PRINCIPLES Before POWER

Humility in high office, resilience in life. The story of Maharashtra's Advocate General, Dr. Birendra Saraf.

- Text Sonakshi Kurbah

When you meet Dr. Birendra Saraf, the Advocate General of Maharashtra, the first thing that strikes you is not the gravity of his office but his remarkable humility. For a man who stands at the crossroads of law, policy, and governance, he speaks with disarming candour of self-doubt, of family grounding, and of the quiet strength required to stay the course in a profession known as much for its challenges as for its prestige. His story is both deeply personal and inherently inspiring. It is a journey from the quiet lanes of Guwahati to the imposing courtrooms of Mumbai, shaped both by legacy and resilience.

Roots in the Northeast

Saraf was born in Guwahati, Assam, into a Marwari family, in a world where community ties blurred the lines between households. “We would walk into our neighbours’ homes as freely as they walked into ours,” he recalls with a smile. “You'd peek into the kitchen to see what was cooking, and everyone’s home felt like your own.” His childhood was shaped by the simple, unhurried pleasures of small-town life. Afternoons spent splashing through monsoon puddles, evenings aglow with fireflies, the faint scent of the Brahmaputra drifting through the air, and nights steeped in the calm rhythm of a town that had yet to swell into a bustling city. “It was a very different childhood from what children have in Mumbai,” he adds fondly. “Guwahati was then quieter, gentler, and far prettier.”

His early education was at Don Bosco School, Guwahati, followed by Cotton University (formerly Cotton College), one of Assam’s oldest and most respected institutions.

"We would walk into our neighbours' homes as freely as they walked into ours.

The father’s counsel