Pramila Balaram Ajinkya was an extraordinary woman, born in 1908 as 4th child to Laxmibai and Balaram Narayan Ajinkya. She did her M.A. in
English Literature and French from St.Xavier’s College, Mumbai and
became the first Pathare Prabhu Woman post Graduate, although her three siblings did not manage to go even beyond matriculation!
Education and Cosmopolitan friends from school and college gave her a
broad outlook on life.

Third from right
However married to Solicitor Motiram Vinayak Jayakar, who came from
an orthodox family, she chose to be a housewife, but did not confine
herself to household duties alone. She was involved in considerable
amount of social work being attached to Pathare Prabhu Mahila Samaj,
Dakshin Vibhag Stree Sanstha Samyukta Samiti, Vishva Hindu Parishad,
of which she became the President of Mahila Wing and Asha Sadan (
Rescue Home) conducted by the Maharashrtra State Women’s Council.
She was a born artist and did some amazing paintings (Water Colour on
Paper). She had given elementary and intermediate drawing exams
during her schooldays at St.Teresa’s High School.

She was an excellent orator, who could speak on diverse subjects like
women’s education, social work, Hindu religion and its customs and
traditions and many more. She was an ardent follower of Swami
Chinmayananda and conducted Balvihar Sanskar classes for children at
home. She was indeed an allrounder, progressive in her thoughts, but
orthodox in religious observances and cultural matters and was always
ready to help any needy person within the family or community at large.
Although all these qualities passed on to me through her genes, were not
reflected in me but certainly the artistic inclination of mind with the love
for preservation and propogation of culture, heritage and history was
thanks to her. I realized that I became a Solicitor because I had my
father’s genes, and continued as such since I had to earn a livelihood to
sustain my family and hobbies, but later on I realized that my mother’s
genes were more powerful which changed my life for ever. I set a goal of
establishing a museum of my collections during my lifetime and am still pursuing it.

Let me tell you how she gave a new perspective to my life. Since
childhood I was a collector, starting with empty matchboxes, empty
cigarette packets, marbles, used postage stamps, cricket photos from
newspaper and sports magazine. I collected all these things during my
early school life without any pocket money.

My mother realizing my penchant for collection, encouraged me to
pursue it. After collecting sizeable number of empty match boxes, she
advised me to collect only the labels stuck on them, and not the whole
box, for lack of space. She used to periodically soak the empty boxes in
lukewarm water, so that after a while the label would float, then she
would dry the labels on a blotting paper and then sandwitch the same in
one of our rarely used “ Marathi into English” dictionaries, so that the
paper does not crumple. As my collection grew in volume, she got a
small wooden cupboard specially made for me to store my collections and
got a lock for the cupboard for safe keeping. Periodically she would view my new additions and advise me on its preservation. I will always be
grateful to her because she never stopped me from collecting, and
she never told me to take a break during school exams.
She knew that I was a reasonably good student who used to pass
every year. This encouragement was absent from parents of my
classmates, who also used to collect a few things, but by the time
they finished school or went to college their collections disappeared.
They were either given to some collector or disposed off as junk.
They lost interest in them, thinking their collections were mere
childhood fantasies.
I however continued with most of my collections through my college
days and even after marriage . I added more categories of collections and
would show it to my mother, who continued to appreciate them. The early
impact of encouragement of my mother resulted in my becoming a full
fledged collector and have 50 different kinds of collections with History of
Bombay and Pathare Prabhus’ artefacts as my main focus. My mother was
happy because I started collecting Pathare Prabhu kitchenware. She ensured that the old brass and copper utensils which were earlier used in
the household were not disposed off. 

A collector always wants to display his collections and I started curating
exhibitions after my close association with Mr. Sadashiv Gorakshakar,
(the Ex-Director of The Prince of Wales Museum). He knew my mother
very well and he also concurred that without her support and
encouragement right from childhood, I could never have realized my
potential as a passionate collector. I have co curated several exhibitions
with Mr. Gorakshakar which includes prestigious High court Exhibition in
1988 and Supreme Court Exhibition in 2000. The glint of joy coupled with
pride and appreciation in my mother’s eyes when she attended the
inauguration of the Bombay High Court Exhibition, in 1988, celebrating its
125 years, is something I shall never forget

I setup Bombay High Court Museum with was inaugurated by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in 2015. While curating exhibitions I had the
unique opportunity to neet and interact with Prime Ministers and
Presidents of India and I missed my mother on every single occasion.

When I won my first Gold Medal for my Philatelic exhibit in World Stamp
Exhibition in Hongkong in 2001 I again missed her.

As I prepare to curate the Exhibition of history, heritage art and culture
of Pathare Pabhus at Chattrapati Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, (originally
The Prince of Wales Museum) to be held from May 2026, I Shall Miss My
Mother’s Presence And The Appreciative Pat On My Back.
I hope that in all my next births I get her as my mother, as I have to
still imbibe her other qualities in my subsequent births.