Shetitalya Navdurga -Ratnabai Apsunde

Ratnabai Baburao Apsunde?

Even after staying in different cities for over 20 years, Ratnabai Apsunde came back to her village to take care of her blind father-in-law. This is the story of a dedicated woman who did not just care for her family but also created an identity of her own as a successful farmer.?

Ratnabai married Baburao Apsunde from Padegaon, Dindori in 1971. Baburao worked in the Police force and thus was frequently transferred to different locations. For over 20 years Ratnabai with her husband located in different locations in Nashik like Manmad, Malegaon, Wani etc.

While all was going well one incident changed Ratnabai’s course of life. Her father-in-law was affected by a disease that led him to lose his eyesight completely and in a few years, they lost their mother-in-law. So there was no one left to take care of her blind father-in-law. As Baburao’s job demanded frequent transfers he requested Ratnabai to return back to the village with the kids and take care of her father-in-law. Ratnabai too saw this as an opportunity to serve her old in-law and care for him which she could not do in the last twenty years. In 1989 Ratnabai returned to their home town and Baburao was promoted to the PSI position in Mumbai. Ratnabai was promptly doing all her work and happily carrying for her children and father-in-law. They had three acres of land just near the river bank. Ratnabai who always had an inclination toward farming saw this as an opportunity to create something of her own.?

Thus, she began her journey by cultivating vegetables like chilli, cauliflower etc. But there was a problem. There was no proper route that led to the farm. Ratnabai had to walk over 3 km of dirt road to reach their farm. This caused a lot of problems as she had to also take care of her blind father-in-law whose all activities depended on her. Furthermore, she also had to provide for her young daughter and son. Her son Ravi, who was in 8th at that time, would often help her out in all her chores. While all this work was tiresome Ratnabai did it without any complaint as she was happy that she would care for her in-law. After a few years, Ratnabai cultivated a grape farm on 1.5 acres of farmland. Initially, the value of their produce wasn’t much as all their produce was sold in the local market only. At that time they didn't even have a well on the farm. All the water supply was sourced from the nearby river. Further, when the income from the farm gained some stability, Ratnabai constructed a well. She even worked with laborers in constructing the well. During 1992 - 1994 she bought three more acres of land and constructed a pipeline to supply water from the river for this land. In 2000, she cultivated a dogridge grape yard on this land. Unfortunately, she lost her father-in-law during this time. This incident left her restless, but as life goes on she too had to go on. Her children helped her in all her work. Further, her younger son Sachin met with Grape expert Mangesh Bhaskar who guided them with his expertise and also introduced them to the family of Sahyadri Farms. Today they have a total of 12 acres of land and are exporting around 300 quintal grapes. Ratnabai has worked hard to create an identity of her own while taking care of her children and her father-in-law. Today their farm is the main source of their family’s income. Ratnabai gives complete credit for her success to her father-in-law, who encouraged her in all her endeavors and is the only reason she got connected to her land.?

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