>Monkbot at 15:04, 13 December 2020

2020-12-13T15:04:20Z

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{{short description|Indian businesswoman in London}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Aajibai Banarase
| image = AajibaiBanarase.png
| alt = Older South Asian woman, smiling.
| caption =
| other_names = Londonchya Aajibai, Ajibai Banarse
| birth_name = Radhabai Dahake
| birth_date = 1910
| birth_place = Choundi, Yavatmal, Maharashtra
| death_date = 3 December 1983
| death_place = London
| occupation = Community leader, businesswoman
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives =
}}

'''Aajibai Banarase''' (1910 – 3 December 1983), born '''Radhabai Dahake''', was an Indian community leader in London. ("Ajibai" is not a personal name, but an address of familiar respect by which she was generally known; she was also called "Londonchya Aajibai," or "London's grandmother", in the [[Marathi people|Marathi]] community.)

== Early life ==
Radhabai Dahake was born in Choundi, [[Yavatmal district|Yavatmal]], [[Maharashtra]]. She married young, to Tulshihar Dehenkar, and had five daughters. She was widowed at age 33. She remarried in 1945, to Sitarampant Banarase, an older widower with grown sons, Vitthal and Pandurang, already living in London.<ref name=":0" />

== In London ==
Banarase moved to London with her second husband, and worked in his sons' [[Boarding house|boarding houses]] there. She was widowed again in 1950. In 1953, rejected by her husband's family and without other material support, Banarase borrowed money and bought a house in London's Hoop Lane, and she subleased rooms to Indian students. She also had a catering business; her Indian cooking was especially appreciated by homesick young Indians.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=22 December 2000|title=Indian bonding in London|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Indian-bonding-in-London/articleshow/1519723401.cms|access-date=2020-10-25|website=The Times of India|language=en}}</ref> In time, she owned twelve houses and a fleet of cars, and by 1965 she opened a Hindu temple at her home in [[Golders Green]], visited by Indian dignitaries while in the city.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Geaves|first=Ron|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C3C1DwAAQBAJ&q=Ajibai+in+London&pg=PA50|title=Prem Rawat and Counterculture: Glastonbury and New Spiritualities|date=2019-12-12|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-350-09088-0|pages=50|language=en}}</ref> She also funded a well and a temple in her hometown, Choundi.<ref name=":0" />

In London she was president of the Maharashtra Mandal London.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=22 September 1972|title=Success At The Temple|url=http://archive-uat.catholicherald.co.uk/article/22nd-september-1972/10/success-at-the-temple|access-date=2020-10-25|website=Catholic Herald Archives}}</ref> Her granddaughter, Shyamal Pitale, was president of the Maharashtra Mandal in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Executive Committee 2019|url=https://www.mmlondon.co.uk/executive-committee-2019/|access-date=2020-10-25|website=Maharashtra Mandal London|language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Banarase died in 1983, aged 73 years, in London.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1983-12-08|title=Deaths: Banarse|pages=26|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61769492/deaths-banarse/|access-date=2020-10-25|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The [[Mayor of London]] attended her funeral, to pay respect to her work in the city. A biography, ''Kahaani Londonchya Aajibainchi'' by [[Sarojini Vaidya|Sarojini Vaidhya]], was published in [[Marathi language|Marathi]] in 1998.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Vaidya, Sarojini, 1933-|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/277137211|title=Kahāṇī Laṇḍanacyā Ājībāīñcī|date=1998|publisher=Rājahãsa Prakāśana|isbn=81-7434-075-0|location=Puṇe|oclc=277137211}}</ref> The biography was adapted into a play, ''Londoncharya Aajibai'', by Rajiv Joshi, and toured in Great Britain in 2015,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Vinjamuri|first=Ragasudha|date=29 September 2015|title=The Rich Marathi Legacy in the UK|url=https://www.asian-voice.com/Community/The-Rich-Marathi-Legacy-in-the-UK|access-date=2020-10-25|website=Asian Voice|language=en-GB}}</ref> with veteran actress [[Usha Nadkarni]] playing Banarase.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-10-28|title=Popular actress Usha Nadkarni in and as 'London Chya Aajibai'|url=https://marathimovieworld.com/news/popular-actress-usha-nadkarni-in-and-as-london-chya-aajibai.php|access-date=2020-10-25|website=Marathi Movie World (MMW)|language=en-US}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua17uqXAVJE "London's Grandmother"] (2015), a student film about Aajibai Banarase, in English, on YouTube.

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[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Yavatmal district]]
[[Category:Indian businesspeople]]
[[Category:Marathi people]]

Aajibai Banarase - Revision history

>Monkbot at 15:04, 13 December 2020