churumuri.com announces with deep regret the passing away of Holenarsipur Yoganarasimha Sharada Prasad, aka H.Y. Sharada Prasad, the legendary Mysorean who served as media advisor to three prime ministers of India, in New Delhi, on Tuesday, 2 September 2008. He was 84 years old, and is survived by his wife Kamalamma, and two sons.
“Shourie“, as Sharada Prasad was known to relatives and close friends, was born in Bangalore, educated at the University of Mysore and jailed during the Quit India movement. He joined the Indian Express group in Bombay in 1945, and was a Neiman fellow in journalism at Harvard University in 1955-56.
He edited Yojana, the journal of the Planning Commission, after which followed his stints at the prime minister’s office between 1966-78 and 1980-88, under Indira Gandhi and later Rajiv Gandhi. During the Janata government, he worked with Morarji Desai for a few months before being posted as director of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC).
The ultimate exemplar of the “Mysore School of Writing”—not too light, not too heavy—that R.K. Narayan, R.K. Laxman, T.S. Satyan among others exemplify, Sharada Prasad wrote books on Karnataka (Exploring Karnataka with Satyan), on the Rashtrapati Bhavan (The Story of the President’s House), and on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Selected Works).
For someone who shied away from the limelight, Sharada Prasad’s last book was aptly titled The Book I Won’t Be Writing, a collection of columns he wrote for The Asian Age. Although physically unwell in recent years, Sharada Prasad never missed a deadline, somehow managing to get to a computer and send off an artfully composed book review.
***
M.N. Venkatachallaiah on Sharada Prasad:
“Sharada Prasad is an extraordinary life in our times. He is a 16-annas Mysorean, but he is also a 18-annas Indian. He is a great gift of Mysore to the country, who epitomizes sajjanike, saralate, panditya, humility and simplicity. But concealed behind all this is tremendous learning and the strength of great scholarship.
“In our simple but wonderful culture, connubial felicity used to be the thought behind a husband bringing Mysore mallige to his wife, a little Mysore pak, maybe even some Nanjangud rasabale. To that connubial felicity, we can add the graciousness of Sharada Prasad. Please do not think it as a triviality, it has deep meaning.
“He represents a kind of civilisational culture. A culture of sobriety, dignity, humility and enormous amounts of learning. I request Sharada Prasad to spend more time in Mysore and Bangalore. His presence will have a civilizing effect.”
Photograph: Saibal Das via Flickr
Also read: RAMACHANDRA GUHA on Sharada Prasad
T.S. SATYAN: Once upon a time, during the Quit India movement
Great man. The last of the Nehruvian public servants and scholars.
Was a legend. Great loss indeed.
oh! :(
RIP.
Is Ravi Visvesvaraya Prasad( of http://www.realpolitik.in ) his son?
If yes, my condolences to him.
Nehru and his successors were very lucky to have these exemplary men to help them out!
Thanks for the gravid/evocative obit and coverage. No newspaper/agency has done better. As a matter of fact, Churumuri’s copy seems to have been copied — plagiarized? — by the ANI syndicate.
it is great thing Shourie from mysore. great lesson to us
A great loss for all Mysoreans, a shock for all his relatives in Mysore. Many secrets that mattered much for the country have died with him.
I have vague memories of H.Y.Shardaprasad and his wife seated at our dinner table on numerous occasions. He would regale the family with numerous anecdotes and leave citing an “early day tomorrow”…I wish I had listened in a little more carefully to the conversations…May his soul rest in peace
He was a pricipled man. My condolences to his family and relatives.
A class act all the way. Such precision and such gentleness to his writing. He will be missed for all time to come. Did he write in Kannada too? What was it about DVG, HYSP, KumVempu and the many other titans of their time. What a lofty vision!
A great loss indeed !
May his soul rest in peace.
CONDOLENCE MESSAGE OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER AND JANATA DAL (SECULAR) PRESIDENT SH H D DEVE GOWDA ON THE SAD DEMISE OF NOTED COLUMNIST AND COMMUNICATOR SHRI H Y SHARADA PRASAD
September 3, 2008: I deeply mourn the sad demise of columnist and communicator Sh H Y Sharada Prasad, who hailed from my hometown of Holenarsipur.
Sh Prasad served the nation with great distinction in different capacities including as Editor of Yojana, Media Adviser to three Prime Ministers as also Director of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.
A scholar in his own right, Sh Prasad wrote several books on Karnataka, his home state. He was an epitome of humility, simplicity, dignity and sobriety, which won him friends across the political spectrum.
In his death, both Karnataka and India have lost an illustrious son, a communicator par excellence and above all, a wonderful human being.
I pray to the Almighty to bless his soul with eternal peace and provide the courage of strength and fortitude to wife Smt Kamalamma, sons Ravi and Sanjeeva, all near and dear ones and his innumerable friends and admirers to bear this irreparable loss.
*******************************************************************
I actually watched the Prime Minister of 300 days write this euology. Hope somebody will have insincerety to say similar things about him when the day comes.
All the great personalities of haleya talemaru – GTN, Echeske, and now he, are leaving us creating a void. May his great soul rest in peace.
Tiger’s Whisker’s the ultimate!
I have strong reasons to believe Dirty Devegowda never wrote this piece! I think phrases like…’DEMISE OF NOTED COLUMNIST AND COMMUNICATOR SHRI H Y SHARADA PRASAD..” shows some ad agency copywriter at work and play! Come on ‘COMMUNICATOR”??!! Gowda will think that is someone who is promoting the caste as in ‘COMMUNITY’!! :)
DB–
Normally you never miss a joke. But this time you did. My question is what old fox hopes to gain from this gimmickry. I am sure he ain’t read a word by Prasad.
Fascism has a way of attracting intelligent minds. YSVD is DG’s Prasad.
Tiger’s Whiskers the Ultimate!
You got me! :)
Kaaneya asked if HY Sharada Prasad wrote in Kannada. While most of his work consisted of translations from Kannada to English (mainly Karanth, but also short stories of Masti, Ananthamurthy and others), there is a very well remembered translation of RK Narayan’s “Swami and Friends” into Kannada, which he did in 1942 (at age 18).
I am trying to locate a copy, so if anyone has one, can they send me a facsimile.
Thanks,
Sanjiva
HY Sharda Prasad is a legend.I got to know about him via his literary columns, inspite of being media advisor to pms’ like indira gandhi and rajiv gandhi he never disclosed any polemical issues.Although people write ‘memoirs’ on account of their profitability, this guy never thought so.
I know people like him live a life very low profile and are almost unheard of in younger genration which sort out their role models in movie and cricket stars but he has created a top place in my heart.
Whenever Mrs. Indira Gandhi held a press conference, which Dooradarshan used to beam, I used to look with awe the ease with which he used to sit by the side of the Prime Minister and conducted the proceedings in a dignified way. There were no shoe-throwers in those days! Whenever a question was asked, Mrs. Gandhi used to glance at him before answering as if to suggest that she needed his moral support.
But I regret though he was so close to the seat of power, he never ventured to give us a glimpse of the lighter side of his office?
A Great Man and a Nobel soul…A Real son of India.
We shall miss him ….always ..
I was fortunate to have this great little man a couple of times. He was a very close associate of my late father Shri K. . Krishnamoorthy, who was also an eminent writer and journalist. I must say I was so impressed with his strength of character. He said: “I must climb down the stairs to meet Meena”, when I went to see him just before he died. He was sufffering from PARKINSON,S Disease and could barely stand. Hw climbed down two floors and spent 30 minutes talking to my mom who sat in the car since she was a cripple. Such was his affection for KKM my dad) and his determination to move without any assistance. His eyes were moist as he told me that his worst sorrow was not because he was ill and unable to move but that he could not write. Such is the stuff of which great men are made. These were the people who made this country what it is. I salute them on this day, Aug 15.
A great man, indeed. India will always miss a great advisor and scholar required to maintain democracy in India.