A pall of gloom descended over the world of literature as noted poet and satirist Prof Madhup Pandey, widely acclaimed for his witty and humorous compositions as well as long poem ‘Maa’, passed away on Thursday. The 82-year-old master of words had been ailing for the past some time. Prof Madhup Pandey leaves behind his wife Madhulika, daughter Madhuli, son-in-law Swapnil, and a large family of admirers to mourn his loss. As per his wish, his eyes were donated posthumously to Madhav Netralaya. His mortal remains were consigned to flames at Ambazari ghat on Thursday evening. A galaxy of personalities from city’s cultural and literary landscape were present to bid tearful adieu to the acclaimed poet. Shankar Prasad Agnihotri, Jayprakash Gupta, Vinod Maheshwari, Dr Sagar Khadiwala, Shekhar Soni, Neeraj Vyas, S P Singh, Prof Rajesh Nagarkar, Sandeep Baraskar, Durgaprasad Agrawal, Sunil Hiranwar, Sandeep Gavai, Dr G S Parashar, Anil Malokar and a huge number of dignitaries attended the funeral. As soon as the news of Prof Pandey’s sad demise spread, condolences started pouring in. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, paid tributes to Prof Madhup Pandey, who was the leader’s teacher.

 

“The news of my teacher’s demise is very sad. He had made his mark in poets’ meets at national and international levels. He had a huge number of admirers. He was honoured with several awards. I pray to God to give enough strength to his family members to bear this loss,” Gadkari stated in the condolence message. Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister, also condoled the demise of Prof Pandey. Born in 1941 at Paratwada in Amravati district, Prof Madhup Pandey earned M.A. in Hindi and M.Com. degrees. He was a senior professor of Economics in Nagpur University. He was widely popular as a poet and satirist and was known for his unique style of poetry recital. He organised and conducted more than 10,000 poets’ meets. He served as Member of Maharashtra Rajya Hindi Sahitya Akademi, and also Hindi Advisory Committee of Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. He was Secertary (Literature) of the first Vishwa Hindi Sammelan. He was serving as the Executive Prime Minister of Vidarbha Hindi Sahitya Sammelan.

 

Prof Madhup Pandey had to his credit several books including ‘Hanste Hanste: Kat Jaaye Raste’, ‘Chutili Chikautiyan’, ‘Meethi Mirchiyan’, ‘Hasya Aur Vyangya: Madhupji Ke Sang’. His book ‘Vishwatmaa’ was published in Hindi as well as English. His composition ‘Maa’ was the most popular and widely acclaimed one, and it was included in the curriculum. He wrote popular weekly column ‘Madhupji’ in Hindi daily ‘Navbharat’ for four decades. He also wrote columns in ‘Sanmarg’ published from West Bengal, ‘Dainik Navjyoti’ (Rajsthan), and ‘Dheer’ (Karnataka). Several honours came the way of the veteran litterateur. He was honoured at the hands of the then Presidents of India namely Pt Shankar Dayal Sharma and Pranab Mukherjee. He was invited and felicitated in the 6th Vishwa Hindi Sammelan at London and 4th Vishwa Hindi Sammelan (Mauritius). He was a member of the high-level delegation of Government of India to Mauritius.

 

Among some other honours at ‘Padma Shri’ Kaka Hathrasi Puraskar, Hasya Ratna award, Kavi Pradeep Shreshtha Shikhar Samman, Attahas Shikhar Samman sponsored by the Government of Uttar Pradesh, Hindi Sevi Samman and Kavya Vidha Puraskar of Maharashtra Rajya Hindi Sahitya Akademi, Sarvochcha Sahitya Puraskar of Vidarbha Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Sahitya Shri, Vindhya Vibhuti Award etc. He was felicitated several times during the National Poets’ Meet held at the Red Fort in Delhi on the occasion of Republic Day. His compositions were telecast on Doordarshan and other television channels, and broadcast on BBC and All India Radio.