Consider the everyday miracle of nature -the growth of a seed. Planted deep into the soil and nurtured, it blossoms from a slender sapling at first, to a massive giant of the forest, with its spreading branches offering cool, green shade and welcome shelter to man and beast alike.

Such a seed, such an idea took root 42 years ago in the mind of a young man, Tukaram Sahadev Bamankar, blind himself, but blessed with an inner vision and a burning desire to bring to his blind brethren the light of knowledge and the skills to work.

He is the founder of THE POONA BLIND MEN'S ASSOCIATION (PBMA), established in 1952 in a tiny room at 82, Rasta Peth, Pune. Later, he was joined by two other visually impaired men, Mr. Nanabhoy Mancherji Merchant and Mr. Niranjan Prashankar Pandya. Together the team of three built up PBMA to its present structure and status.

The founder president of THE POONA BLIND MEN'S ASSOCIATION is Mr. Tukaram Sahadev Bamankar. Blind since childhood he was educated in Bombay and took a course in physiotherapy. He later shifted to Pune, where he worked for several years at the Ruby Hall Clinic and the Jehangir Nursing Home. In 1952 he rented a small room for Rs. 30/- a month in the crowded Rasta Peth area, where the POONA BLIND MEN'S, ASSOCIATION was registered.