80-yr-old Mahadevbhai Joshi ‘Ashk’to be honoured for his services to Kachchhi language

On any day, organising eighty reading sessions is no mean feat, especially if they are in a rare dialect like Kachchhi. But the state government is willing to do it to honour Mahadevbhai Joshi ‘Ashk’—the man who has dedicated his life to develop the language—on his 80th birthday.

The Kachchhi Sahitya Academy set up by the state government some years ago is organising the event. The dates are yet to be finalised though, according to Kirti Khatri, president of the Academy. “Ashk has been conferred with the Gaurav Puraskar for his lifelong service to the development of Kachchhi. He has been working all these years for getting recognition for Kachchhi as a state language,” he said.

Born in 1929 in Karachi, Ashk moved to Kutch in 1947. After finishing school, he joined the Kutch police in 1948 and worked for 10 years. Ashk, whose social work earned him the sobriquet, ‘Gandhi of Kutch,’ thereafter took to poetry. In later years, he started Kunjal ji Koonkaar (Voice of Crane), a magazine in Kachchhi, which has completed fifteen years now.

“It is my dream to see Kachchhi in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. For this, we are constantly trying to get the state Assembly to pass a resolution demanding the Centre to take necessary action for this,” said Ashk, who wants the language to remain linked with Gujarati through the common script.

Ashk has published two collections so far. The first being Laheriyoon (Waves), which was very popular and 3,500 of the 5,000 copies published were sold in no time in 1989. His other collection came out in 2005 with the title Sambhren Munke Sen (I Miss My Dear Ones). His first collection Phoolan (Flowers) had come out in 1951.

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