Overview

• She died in Pune on September 19 at age 85, with her body at Sassoon Hospital and last rites scheduled for Sunday, according to a longtime friend and caregiver.
• A revered teacher at Abasaheb Garware College, she taught botany from 1962 until her retirement in 2000.
• She authored more than 30 works, including texts on medicinal plants, plant morphology and anatomy, and writings on Buddhist traditions and trees.
• For decades she kept her Budhwar Peth wada without an electricity connection, describing the choice as a deliberate, comfortable way to live.
• She shared the overgrown home with dogs, cats, a mongoose and birds, calling herself their caretaker and saying the property belonged to them.