I ALWAYS......................HEART 467
Dr. Patankar and Mr. Chitre, of Siddharth College, gave a dinner at the C. C. I. to Dr. Ambedkar on the eve of his departure. No one has ever seriously questioned Dr. Ambedkar’s patriotism, and he made it plain during an after-dinner talk that it was never his intention to run down India during his stay in the United States.
During an interesting conversation, the doctor revealed that he liked Maulana Azad’s Hindi very much. “If that is the type of Hindi which we are asked to follow, it will be a very good thing, and not the highly Sanskritised kind,” Dr. Ambedkar said adding that the Maulana’s Hindi hardly contained any Arabic or Persian words nor any Sanskritised expressions and yet was chaste, polished and dignified.
The plane carrying Dr. Ambedkar took off from Bombay Santacruz Airport around mid-night. He was carrying an overcoat on his arm, a hat on his head and had put on a black neck tie. He bade ‘Good bye’ to the people with his known smile. All this has been captured in a photograph published on the front page of Free Press Bulletin of June 2, 1952.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HONOURS DR. B. R. AMBEDKAR
New York, June 6, 1952. Columbia University Yesterday hailed Dr. B. R. Ambedkar as “one of India’s leading citizens— a great social reformer and a valient upholder of human rights,” in awarding him an honorary degree at its 198th commencement exercises.
Dr. Ambedkar received the honorary doctorate of laws and letters before the large crowd assembled to watch 6,848 graduates of Columbia’s 17 schools and colleges received degrees for completing courses of study. Honoured, among with Dr. Ambedkar were Mr. Laster B. Pearson, Canadian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Daniel Mornnet, the noted French literary historian, and eight American citizens.” (The Times of India, Saturday 7-6-1952, page 6)
The news appeared with a photograph of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and Mr. Wallace Stevens, a poet and Executive from Hartford, Connecticut who were honoured with the honorary degree of letters, “Doctor of Laws”.