Page 127 - JyotipunjEng
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He was pervaded with the spirit of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh in the young age itself. He came into the
close contact of Dr. Hedgewar, the founder of the Sangh. His
behaviour had lighted a lamp of Sangh in the delicate heart of
Anantrao.
Dedication to Studies
Once his annual examinations and the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh programme were scheduled to be held the
same day. If he wanted to attend the programme, he would have
to complete the paper quicker. Anantrao and his friends decided
that they would not miss the programme, so they would
complete the paper as quickly as possible. As soon as the
language paper was handed over to them, they set down to
complete it as quickly as they could, and completed it one hour
prior to the scheduled time. The friends signalled to each other,
and they all stood up to go. However, the examiner intervened.
He asked them to read their answer book well, but they did not
accede to this advice and arrived for the programme in time.
When the result for the examination was declared, they all saw
that they had secured first division in that paper. Thus, right
since childhood, he was focussed to his studies as well as ready
to do the Sangh work.
In 1940, he attended the Sangh Shiksha Varga in Pune as a
teacher. That year, the new Sanskrit prayer was introduced. One
day, the Varga officer showed Anantrao the new prayer and
asked him to recite it at the Sangh assembly. During a Sangh
Shiksha Varga, there were a large number of programmes set
the whole day. He had done them all and at the same time, had
learnt the prayer too, which he recited in the evening.
Veer Savarkar was Impressed
Once Veer Savarkar was present as the judge of a
competition. He was greatly impressed by the speech of
Anantrao. He stepped forward to introduce this small Anantrao,
and remembered this introduction all his life. Anantrao
maintained the schedule of meeting Savarkar once every year
until the last of his life.