P. L. Deshpande

P. L. Deshpande 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.

From his comedy literature

• 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.

• जगात काय बोलत आहात ह्यापेक्षा कोण बोलत आहात ह्याला जास्त महत्त्व आहे.
  • 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: Efforts are the essential for character.
  • 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 advise before travelling to London. This quote is one of the advise given to him, when they learn on how many pounds a porter charges for lifting baggage on the station in London.

• परिस्थिति हा अश्रूंचा कारखाना आहे!.
  • Translation:Circumstances is the Factory of Tears.
  • Source: These words are uttered by the lead character of his work with the same name - Sakharam Gatne.