Malti Bai and her revolutionary Sisters

Malti Bai was the eldest of three sisters, each one was a path-breaker which itself was very remarkable for a high caste family from Maharashtra. Her second sister was specialist in Montessori system of education. One of the earliest to follow the public school system in India. Mr. F. G. Pearce, a great educationist who spent all his adult life in India a country that he loved. He was mainly responsible for the development of the Scindia public school in Gwalior. He was very keen in introducing the Montessori education system into the Scindia school and was a constant visitor to the place where the system was being taught in Bombay. Malti Bai’s sister, Anusuya, was also learning at the same center. The two found each other very attractive and Pearce proposed marriage soon afterwards. For the Paranjape family it was a very difficult decision. Mr. Pearce although he claimed to have become and Indian was actually an Englishman. To have two daughters taking such revolutionary paths was surely Earth shaking. Anu was as determined to marry Mr. Pearce as Malti was to marry Jal Naroji, and the Pearce marriage did take place and proved to be a very successful one. Mr. Pearce died in the early 1960s though the marriage lasted about 30 years.