One for the album: A picture worth 7,000 words

Left to right: Masti Venkatesh Iyengar, D.V. Gundappa, K.V. Puttappa, M.V. Seetharamaiah, K.Shivarama Karanth, A.N. Krishna Rao and G.P. Rajaratnam

T.S. NAGARAJAN writes from Bangalore: This rare photograph of the seven legends of Kannada literature sitting together for a discussion programme in a studio of Akashvani, Mysore, was taken by me in 1955, well before the radio station became All India Radio.

I had just graduated from the First Grade College and was entertaining ambitions of becoming a photojournalist. I had a broken (and repaired) Argoflex camera, a present from my celebrated elder-brother T.S. Satyan, with which I took this picture.

Akashvani paid me a handsome sum of Rs 6 for using it in their programme journal.

I stumbled upon this print while looking for another rare picture of my grandmother from a stack of old prints. I feel this picture does not belong to me now. It belongs to all Kannadigas. Therefore, I request churumuri to offer it on my behalf to all lovers of Kannada by placing it in the public domain.

View a larger frame of this picture here

Also By T.S. NAGARAJAN: My most unforgettable picture

The most memorable house I photographed-I

The most memorable house I photographed-II

The maharaja’s elephant made me a lensman