Seva Mandir adorned a bridal glow on the eve of 23rd September ’07. The office premises smelled of the aroma of bright yellow marigold flowers, which were worn around in garlands all over the library. The occasion was inauguration of a new wing of the Kunjru Library - the Rama Mehta Room - by the Honorable Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Mrs. Vasundhara Raje Scindia.

The new wing has been named after Rama Mehta, wife of Prof. Jagat S. Mehta. Jagat Sb, as he is called in Seva Mandir, is Trustee of Seva Mandir and also son of the Founder of this organization - Late Dr. Mohan Sinha Mehta. Jagat Sb wanted to donate his personal collection of books and literature to the Kunjru Library of Seva Mandir. And eventually this idea extended into construction of another wing in the library in the fond memory of his wife Rama Mehta who passed away in 1978.

Rama’s parents were from Ahmedabad, but since her father was assigned to the U.P. Cadre of the Indian Civil Service, she spent most of her life in North India. She was the youngest of four, with one sister and two brothers. Rama was schooled in Nainital, graduated from Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow, and went to St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi for an M.A. in Philosophy. In 1946 she proceeded to United States, where at Columbia University, New York, she spent two years specializing in Psychology and Sociology.

In 1949, Rama was one of the earliest women selected for the Indian Foreign Services. Under the then prevailing rules, she was obliged to resign after she got married to Jagat S. Mehta. They have 4 children – one daughter, Vijaya and three sons, Vikram, Ajay and Uday. She wrote three novels – "Ramu", "The Life of Keshav", and "Inside the Haveli". Rama’s scholarly studies are in her books entitled, "The Western Educated Hindu Woman" and "The Hindu Divorced Woman" as well as the paper "From Purdah to Modernity" compiled in a book by the Nehru Museum, New Delhi. Rama was awarded a Fellowship by the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study (Harvard) in 1964 and again in 1967. She was also invited to deliver lectures, join conferences and workshops. In 1975 she gave a series of seminars at Sorbonne (Paris).

Her final novel, "Inside the Haveli" was published in 1977 and was chosen for the National Award by the Sahitya Academy in 1979. Alas she had passed away the previous year.

The Rama Mehta room in Seva Mandir is a place for introspection, small discussion, reflections or simply some time out of the office routine set up for the staff and volunteers of Seva Mandir. The ambience unlike that of the library is of relaxation - a room with sofas in cozy layout and picturesque view from the balcony, which has an equally good sitting arrangement. There is facility for accessing the internet also.

The inauguration ceremony began with the arrival of Chief Minister Mrs. Vasundhara Raje Scindia on time. Besides Mrs.Raje, the Home Minister of Rajasthan- Shri Gulab Chand Kataria, Collector of Udaipur- Mr. Shikhar Agrawal, and other top bureaucrats of the city also graced the occasion.

Following the inauguration of the Rama Mehta Room, all the guests and staff members gathered in the Seva Mandir courtyard to hear the special invitees speak. Mr. HR Bhati, General Secretary of Seva Mandir facilitated the event. The Chief Executive, Mrs. Neelima Khetan welcomed the guests and expressed gratitude towards those who graced the occasion. She appreciated the library team for being there to run the library for nearly 12 hours 7 days a week and making it one of the best libraries in Udaipur. The library presently boasts of more than 9000 books, 600 Reports and nearly 100 dailies, magazines etc.

Shri Jagat Mehta in his speech appreciated Ms Vasundhara Raje’s presence on the occasion and remembered her association with the entire family right from the days of her friendship with Vijaya, their daughter. He honestly complimented her on remaining as courteous and as responsive as before despite the political evolutions and elevations she has achieved over the last years. Mr. Mehta elaborated that although Rama was a Gujarati after marriage she identified with Rajasthan, and all her three novels have Udaipur as their background. Her sociological works draw from case studies of the extended families in the state. In particular, the middle class homes where men and women were segregated in Purdah have been depicted in the novel ‘Inside the Haveli.’ This particular book has been extremely popular and has stimulated scholarly analysis as well as promoted tourism in Rajasthan. Rama’s firm belief was that solidarity of the family provided the anchor which modernization should not undermine. And even higher education can be combined with family cohesion and the preservation of traditional values. She certainly hoped that rising literacy levels would help women’s emancipation and empowerment. Jagat Saab emphasized that it was Rama’s and his love for Udaipur and the feeling that the city and its citizens benefit from all the books and scholarly resources accumulated by them over the years, that persuaded him to finance this additional room in the Seva Mandir library. The open library underscores the purpose of Seva Mandir to remain accessible to all citizens, young and old, rich and poor, serious students and casual newspaper readers. Jagat Sb congratulated the architect of the room, Sri Sanjay Gupte and Abhimanyu Dalal and its builder Rajendra for the excellent work which has enlarged space for books and journals.

Mr. Mehta also stressed on his belief that voluntarism must promote evolution and decentralization and guard against excessive centralization and needless security. As an NGO, Seva Mandir cherishes the independence and its political development aspiration, and has the faith that it can be accelerated with the people’s own enthusiasm and constructive cooperation. He recounted that when Countess Mountbatten visited Seva Mandir in 1987 she was so impressed that she decided to become a patron of the society in London. Our constitution provides for places like this one for NGOs. The special strength of Seva Mandir is that like India itself it does not hide; it is unable to hide and does not wish to hide its limitations but only chisel them for improvement.

After Jagat Saab, the Home Minster, Mr. Gulab Chand Kataria emphasized upon the significance of education for the progress of any society. He noted that at a time when there was no possibility of education for children in Udaipur, Dr. Mohan Sinha Mehta founded Vidya Bhawan. The credit for the long line of IAS Officers from Udaipur goes only to one person, Dr. Mohan Sinha Mehta.

Then the Honourable Chief Minister, Mrs Vasundhare Raje Scindia speaking on the occasion remembered Rama Mehta, whom she lovingly called bhabhi, from the times when politics was beyond her thoughts. While thanking the family for having invited her, she recounted that the event brought back a whole herd of old memories. Bhabhi was a vivacious, strong and supportive personality who actually opened up windows of all their young minds. There will be a lot of people who will probably be rewarded by the fact that they will be able to read so many of her books, now in reprint, in this library. Mrs. Scindia noted that this is the time to create partnerships to bring about awareness, so that people can work together to utilize all the opportunities available today. She extended her support and that of the Govt. of Rajasthan to Seva Mandir in its efforts to take development to the remote tribal areas.

Mrs. Vijaya Khan, Jagat Sb’s daughter welcomed all the honorable guests stating that her mother would have been very proud today to see Mrs. Raje as Chief Minister of Rajasthan. She got nostalgic about her mother who had succeeded in instilling in all her children enduring love, respect and admiration for Udaipur. The public library set up by Seva Mandir is a symbol of its unshakeable interest in the field of education. She hoped that the magazines and books in the library would help stimulate the quest for learning. She noted that an abiding concern of her mother’s research was to promote a deeper appreciation of traditional culture and values that hold society together. Mrs. Khan also felt that her mother would have been very happy if Seva Mandir also became the nucleus for the study of women’s emancipation.

The function ended with a Valedictory speech by General Secretary Mr. H.R. Bhati.