A thief was overcome by remorse after discovering that the house he had stolen valuables from belonged to a famous Marathi writer. He subsequently returned the valuables he had taken.
According to a PTI report, the house belonged to Narayan Surve, and is located at Neral in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.
Surve died on August 16, 2010, aged 83 years, but his legacy as a Marathi poet and social activist endures. He was born in Mumbai, and his poems vividly depicted the struggles of the urban working class.
His daughter Sujata and her husband Ganesh Ghare currently live in the house. The thief struck when the couple was visiting their son in Virar and the house was locked for 10 days. The valuables stolen included an LED TV.
The thief reportedly noticed Surve’s photo and memorabilia in one of the rooms when he made another trip to the house the next day to take more things. The thief, who appears to have been well-read, was filled with remorse and returned all the items he had taken. He also pasted a note on the wall asking for the owners’ forgiveness for stealing from such a great literary figure’s house.
Sujata and her husband found the note when they returned from Virar on Sunday, police inspector Shivaji Dhavle of Neral police station told PTI. Dhavel said that the police were carrying out an investigation based on the fingerprints found on the TV set and other articles.
Narayan Surve grew up as an orphan on the streets of Mumbai. He survived by working as a domestic help, a dishwasher in a hotel, a babysitter, a pet-dog caretaker, a milk delivery boy, a porter and a millhand.
A Padma Shri Awardee, Surve, through his poetry, celebrated labour and challenged the established literary norms in Marathi literature. His notable works include Majhe Vidyapeeth, Aisa Ga Mi Brahma, and Sanad.
