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 Department was quite significant. In a way, because of his father, Joshi knew something about these aspects but he got to study them in details during the probation period. These two years also gave him a proper introduction to life in our country which, beyond Maharashtra, he was not very familiar with. After probation Joshi’s first posting was in Mumbai as the Deputy Director, Foreign Post. He had a spacious office at Dockyard Road. Five hundred persons worked directly under him in that office. In our country the job of a senior civil servant does carry a halo around it; those days it was even more so. In one’s youth that hallowed lifestyle was even more attractive. Joshi enjoyed that glamour. The topic of his marriage began to come up regularly. Eventually everyone liked one girl, Leela Konkar from Mahim, Mumbai. She was slim, good-looking and intelligent and eight years younger than Sharad. But that time she was just 17 and hence they decided to wait for one year. The marriage took place on 25 June 1961. Talking about it Joshi said, ‘It was a traditional arranged marriage. Because of my being an atheist, there were no religious rituals of any kind; which was the only thing different about it.’ The two had their honeymoon in Mussoorie, a well-known hill station in Uttar Pradesh. Thereafter Joshi resumed his job in Pune where he had been posted earlier in March that year. Before exhausting his honeymoon leave he was summoned back to Pune as there was terrible flood in Pune following the breakage of the dam at Panshet. That happened on 12 July 1961. Some parts of Pune were washed off. Several Post Offices were also flooded and thousands of letters were reduced to pulp. Warlike situation prevailed and it continued for several more weeks. Most of the staff was unable to resume their duties. Joshi and his few colleagues rose to the occasion and gallantly tackled the emergency. Entering the Professional World

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