Rao Bahadur
S. S. Talmaki
birth centenary
celebrations 
inauguration
number

If there was any Eminent Person in the Chitrapur Saraswat Community in terms of seminal ideas, and their realisation for benefit of the entire community in the 19th/20th century, it would doubtless be Rao Bahadur Sripad S. Talmaki.

Known as the Father of the Housing Cooperative Movement in a rapidly industrialising Bombay Presidency, he was also responsible for laying the foundations of the Shamrao Vittal Cooperative (SVC) Bank, creating the Saraswat Social Club, which burgeoned into the Kanara Saraswat Association (KSA). As if that was not enough, this institution builder went on to compile 'Saraswat Families' and 'Collection of Konkani Proverbs' - publications which have been pillars of collective knowledge of the community's historic, linguistic and genealogical past, and are reference points to this day.

Rao Bahadur SS Talmaki's lifework is an astounding tribute to his perseverance and intellectual efforts. The KSA Special number, Dec 1967 brings out the high points of his lifelong labours, focusing on his single mindedness in guiding the betterment of a community still emerging from its rural cocoon, and helping it, as it were, 'lift itself up by its bootstraps.'