impeccable character as a bureaucrat. He has been praised and patted on the back for his excellence time and again while working in several capacities in different organizations -- whether it was for the work with the Minister (Finance and Planning) the Government of Maharashtra, or Deputy Chief minister, Municipal Corporation or CIDCO. Municipal Commissioner Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation issued a certificate of merit for the fact that the revenue collection went up substantially during his tenure. Munde was also felicitated by His majesty, the Governor of Maharashtra, for the highest collection of the Flag Day funds.

And all through this, Munde’s innate sensitivity found its expression in his literary pursuits. His creativity flowed in the form of words that appeared as both prose and poetry in both Hindi and Marathi. He wrote every time his work permitted him to. He wrote on his way back from tiring, ever stretching workdays, he wrote long hours burning the midnight oil, he wrote every time it was possible. Writing was his passion, and his creativity his major strength.

Munde’s arena of work has often prompted people to wonder how the poet in him survived in the apparently flavourless administrative world. The fact is that the poet in Munde has not only survived, but also thrived. Munde has emerged as a keener observer of social and political realities around him in the society, which have ultimately found expression in his literary work. In a nutshell, whether it is his work as a bureaucrat or his pursuits as a writer-poet, Munde believes that, “Every calling is great when greatly pursued.”
 

Presently, in the State Government's Sales Tax Department shouldering the responsibility of a Joint Commissioner.