Imagine writing a doctoral thesis without electricity, studying by the light of a lamp or lantern and finding inventive ways to help students remember difficult Latin plant names. For Dr Hema Sane, these were not extraordinary challenges, but simply ways of learning, teaching and living an eco-friendly life devoted to Botany.
A botanist, teacher and author from Pune, Dr Sane lived without electricity for more than eight decades in her home in Budhwar Peth, heart of Pune city, Maharashtra state. She read and wrote by natural light and lamps and, in her later years, used a solar-powered light. Her home was shared with huge trees, climbers, birds and animals – very good example of well synchronized ecosystem. She died in Pune on September 19, 2025, aged 85.
Her simple way of life was closely tied to her relationship with nature. Remembering Dr Sane, her student and colleague Professor Nivedita Ghayal, who heads the Botany department at MES Abasaheb Garware College (Autonomous), which Dr Sane once headed, says: “She was a woman of simple living and high thinking. People find it difficult to live without electricity, modern gadgets and social media, but all her life, she shunned modern comforts. She strongly believed that one should live closer to nature and away from artificial trappings. Perhaps she was used to live that way since childhood. She used to draw water from a small well, live in a small room built of iron sheets and leave the rest of the house for plants to grow. Her house was like a mini forest.”
That closeness to nature also found its way into Dr Sane’s teaching. To help students remember difficult Latin plant names, she used familiar Hindi songs and poems as memory aids, drawing on words and sounds they already knew. She also encouraged them to understand plants through direct observation and fieldwork rather than simply memorising botanical names.
“She was kind but academically very strict. All her students, many of whom went on to become scientists and academicians, are thankful for the way she taught us to observe plants. I remember that during a two-month-long teachers’ strike over pay scales, she used to take us on field trips, make us observe the characteristics of plants, develop our understanding of taxonomy, encourage us to ask questions and find answers. Because she was well-versed in Latin, Sanskrit, Marathi and English, she would break down complex scientific names for us, which we continue to remember even today.”
Born in Pune on March 13, 1940, Sane completed her college education at Fergusson College in 1960 before pursuing Botany and earning a PhD from Pune University. Her curiosity, however, extended beyond her discipline. At 46, she pursued her interest in Indian history and culture and obtained a master’s degree in Indology. Her doctoral thesis was written at home by the light of a lamp.
Dr Sane joined MES Abasaheb Garware College in 1962, beginning a teaching career that lasted nearly four decades. She eventually headed the Botany department before retiring in 2000. Her expertise extended to plant identification. Fergusson College’s catalogue of its arboreal flora records her guidance in identifying and confirming plant species and compiling the catalogue. Her interest in plants also led her to take a four-year course in Ayurveda.
Writing became another important part of her academic life. She authored more than 30 books on Botany, medicinal plants, Indian flora, plant morphology and anatomy, spices, environmental subjects and traditional knowledge. Her works also explored the connections between plants and Indian cultural traditions, including Buddhism. She also co-authored Manual for Field Botany, which dealt with plant identification, morphology, ecosystems and Maharashtra’s vegetation.
Her scholarship and commitment to nature earned recognition from environmental and nature-conservation organisations, including the Vasundhara Sanman. She was also honoured with several other awards for her academic and scholarly contributions.
Yet it was perhaps her everyday life that most clearly reflected the principles she taught. In her later years, an orthopaedic ailment affected her mobility, but she continued writing and pursuing her academic interests. For her students, the most striking thing about Dr Sane’s life was how naturally her work and way of living came together. The 5R principles of refuse, reduce, reuse, repair and recycle found a place in the simplicity she practised every day — a life with few conveniences and a close connection with nature.
“An amazing personality, her story was as much about the way she lived as the knowledge she left behind,” Prof Ghayal added.