Amidst the chirping birds and the morning hustle-bustle of life in Budhwar Peth of Pune,79 - year - old steps out of her small house to take out the trash. Retired botanist Dr. Hema Sane leads a lifestyle unlike any other resident in the heart of the city. She lives without electricity and shares the property with pair of cats, dogs, and a mongoose. “Electricity was never a necessity for the survival of humans. From the dawn of civilizations, food, clothing, and shelter have been the basic needs. I choose to abide by this.”, says Dr Hema Sane while expressing the satisfaction she derives from her lifestyle. Her mornings begin not by an alarm clock but with the chirping of birds, and the day ends with oil lamps lighting up her hut. When The Chronicle explored the reason behind adopting an electricity-less lifestyle in today’s world, she said “My grandparents and parents were brought up and lived without electricity, it’s the way of life I’ve learnt and grown up with since the 1940s. So the absence of electricity and all the modern technology does not affect me.” Apart from the unique natural lifestyle choices, Dr Hema Sane is also known to be an independent-minded person, an actively engaged academicians who has written books and given numerous talks. However, orthopedic ailments have been the reason for limitations on her mobility in the last few years. In the academic field, her position as the head of department has faced biased opinions coming from certain people. “They think I am crazy for the lifestyle I lead. They say that a head of department should be presented in a different way if they want to be taken seriously. But that does not affect me; my work speaks for itself.”, she says expressing frustration over the number of un solicited remarks she receives from people on a daily basis.
25 Jan 2023
Pranoti Abhyankar
