P. L. Deshpande (November 8, 1919 – June 12, 2000) was a noted Indian writer in Marathi. He was also famous as an orator and performing artist. He wrote as Pu La (IPA: /pʊ.ɫ/) Deshpande, from his initials in Marathi.
शेवटी काय हो, आपण पत्त्याच्या नावाचे धनी, मजकुराचा मालक निराळाच.
Translation:In a letter, all we own is the address on the envelope. The contents are a matter of fate.
Alternate translation: Ultimately, it may be our name on the envelope, but someone else (God) is the one who wrote the message.
Pu La had a penchant for ending his humourous works with thought-provoking punchlines. In this quote from his work Post Office, he sums up on how life is a lot like the the letters that pass through the post office.
झाले ! म्हणजे प्रश्नातून सुटका नाही. माझीच नव्हे, कुणाचीच नाही! मग जगणे म्हणजे नुसते श्वासोच्छ्वास घेणे की लक्ष लक्ष प्रश्नांच्या उत्तरांमागून धावणे? शेवटी प्रश्न म्हणजे तरी काय आणि उत्तर म्हणजे तरी काय? हादेखील एक प्रश्नच. मी त्या प्रश्नचिन्हाकडेच निरखून पाहतो. आणि युरेका! त्या प्रश्नचिन्हातच माझे उत्तर कसल्याशा सांकेतिक भाषेत दडवले आहे हे मला ठाऊक नव्हते. प्रश्नचिन्हाच्या त्या आकड्याखालीच शून्य हे त्याचे उत्तरही असते. विरामिचन्हे इतकी विचारपूर्वक बनवली असतील याची मला कल्पना नव्हती!
Translation: Alas! So there is no escape from the question. Not for me, not for anyone! Then life is just breathing or running behind infinite number of questions? And then, what question is really ? And what answer is too? This too a question. I observe the question mark carefully. And Eureka ! I didn't know that my answer was encrypted and hidden in that symbol of a question mark. The dot below the curved stroke in a question mark symbolizes Zero as the question's answer itself, I never knew. Punctuation marks are so carefully crafted, I never knew![citation needed]
जगात काय बोलत आहात ह्यापेक्षा कोण बोलत आहात ह्याला जास्त महत्त्व आहे.
Translation: In this world, "who is saying", is more important than "what is being said" !
Alternate translation: In this world, who you are is more important than what you are saying.
Source: Asa mi Asami
प्रयास हा प्रतिभेचा प्राणवायू आहे.
Translation: Effort is the oxygen for talent.
Source: These words are uttered by the lead character of his work with the same name - Sakharam Gatne.
लग्नापुर्वी शी न लूक्ड सो … लुकडी!
Translation: Before marriage, she looked so .. (Pu La completes) Thin!
In his hilarious work 'Mi ani majha shatrupaksha' (Me and my enemy party), Pu La criticizes people who bore others by telling them accounts of their travels, showing them pictures of holidays or discussing their housing construction plans. This particular quote is from a situation when the author is forced to sit through a painfully slow and boring display of old photographs by a husband and wife.
It is a play on the English word "looked" and the Marathi word "thin", which is pronounced "lukdi". The character who speaks the first part of the quote is intermingling English and Marathi in the lines.
मी लंडन मध्ये हमाली करून वजनी पाउंड घटवून चलनी पाउंड कमवावेत, असही सुचवण्यात आलं.
Translation: It was also suggested that, In London, I should work as a porter to gain some monetary pounds while losing some pounds in weight.
In his travelogue Apoorvai (अपूर्वाइ), Pu La describes the non-stop flow of advice before traveling to London. This quote is one advice given to him on learning on how many pounds porters charge for carrying baggage on train stations in London.
परिस्थिति हा अश्रूंचा कारखाना आहे!.
Translation:Circumstance is a factory of tears.
Source: These words are uttered by the lead character of his work with the same name - Sakharam Gatne.
In his writings, Pu Lu has said that he is afraid of taking a stand against the Government. This was much before the Shiv Sena-BJP Government came into power.... It may well be that he would have been deprived of government patronage - this is something that has happened to others. Or, that he would have been subjected to physical attacks. Yet, the progressives have labelled the present government as fascist, and the previous governments as democratic.
Ashok Chowgule, Of Pu La and progressives, Indian Express, 22-2-1997, as quoted in Elst, K. (2010). The saffron swastika: The notion of "Hindu fascism". p 799
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