Prof. Vibhuti Patel, "Obituary for Pravinaben Natubhai Patel" Sparrow newsletter 32 march 2015
Pravinaben Patel was a matriarch with an electrifying personality. She was highly gifted, had a photographic memory, flair for picking up new languages-recipes-cultural legacies. She was a courageous woman who stood by me when I took revolutionary decisions of life-at the age of 10 (I decided not to wear gold in response to witnessing dowry harassment), became active in social movements when I was in high-school and continued to the same for the rest of my life. During my student days, whenever I was arrested for political work during emergency rule, my relatives would pressurize her to lock me in the home, but she would challenge them with a statement, if I lock her behind the door, she will jump out of the window. Instead of punishing her, we should discuss with her.” Pravinaben’s dream of higher education got shattered as she had to run a joint family at the age of nineteen. She did not have mother-in-law. Her Father-in-law (my dada), unmarried sister-in-law (my foi) and unmarried brother-in-law (my kaka) were voracious readers, introvert and quite type; while my mom was extrovert, talkative and social. First of all, she targeted the later two for personal coaching to clear their S.S.C.E. exam. Even after leaving Vadodara and residing in other parts of the country, she continued her mission for educating boys and girls, men and women who were around her. My dada considered her as his daughter and asked her not to cover hear head. This created lot of unease among her in-laws circle.
