Purshottam Deshpande or ‘PuLa’ was born on the 8th of November 1919 in Mumbai to Laxmiibai and Laxman Deshpande. From his early days, he was exposed to Marathi Literature. His grandfather Vaman Dubashi was an appreciated Marathi author who translated Tagore’s Gitanjali into Marathi as Abhang Gitanjali. PuLa spent his early days in Grant Road, Jogeshwari, and Vile Parle.
On completing his Secondary Education, he ventured to Pune to complete his Graduation in Arts. After pursuing his graduate degree, he went on to earn an LLB and a Masters's in Arts. Following PuLa’s teaching stint, he began working for the Marathi Silver screen from 1947 to 1952. He got married to Sunita Tai who was an author too. Later on, he started writing in almost every form of literature from short stories to poems to novels to playwriting. He used to observe day-to-day happenings and take inspiration from his surroundings, which is why the masses enjoyed his content. A few of his popular books include Vyakti Ki Valli, Batyanchi Chawl, and a travelogue called Apurvai.
In the 1960s, he started working for Doordarshan and he started hosting a show ‘Nivadak PuLa’ where he would read out his humorous stories from his books in a unique way. This is regarded as the start of stand-up comedy in India and there would be no exaggeration to call PuLa the Pioneer of StandUp in India. He was also given the title ‘Maharashtra's Favourite Personality’ as he was loved by every generation of readers in Maharashtra.
Apart from being an eminent author, Deshpande was also a very seasoned harmonium player. He was also the first person to interview Jawaharlal Nehru on the news channel Doordarshan. PuLa used to encourage young artists to pursue art. Now and then my grandmother reads out a passage from one of PuLa's many books and each time I crack up more than the previous time. PuLa passed away at the age of 80 on the 12th of June, 2000.
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