Journalist Vinita Deshmukh’s Moving Memoir For Her Husband

November 27, 2017

Death is one of the most inevitable of all things. Yet, the loss of a loved one can make us feel vulnerable while grieving…

Vinita Deshmukh is one of the city’s most renowned journalistic names. She is a sought-after journalist, writer and RTI activist. In January 2017, her husband, Vishwas Deshmukh, passed away suddenly.

She has chronicled her arduous journey in her new book, Grieving to Healing, as a tribute to her late husband.

Speaking at the launch of the book, at Symbiosis Vishwabhavan on Saturday, she said, “This book is not intellectual, philosophical or logical. It is a compilation of my raw emotions in poetry and prose. It is my token of gratitude to Vishwas, my husband and companion. I lost him very unexpectedly. I could not find solace in my achievements either. Supressing grief is unnatural.

My mind kept going back to those moments and I kept reliving them. I decided to go on an inward journey and the book just happened.”

Also present at the occasion as chief guest was Amruta Fadnavis, Deputy Vice President of Axis Bank and First Lady of Maharashtra. “There is no armour against fate. The book is a heart-wrenching chronicle.

I wish Vinita did not have to write it. yet, I’m glad she chose this path of healing which as a writer, comes to her naturally.

It is an outpour of a heart that is still healing. As an RTI activist and as a journalist, she has the highest integrity and we need people like her to continue doing what she does.”

(L-R): Dr Ganesh Natarajan, Amruta Fadnavis, Vinita Deshmukh (author), Dr Mohan Agashe and Vinita Kamte

Renown business personality, Ganesh Natarajan mentioned that the he had read the book twice, “I was particularly touched by the book because it was so eloquently written.

It comes entirely from the heart. Some of the poems written in the book are epic, not in terms of size but in terms of the enormity of thought behind it.”

Dr Mohan Agashe was also present at the event. He spoke of his encounter with disaster during the Latur Earthquake in 1993 while he was the Director of Maharashtra Institute of Mental Health.

“We went there to conduct a psycho-social rehabilitation after people were physically rehabilitated. We recorded the loss of people and cattle by going to different houses and talking to people. By the end of it, 150 people had gathered around our bus and had requested us to come back to talk to them again. That’s on a macro level. But, on a micro level, the loss is felt only by one person.

I am glad that Vinita decided to share her experience on a broader scale. Ultimately, we come alone, and we go alone.”

Vinita Deshmukh had also penned a book along with Vinita Kamte called To the Last Bullet, on her husband, (Additional Commissioner of Police, Mumbai (East)), Ashok Kamte’s death during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.

“It was an unexpected shock for me. Writing the book helped me pour out my feelings. Life goes on and we find a new meaning. This is a personal grief. Also, we must not believe in any archaic practices that come with widowhood,” she says.

The event concluded with Dr S B Mujumdar recalling how he first met Vinita Deshmukh, while she was a journalist. He noted that while bodies are mortal, the memories people make, are immortal.