There is a certain kind of grief that does not announce itself loudly. It quietly takes the shape of a dream you will never get to live. For Shreekant Sahasrabuddhe, a retired Punjab National Bank employee from Nagpur, that grief arrived ten years ago when his wife passed away just six months before his retirement. The dream it took was a simple one: to see the world together after a lifetime of work.
Both Shreekant and his wife had worked at Punjab National Bank. They planned to use one of their provident funds for travel after retirement and keep the other for their children. But she died, and he was left holding the money with none of the reasons to spend it.
Sahasrabuddhe, now in his seventies, kept that travel fund untouched. He read a WhatsApp message about a man from Akola who donated Rs 1 crore to the armed forces. He knew he could not match that, but it planted something in him. He decided to donate half of what he and his wife had saved for their dream journey: Rs 25 lakh.
On Thursday, Sahasrabuddhe presented a cheque of Rs 25.51 lakh to Major General Navtej S Sohal, General Officer Commanding, Uttar Maharashtra and Gujarat Sub Area, at a ceremony in Nagpur. The donation is earmarked for the Indian Army Central Welfare Fund, which provides financial support to serving soldiers, war widows, disabled personnel, and families of martyrs.
"My wife and I had retired from Punjab National Bank. Unfortunately, she passed away 10 years ago. We had planned to travel the world using our PF and savings, but that dream remained unfulfilled. After her death, I no longer felt like travelling anywhere. I decided to donate half of the money we had saved for our dream journey to the Indian Army so I donated Rs 25 lakh to the Indian Army... Perhaps this will give me the same happiness that travelling with my wife would have given me," he told news agency PTI.
Speaking to ANI, he said, "That very night, the thought struck me that I should donate the money meant for my unfulfilled dream to the military. I knew these funds would be used for the welfare of the families — specifically the children and widows — of soldiers who lose their lives at the borders. I realised I would derive far more joy from this than I ever would have from travelling with my wife. I cannot hold back my tears. I am overwhelmed with such joy — it is hard to put into words."
The Ministry of Defence, Nagpur (Maharashtra) posted through the official account: "Mr Shreekant Sahasrabuddhe, a septuagenarian, had saved this money for himself and his wife for travelling around the world. Unfortunately, his wife expired six months before his retirement, putting an end to this desire. His children are well settled and thus the family decided to dedicate the money for a worthy cause."
He found a way to turn one kind of grief into something that might ease another family's grief somewhere down the line.
