PUNE, Aug 1: The golden anniversary of Independence is just round the corner a time to recall the democratic, socialist and secular ideals that guided the makers of our nation. But, it will be a poignant moment for Vasantrao Vaidya, the man who inscribed the historic words of the Constitution of India in the Devnagari script for Bharat ka Samvidhan, the Constitution's Hindi version.

For, while 2100 copies of the Constitution of India (the English original) can be traced to various parts of the country, its version in the national language rests in solitary confinement in the Parliament House library in the Capital, with no copies available to the common man.

Vaidya, now an 82-year-old pensioner residing in Nashik, was chosen for the task more than four decades ago his pride in the fact still evident. Yet, the feeling is tinged with sadness brought on by the realisation that this document has not received the recognition it deserves.

Though original pictorial and handwritten manuscripts of both the Constitution of India and Bharat ka Samvidhan have been preserved in the Capital, only the former has been duly published in book form for the perusal of the general public. ``The Government has so far not thought it essential to publish copies of the Hindi manuscript which has been signed by the members of the Constituent Assembly in original, as has been done in English,'' says Vaidya.

This should not be a difficult task, as 2100 copies (in actual size and form as the original) of the English book were brought out by the Government -- once just after the inscribing was done, and a later edition in 1989.

``Along with Nilkantha Bapu Gokhale, a Puneite who possesses one of the 2000-odd copies, I knocked on various doors just to acquire a photocopy of some of the pages of the Samvidhan. The response we initially got was that it was a preserved document and that photocopying would damage it. In that case, how was the English version brought out?'' he counters.

It was only when Bharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Behari Vajpayee intervened that the duo was successful in procuring photocopies of the first page of each chapter.

But these are mere black and white prints, shorn of the picturesque majesty that the reproduction in actual form could have achieved.

Talking about the grandeur of the original manuscript and how he came to be chosen for it, Vaidya says, ``In the 1950s, I was employed as a junior artist in the Government Press at New Delhi. Till I retired in 1974, I did the calligraphy of scrolls like the Padmashree and Padmabhushan.

After the writing of the Constitution in English was completed, it was time for it to be written in Hindi. Artists from various ministries were asked to send in samples of their handwriting. I was selected for the assignment and set to work with typed sheets of the matter.''

For the entire year, Vaidya worked on the 225-odd pages, laboriously working on one page a day. Making use of parchment paper, made exclusively (to order) in the United Kingdom, a pen made of Watskin wood and Chinese teak ink, Vaidya inscribed the ideals that were born out of two centuries of strife and resistance to foreign rule, and the document that formally declared the nation a republic.

He recalls Dr Rajendra Prasad dropping by to take look once, while the work was in progress. ``Only a few pages were ready then and he okayed them,'' he reminisces. With the nation all set to usher in the big day, Vaidya hopes someone will take heed of the lapse and place copies of the historic document within reach of the ordinary citizen.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.