The most poignant contradiction is that between my two fathers. While my biological father was dead against my decision to go into the wilds among the adivasis my sociological father Baba Amte not only lauded this decision, which as it happened duplicated his own but also provided me with support at critical times to continue on the path I had chosen. Then there is the contradiction of a non-adivasi middle class Beatles fan person like me deciding to spend my life among the Bhils.

Ninad recalls a visit to Baba Amte’s Anandvan:

During my college days, i had been to his “Shramdan Shibir” which is organized by “Anandvan”- The mother institute established by Baba (as he was lovingly called). The people working their are either leprosy affected or are really poor, but baba’s teachings and efforts have made them self-confident and proud. Baba used to say “A man can live without his fingers, but not without his self-confidence”…

Temporal has a short obituary and links to a biographical work on Baba Amte: Vanaprastha: The Agony and Ecstasy of Late Youth

He was a social activist and shared his passion for working with the downtrodden with Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave. And he shared another thing with the other two. The Nobel Foundation ignored him.