A reason to go down memory lane
The year 2015 seems to have begun well for me considering the way it went so far. To begin with, I was on a North India tour on Royal Rajasthan on Wheels (RROW) about which I have been writing in this column quite for some time now and still to write the concluding part; then I went to Dubai and, of course, a thanksgiving visit to Tirupati!
And then came the Award from the Government of Karnataka with the Journalism Awards Selection Committee headed by Justice Arali Nagaraj (retired) selecting me for the prestigious Mohare Hanamantharaya Award, carrying rupees one lakh reward, for Excellence in Journalism for the year 2013. This was given at a function held at Bengaluru by Chief Minister Siddharamaiah on 27th March, 2015. There were eight recipients of awards under four categories and all these awards were given away at the function. Siddharamaiah was the third Chief Minister to give me an award, instituted by the government; the other two earlier ones were given by S.M. Krishna and B.S. Yeddyurappa.
The then Chief Minister S.M. Krishna gave me the Karnataka State Press Academy Award at the Ravindra Kalakshetra on Thursday, 5th April, 2002. On that occasion, Krishna also gave away a Special Award of the Press Academy to H.Y. Sharada Prasad, the legendary Press Advisor to Indira Gandhi and other Prime Ministers. Veteran journalist, Prajavani, Arjun Deva was the Chairman of the Press Academy then. I was extremely delighted this time to find Arjun Deva being a recipient of TSR Memorial Journalism Award for 2012 (Lifetime Achievement Award) which was also presented by Siddharamaiah on 27th March, 2015 at Sulochana Hall, Bengaluru.
The second time I was honoured by the Karnataka Government was on 1st November, 2008 when the then Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa presented the Rajyotsava Award at Sri Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bengaluru. The other three distinguished persons in the area of their specialisation were former Dean and Founder of CAVA (Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts) Prof. V.M. Sholapurkar, Dr. Ambalike Hiriyanna (folk) and Dr. Vijaya Dabbe (literature). Inlay artist Puttaraju was also bestowed the Rajyotsava award that year apart from two others.
Now, in the Year of Our Lord 2015, for the third time I received another award, as mentioned earlier, from the present Chief Minister Siddharamaiah. Hat-trick of a sort. Be that as it may, I must recall here another occasion many years ago, 16.2.1998, when I had Siddharamaiah to preside over the 20th anniversary of Star of Mysore along with M.C. Nanaiah and Dr. U.R. Ananthamurthy at Kalamandira. It was the Janata Government, Siddharamaiah was the Deputy Chief Minister and M.C. Nanaiah was the Law Minister. Siddharamaiah was notorious for not keeping the time; not known for punctuality. Since I knew M.C. Nanaiah well from our college days, I entrusted him the job of getting this man to the function on time. It was a great victory for M.C. Nanaiah. However, Siddharamaiah spoiled the post-function programmes of a dance-drama by a renowned troupe from Bengaluru and also the dinner at Regaalis (then Quality Inn Southern Star) by speaking for fifty minutes in a dull-drab drawl of a speech unconnected to the subject of the function.
Surprisingly this time at the Sulochana Hall in Bengaluru though he came late by one hour at 7.30 pm, he acquitted himself like an experienced professional on the stage and also in delivering his speech. He spoke for 15 minutes to the point. It was short enough to be interesting and long enough to cover the subject. Just like a lady’s skirt. A good speech delivered with aplomb in his booming voice befitting a Chief Minister. All of us felt proud of him. Indeed, he has come a long way from 1998 to 2015 and has learnt his trade well. His Kannada was chaste, grammatically accurate, used apt words and more importantly, did not deviate from the theme of the function. He even indulged in a couple of light- hearted banter bringing smile on the faces of the audience and he himself breaking his lips to a smile of his special brand – smirk. Thank you Sir.
You will make a good Chief Minister in public and may even last full five years’ term if you break away from the present venal coterie of advisors. Make yourself a “People’s Chief Minister” (like Princess Diana who was called “People’s Princess”). You are not the Chief Minister only for Ahinda or a certain section of the people. Other sections of people too have their own problems. Address them openly. Otherwise you will get into many snares and traps like the one created following the death of D.K. Ravi, IAS Officer, in which you lost your face.
And finally, I am also reminded of the great disappointment I suffered as a result of trusting the then Minister H. Vishwanath in the year 2003. I wanted to conduct the Silver Jubilee of Star of Mysore in a grand manner. S.M. Krishna was the Chief Minister. I wanted him to preside over the function. Vishwanath being from Mysore, whom I knew personally well, had assured me (100%) to get the Chief Minister on 16.2.2003, for the Silver Jubilee function. Till the last moment, Vishwanath’s assurance remained typical of a politician’s promise. If only he had told me his inability at least in advance…that’s history’s one more If.
Star of Mysore News Editor M.R. Shivanna was the one who made me trust Vishwanath for getting S.M. Krishna. I trusted Shivanna being our own man and who knew Vishwanath better than me. We even had a few dinner meetings to review the arrangements with Vishwanath. Well, some live and never learn. I am one such dullard.
M.R. Shivanna was my ‘right hand’ man in the matter of news gathering and news writing for Star of Mysore. He had been with Star of Mysore for 30 years till he breathed his last on 21.5.2011. When S. Bangarappa was the Chief Minister, 17.10.1990 – 19.11.1992, Govindaraju was the Chairman of MUDA and was too close to Bangarappa. Shivanna too was close to Govindaraju who was given huge news coverage in Star of Mysore and Mysooru Mithra by Shivanna taking advantage of my long absence of over 40 days. The papers, Star of Mysore and Mysooru Mithra, drew flak from the readers. Later, when November approached Shivanna was tipped for the Rajyotsava Award that year which seemed like a quid pro quo.
One evening, he came to me and sheepishly disclosed the news. “Sir, I asked Govindaraju to recommend your name. But he refused…,” explained Shivanna. I smiled. “How can I receive the award when you are here…,” lamented Shivanna. I said, “Don’t you worry. Tell me what comes with the Award?”
Shivanna: “Rs. 10,000 and I think a house site at MUDA rate.”
“Okay,” I said. “Look here Shivanna, I do not need that Rs. 10,000 nor that site. You can sell the site later and MAKE SOME MONEY
. Don’t feel bad that you are superseding me… Go ahead and receive the award,” I told him without mincing words. A man of few words, he quietly withdrew. I don’t think he ever got the site. But Shivanna was very happy when I too got the Rajyotsava Award in 2008. For the first time the reward money was raised to Rs. one lakh and told Shivanna it was good I got the award so late after you !
At the awards function on 27th March 2015, I could not see Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Dinesh Amin Mattu but I was told by my Editor Govinde Gowda that he was there.
Here I would like to contemplate on Amin Mattu’s connection to this 27th March Awards function. Wonder, if this function would have ever happened at all on this date but for Amin Mattu’s intervention, if there was. However, I guess, there was his intervention and he must have been prompted by my remark at a function held at Mysuru District Journalists Association (MDJA) Hall where Amin Mattu was the chief guest. This function was held on 9th March 2015 to felicitate me for getting the Journalism Award and also Amshi Prasanna Kumar for getting the Award for ‘Development Journalism’ apart from awarding others under an endowment.
When I was asked to speak I said I was reluctant to be felicitated for fear that the award, not yet given to me though announced nearly eight months ago, might as well be withdrawn as a mistake or for some other reason. So saying I drew the attention of our Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Amin Mattu to the apparent incompetence of the government in a simple matter of organising a function to give the award announced nearly a year ago. As a sting in the tail, I had said that since a couple of awardees were past 75 years, the government should not find itself giving the award posthumously! Amin Mattu must have got the message and lo and behold, on the 18th day after I said this, the awards were given away by CM Siddharamaiah himself.
Thank you Amin Mattu.
e-mail: kbg@starofmysore.com
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Abracadabra…Abracadabra / Friday – April 03rd, 2015
