SUNAAD RAGHURAM writes: Amidst the inexorable march of Malgudi aka Mysore, where most houses used to once have jasmine vines creeping and hugging iron arches that spanned small entrance gates, like serpents in the throes of uncontrollable passion, the memory of the man himself seems to have become a wind-smothered grey!
The man who conjured up a hundred stories of life in Mysore for the world to marvel–Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayan Swami.
Simply RK Narayan to us all.
A magician who could weave a phantasmagoria of images about Malgudi that was Mysore in his times; a writer whose hallmark was a rare, delicious simplicity; a man who could bring to life the ordinary and the routine; a ‘director’ who fleshed out a myriad characters, each uniquely exciting and amusing; a dreamer who dreamt a million colourful dreams and translated them onto paper with the felicity of an painter; a painter whose canvas was Mysore and the brush, his pen!
A man who ushered in a whole new genre of English writing which the snooty west said ‘wow’ to! A man who truly put Mysore on the international map much before culture-spouting also-rans, a thousand government policies, wildlife tourism and the rest of it did.
And this very same literary colossus, in the centenary year of his birth, has been all but forgotten.
In Mysore, Narayan’s memory perhaps lies abandoned bereft of any respect, amidst the heaps of dust-covered books that line the ancient racks of the once-famous Maharaja’s College where he studied.
Or somewhere in a corner of the white bungalow which has now gone to seed that he inhabited for a long time in pristine Yadavagiri; a swarthy, wizened guard inside the gate, puffing a beedi, the only reminder to any semblance of life within.
To think even for an infinitesimal moment that there is no road or circle named after this giant of a man in our great city, no attempt, howsoever feeble, made to perpetuate his memory, to accord him the status he deserved; to show him the respect he ought to have been shown; to pay obeisance at the feet of the literary master; is a sure reminder of the mental dilapidation of the powers-that-be and the absolute unconcern for hoary history, literary or otherwise.
An indictment of their shameful disdain for literature, other than Kannada.
And should we expect anything profound to happen in our city, which seems to be full of political men and women who warm chairs vested with unbridled power, almost always wrongly used? Pathetic humans who can never go beyond casteist thoughts, nepotism, survival tactics and a pompous sense of self.
And what, just what, have the long list of professors of English who have passed through the corridors of the Maharaja’s College and also Manasagangotri, over the decades, ever done to bring pressure on the Mysore City Corporation to right the gross wrong that has been done to the incomparable R K Narayan?
Especially the one who could well go down in history as the man with the most political clout for an English professor, the famous U.R. Anantha Murthy?
What have they done to rightfully demand a promenade of permanence to the very same R.K. Narayan whose works these ‘enlightened’ teachers of English literature have held forth on for hours inside classrooms, much after the bell for recess has been sounded by the khaki wearing peon?
ps: I almost banged into a cyclist who veered without indication near the Vedanta Hemmige circle, just now. Oops, it was scary.
This is too funny. Now, we expect URA to do something to someone other than himself. Gawd, I can’t stop laughing. Isn’t he the guy who snatched away “Jnanpeeth” from the clutches of the great pu.ti.na ? When hte Jnanpeeth committee was contemplating giving the award to pu.ti.na, our dude goes there and says that he deserved it much more. The reason he gives….”none of pu.ti.na’s books are translated to any other language”. And, the smart people in the Jnanpeeth committee now have a soft corner for URA’s story. Now, they really know who deserves the award. If I remember it right, URA was the chairman of National Book Trust at that tim. Correct me if I am wrong.
Now imagine asking URA to go behind the city fathers, state fathers and the Gods of our country !!! His rants would include “I was an English prof and write in Kannada. RK Narayan wrote in English, but never taught Kannada anywhere….So, I deserve it more. Can you please name a road, circle or an entire layout for me…..If possible, in Bangalore…No, No not byATarAyanapura please…how about HSR Layout, or maybe even Jayanagar…please !”….and it continues.
My point is, at the end of the day, it’s left to us to see RK Narayan is recognized by the government somehow. Asking or even wondering why URA can’t do this is taking the wrong path.
I would prefer RK Narayan’s name to be etched (as it is) in the minds of people rather than having his name for a circle which is unkempt and has a big board proclaiming ‘Sponsored and Maintained by Velu Plumbing Works’!!!!!!
and honestly to top it ..is there any point to mention URA’s name for anything which has a sane cause to it ????
LOL @ vinay….you are right on target dude !!!
I was horrified to see the “HUTCH” ification of Kuvempu Nagar Double Road when I was in Mysore last time.
The icing on the cake though was near “Ballal Circle”. The official name of that circle is “ashOka vRutta”…..Part of that board was covered by an advertisement by Vikranth Tyres and what we could read was “shOka vRutta”. It was quite sad, literally.
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Sir,
To be fair, I was just pointing out the same things which you did – why bring in URA into all this.
And, as far as the Jnanpeeth comment – “poor taste, nonsensical and counter productive” – especially the nonsensical part makes the readers belive that I came up with some cock and bull story here. There are so many things in this world, and you may not be aware of EVERYTHING. For starters, modesty is a good thing.
Obviously, your tone itself is quite counter-productive. And, I just love this from Mr. KB Ganapathy – “Comment is free, fact is sacred”….and I stick by what I say.
Blogs are meant for such meaningful “discussions. Nobody needs to agree with me or you. Read and move on with a “polite” message of “I don’t like what you said”. Anyway, you need to get used to my rantings if you are going to stick around here. I definitely intend to….
I had given my comments earlier and somehow when I tried to submit my comments, the computer talked to me saying the page is not available. In away it is good for I can see lot of comments. But first things first, it appears the attention has veered to URA role or what he should have dome or what he should not have done. But what I want to say is the flavour and smell of Malgudi that was resurrected very eloquently by Sunaad should savoured which comes as awhiff of fresh air in the much polluted atmosphere. In our personal fixation we have forgotten to recall the grand days and utter simplicity of life. As for as URA’ role I do notwish to join on the issue which has been colourfully depicted which stands in stark ontrast to what was the picture earlier. The point is we have all lost our innocence let alone pride of the great people who strode like colossuss the corridors of our University where Saraswathi was worshipped and our HRD Minister has taken objection to even rcite it. Now the caste and reservatiion are the buzz word and knowledge has taken a back seat and poor Sraswathi is being disrobed by famous artist of the day. This is an age of showmanship, PR work and self aggrandisement and reaping political bonanza by bending values which are the hall marks of attainment. May be in distant point of time R.K.Narayan may be remembered when there is resurgence of values as it must and probalbly it is not the time to put R.K.Narayan to share the honour of naming any street or circle after himwith innumerable political worties who grace our much sullied Mysore landscape which makes us wince every time we come face to face while going on our roads while the rowdy elements blacken the names of real worthies.
H.R.Bapu Satyanarayana
Narayan wrote for us, not for English professors!
Isn’t it so much like saying Sachin Tendulkar played for us, not for Indian cricket?!
What on earth are we trying to say here!
If those men and women-English professors- academically evolved souls that they are; who derive their very sustenance, identity and intellectual(?) satisfaction from reading, critically analysing and teaching the works of great men of letters are not expected to talk on behalf of a writer like RK Narayan, especially from the context of the fact that he lived and wrote in our own city, who else should take up the cudgels?
Pailwan Papanna of Kanne Gowdana Koppal is it? The poor soul!
I disagree with the thrust of Sunaad’s post and some of the comments at various levels.
First and foremost, I am not a big fan of naming circles or roads after famous personalities as a mark of respect. Why? Because it doesn’t serve the intended purpose of keeping alive the memory of those personalities. What comes to our mind when we hear Ashok Puram? Filth and garbage or Emperor Ashoka (presuming it was he it has been named after)? Or when we hear MG Road in Bangalore? Pubs and discos or Mahatma Gandhi? So, let’s leave poor RK Narayan alone. Let those who read his works remember him by what he wrote rather than associating his good name with some locality or road which will in all probability end up standing for exact opposite of what RKN stood for. Do you think Jayaprakash Narayan, a committed socialist who led a simple life, would be happy to have his name associated with one of the poshest localities in Bangalore full of bungalows he would have been ashamed to set foot in?
I don’t understand this bashing up of URA either. Maybe I am missing something, maybe I have not followed his statements and deeds that closely in recent past, but as far as I am concerned, he is one of the finest intellectuals we have ever had. _Samskara_ is one of the best novels I have read in any language. His collection of essays, “Poorvapara” and “Pragne mattu parisara” cover a wide range of topics from socialism to environmentalism to bhasha prema to literature etc. You may or may not agree with his ideology, but I don’t think anyone can dispute the simplicity and clarity of thought in his writings. His writings on why regional languages are important and how closely the language is associated with the culture of a place and even with the way of life itself are excellent. So, just to prop up RK Narayan, let’s not discredit someone else who is probably of even higher stature than RKN himself.
As for comparing RKN with Kuvempu (I saw the latter’s name mentioned couple of times in comments), let’s not even go there. RKN is good no doubt, but Kuvempu is in a class of his own. In my opinion, Nobel committee did a disservice to itself by not awarding the prize for literature to his Ramayana Darshanam. If there is a better piece of literature produced in any language in the last century, I would definitely like to read it.
Mohan
Mohan,
Well said….but just want to counter one point. It’s pretty much impossible to say “Ramayana Darshanam” is the best piece of literature out there. Infact, I don’t know if we can make such sweeping statements. Sure, it may be your favorite. But then, I have loved a lot of Bendre’s poems and Karanth’s writings. I still wouldn’t ask anyone to send me a link to “better” poems than that of Bendre. I think at that level it’s just personal preferances, to a large extent.
I do respect and adore Kuvempu’s writings. But, my personal favorite is definitely Bendre.
And, honestly – Kuvempu, Bendre, Karanth et al…..deserved Nobel….
Just making a point here….there can never be a best. After a certain threshold, they are all great.
DS,
Point taken. Even as I wrote that sentence, I thought, “what about DVG’s kagga then?”, but was going for a bit of flourish towards the end and surely a little bit of exaggeration in praise of Kuvempu on a Mysore blog isn’t totally out of place ;-)
Mohan
well, in my opinion kuvempu was more famous as he was brahimn basher and all including brahimns love brahimn bashing
couple of spelling mistakes in my previous post , pls read brahimn as ‘brahmin’
Mohan,
Ahhh….Kagga….how can I leave that out of the list….I worship it, well almost. It IS the bhagavdgeete in Kannada.
Vinay,
Sure, I have heard tons of those stories too and it may be true as well. BUT, it does not take away the fact that Kuvempu is one of the greatest ever writers in kannada.
Looking at the various responses, I feel Mr. RK is not known to many, maybe because he has written in English. Few may have confusions with the name R.K. Narayan & K.R. Narayanan. But it is worth to remember Mr. R.K. Narayan for ever. I remember him through Malgudi Days which was coming in Doordarshan. It was quite interesting. Even though he wrote in English, in his writings he dipicted the Indian culture. What I suggest that instead of roads, circles naming after Mr. R.K. Narayan, why can’t anyone translate his writings into local language and make to more available to public? We can suggest any research academies or Departments in universities for literature can be named after him. His writings can be made as text books in colleges. When we accept foreign writers’ books as text references in schools/ colleges, why can’t Mr. R.K.?
Mr. R.K. Narayan is a person/personality who can be rememberd forever.
Sometime in April 2006 december Stud commented appreciating a statement ‘Comment is free, fact is sacred’ & attributed it to KB Ganapathi (who uses it as a motto for his newpaper and not as a quote). It was CP Scott who wrote it in his essay ‘ A hundred years ‘ in 1921 to celebrate the centenary of the Guardian and his 50th anniversary as editor of that hoary institution. Just nit picking since that appears to be the flavor of churumuri this season.