Category Archives: Leaders

A home that housed 4 generations of Genius

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All, World Opinion

Many years ago in Madras, reclining on an easy chair and chewing on a piece of clove, R.K. Narayan (RKN) quite uncharacteristically said: “Although I have built the Mysore house brick by brick, I carry no emotions, no nostalgia about it… In life one has to move on, you can’t simply dwell in the past,” recalls RKN’s grand-nephew, the journalist-turned-corporate manager Chetan Krishnaswamy, who recaptures life as it used to be at 15, Vivekananda Road, Yadavagiri, Mysore – 570020, in this writeup…

by Chetan Krishnaswamy

I don’t quite remember the details now, but oddly, that muggy afternoon, I thought I detected a streak of nostalgia beneath the veneer of cold pragmatism and bravado.

RKNarayanHouseBF12aug2016

The true magnificence of RKN’s sprawling bungalow on 15, Vivekananda Road in Yadavagiri, Mysore, lies in the lively people who inhabited, or were associated, with it throughout its 60-plus years of existence.

In 1948, the scrubby land measuring 180 x 120 was bought from a local Shetty at the rate of around Rs. 2 per square yard. Narayan’s older brother R.K. Pattabhi had a share in it, too.

By this time, Narayan had already established himself as a writer and was attracting global acclaim.

Mysore’s famous Chief Engineer Shama Rao (who had built the famous Krishna Raja Sagar [KRS] Hotel and after whom a string of buildings are named in Mysore’s Vontikoppal, including the shopping complex on 3rd Main Road called Shama Rao building), who was retired by then, was given the contract to construct RKN’s house in 1949.

Narayan designed a large, roomy home that would accommodate his brothers, their wives and their children. By this time, the cartoonist R.K. Laxman, the other famous sibling, had already flown the coop and was building his reputation in distant Bombay.

The extended family which resided at Door Number 963, Lakshmipuram, comprised brothers R.K. Srinivasan and Pattabhi and their families apart from Narayan’s daughter Hemavathi (RKN’s wife Rajam had passed away suddenly in 1939).

Reigning over the household was Narayan’s mercurial mother Gynanambal — expert cook, chess champ and tennis player, all rolled into one.

The house was completed in 1952, with the griha pravesha being a grand affair. Among the guests was Soma, a blind mystic who lived atop Chamundi Hill and who had taken a liking for the family. On one occasion, the gifted Soma through his clairvoyant powers had accurately traced Laxman’s wife Kamala’s missing diamond ring, that had been swept away with the garbage.

And then came the unforeseen crisis: None of Narayan’s brothers were keen to relocate to Yadavagiri from the centrally located Lakshmipuram. This, despite the comforts of a large house.

In light of this new dilemma, Narayan settled into a peculiar routine: Every day after lunch he was driven in his Morris Minor to Yadavagiri by driver Rangappa.

In the unbroken silence of his house, Narayan wrote profusely. This was the phase in which he wrote two of his novels: The Financial Expert and Waiting for the Mahatma.

By about 5.30 pm, after lighting the lamp in the ‘puja room,’ Narayan would be back home in Lakshmipuram for his routine evening walk with brother Srinivasan. Eventually, for about a year, 15, Vivekananda Road was rented out to Henry C. Hart, a Visiting Professor of Political Science from the University of Wisconsin, on a monthly rent of Rs. 200. Hart was in India on a Fulbright Fellowship, with his wife in tow.

Their legacy was an elegant piece of furniture custom made for the house: wooden seating that skirted the entire semi-circular perimeter of the large living room. After many years of service, and in the wake of sustained onslaught from a riotous bunch of kids, that primarily included my cousins, the furniture slowly disintegrated.

One morning, 15, Vivekananda Road, had a surprise visitor.

The flamboyant actor Dev Anand accompanied by Yash Johar (Karan Johar’s father) had dashed to Mysore, after giving a day’s notice to Narayan. The actor was there to negotiate for the filming rights of The Guide.

Narayan’s starstruck nephews were directed to fetch a breakfast of idli-vada and dosas from Seshagiri’s hotel (Hotel Ramya now). After thoroughly enjoying the meal, Dev is said to have whipped out his cheque book and asked “How much?”

RKN feebly said,“I don’t know.”

Dev left after presenting the author with an advance of Rs. 5,000.

Finally, with the daughters of the house married and gone and brother Srinivasan moving out of Mysore in pursuit of government service, a hesitant Pattabhi gave in. Much to Narayan’s relief, Pattabhi moved to Yadavagiri with his wife and mother. Also in tow were Narayan’s young nephews R.S. Krishnaswamy and R.S. Jayaram, both studying at the Mysore’s National Institute of Engineering (NIE).

In 1973, Narayan’s mother Gynanambal passed away.

The large, two-storied house of around 5000 sq.ft. had five bedrooms with attached bathrooms. There was a spacious semi-circular living room with an array of windows that brought in the sunlight.

The dining hall, kitchen, an unusually huge store-room adjoining a ‘puja room’ formed another portion of the expansive house.

A winding, narrow flight of stairs led to Narayan’s airy room on the top floor.

The room was minimalistic, almost spartan in décor. Apart from a single cot, there was this heavy easy chair and a solid walnut table from Kashmir on which rested an assortment of books and papers.

In another corner Narayan displayed his interesting collection of miniature owls, which he had picked up during his travels. On a wooden bracket fixed to the wall rested the Filmfare award (which the writer had won for The Guide) and other memorabilia. That he never thought too highly of this award was another thing.

The room had a modest ante chamber where Narayan tucked away his veena. He played it well.

On the wall of his room was a framed picture of his late wife Rajam. He would regularly place a string of jasmine flowers on the frame every day. The room opened up to a cosy balcony, which was Narayan’s favourite spot. He sat there, hours on end, writing, watching the flitting birds and squirrels on the frangipani tree that majestically arched into the compound, scattering its canopy of green.

Sometimes he would meditate and recite a version of the Gayatri Mantra sitting here. Narayan had revealed to my aunt Rajani, Jayaram’s wife, that this particular Mantra was a revelation that was relayed to him from another spiritual plane.

The other room, which usually accommodated guests and other relatives who were on an extended stay, had an unusual revolving wooden shelf, which originally belonged to Narayan’s academic father R.V. Krishnaswamy Iyer. The shelf creaked and groaned under the weight of the thick hardbound classics, some of which were rare out of print editions.

The house had a garage which at one time held Narayan’s Mercedes Benz, a gift from a publisher which he subsequently disposed off. There were also two make shift ‘sheds’ that in the later years were used to park the other automobiles in the house.

In 1987, after Pattabhi’s death, Narayan travelled into Madras and the US, periodically coming into Mysore. From 1991 onwards, he started living in Chennai owing to his ill health. For many years, the empty house was taken care of by Narayan’s driver Krishnamurthy.

Sometime in early 2000, the house was leased out to the cousin of a very powerful Congress party politician. The influential tenant used it as an office-cum-residence, altering certain facets and progressively destroying the old world charm of the house.

At one point, he stopped paying the rent and refused to move out. The family seemed helpless…

One fine morning, suitably galvanised by Narayan’s son-in-law Chandrasekaran, who lives in Chennai, I strode into the house determined to take on the truant tenant.

After making us wait for a long time, the kurta-clad man came down and spoke to us in the most unfriendly manner, clearly indicating that he would leave the house when he felt the need to do so.

I left the house quite disappointed and reported the conversation back to Chandrasekaran. In a few months’ time, good sense prevailed and the man left the house but in complete disarray.

Today 15, Vivekananda Road, which stood forlorn, almost ghostly for years waiting patiently, uncomplainingly, for that fresh gust of wind to breathe again, has finally seen the light of the day with the Karnataka Government converting it into a museum. Now, once again one can hear the echoing laughter, the quibbles and the genius of four generations of an uncommon family that it has nurtured.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of  Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / August 06th, 2016

Over a cup of evening tea : More about the man with a lion’s heart

Leaders, Science & Technology
Dr. Narasanagi in his scrub suit in the year 1981.
Dr. Narasanagi in his scrub suit in the year 1981.

by Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD

Being constantly by his side, Dr. Shivashankar Halkai and I naturally used to get many chances to assist Prof. Narasanagi during operations as our college then did not have post-graduate students who now do most of the minor surgical work and assist their professors in all major operations. During our free time, Dr. Shivashankar and the senior operation theatre nurse, Saramma would teach me how to tie the different kinds of surgical knots which they had mastered exceedingly well under the training imparted by our mentor. With our constant association and practical interaction, a stage soon came when Prof. Narasanagi would ask Dr. Shivashankar, Saramma and me to start ‘opening up’ as soon as we called him over the phone to inform him about the need to come for an emergency operation.

He would then arrive and take over the main part of the operation after finishing which he would again ask us to ‘close up’ while he watched our work with an eagle’s eye. Whenever one of us was a little apprehensive about doing some tricky part of a surgical procedure, he would say “Useless fellow, don’t hesitate. I’m watching you closely. You need to have a lion’s heart. Be bold and go ahead, it’s not so easy to kill a man!” He was such a committed teacher that he would not let any of us go home after his classes until everyone in the group answered every one of his questions to his full satisfaction. The result of this insistence was that we would all interact and help each other to meet his expectations thus ensuring that even the dullest members of our group mastered the subject which was actually the man’s game plan!

Once we had a situation where a truck driver had been very badly injured with much blood loss. Prof. Narasanagi examined the man and advised us about the treatment protocol although he expressed much doubt about the man’s survival. Upon my request he allowed me to do a Venesection on this patient independently. This is a procedure where a peripheral vein is surgically exposed and a cannula is inserted into it to allow intravenous fluids to be transfused quickly to maintain blood pressure and circulation. The nurses quickly put up a screen across the waist of the patient while I seated myself on a stool at his foot end and started working on his ankle. The other doctors were busy managing the head end of the patient, inserting a tube into his wind pipe and giving him artificial respiration with a bladder-like device called an Ambu Bag. Assisted by an experienced nurse I took my time with my first independent attempt at such a procedure and I managed to do a pretty neat and surprisingly bloodless job of inserting the cannula into the vein.

Once it was over, hiding my sense of elation, I looked at my professor who was standing behind me and watching my work and asked him if the procedure was satisfactory. He smiled and thumped my back hard and said “Congratulations my boy, you’ve done a great job. The only problem is that although it has given you valuable experience it will serve no useful purpose for your patient because he has been dead for the past forty-five minutes! Did you not notice that he had stopped bleeding long ago?” That is when I realised that the reassuring absence of blood loss was not because of my proficiency and skill but simply because the patient’s heart was not beating at all! All the others in the room, especially the young student nurses, had a hearty laugh at my expense while I looked like a stupid fool.

The great teacher that he was, my professor had quietly instructed all the others in the room to remain silent and allow me to work without interruption to keep my morale high! While we were interns we used to do many odd jobs in the emergency room including suturing injuries and bandaging wounds. And, when it came to bandaging it was no big deal except when the part to be bandaged happened to be the patient’s head. Now because the head is a round object, no matter how well we did it, the bandage would not stay for long and it would simply slip off even before the patient reached his home, entailing a return to the hospital!

Our repeat attempts would only make us look like fools in the eyes of the patients’ relatives who would ridicule us at our lack of competence. But very soon through the hospital grapevine I gathered that there was a retired ward boy called Narayan who was an expert in bandaging the head. With a great deal of effort I soon located this elusive man who naturally was no longer a ‘boy’ and with much greater effort I persuaded him to teach me the art and science of bandaging the head. I spent an evening with him in my room being his pupil having persuaded my errand boy, Syed to be the dummy patient. And, lo and behold, in less than an hour I found that my bandages were staying put on Syed’s head no matter how violently he shook it. Elated beyond expression, I thrust a ten Rupee note into each of their hands and I packed Narayan and Syed off to have a sumptuous dinner!

I kept this project top secret from all my classmates and teachers but soon they began to notice the vastly better quality of my work and all the patients whose heads needed to be bandaged a second time would naturally be referred to me. I had suddenly become Narayan Junior! One day Dr. Narasanagi saw me at work seemingly with a look of admiration and asked me how I had mastered the art. “By much practice Sir,” I replied very humbly. He nodded his head and said “Very good, you’re doing a good job. Keep it up.” I felt like a hero in front of all my class mates.

Then he put his arm around my shoulders and walked with me up to his car and stopped there. With his arm still around me he smiled and asked me “Rascal, now tell me honestly how much you paid Narayan?” And, I told him. He then said “My son, you can learn things only when you conquer your ego. You have done it and that is why you are learning things which although seemingly very small will yet make a very big difference in your life. I feel very happy that you have this attitude and humility to learn from people as ordinary and humble as Saramma and Narayan!”

Contrary to my plans and although I had a great desire to become a surgeon, I ended up qualifying as a Physician later on in my life. The reason for this is that although I had got a seat for both the specialties, one at Mysore and the other at Davangere, while choosing between Surgery and Medicine I chose the latter because I felt that I would be happier working alone rather than with a well-organised team all through my life. The need to look after our coffee estate, located in a very remote area, also influenced my choice to a certain extent. However, this very unusual decision of mine made Prof. Narasanagi feel very sad and disappointed with me. It took him much time and effort to come to terms with it but the intensity of his love and affection for me thankfully remained the same for the rest of his life.

But although I became a physician, the ‘hands on’ surgical experience that I had gained during my under graduate days with Prof. Narasanagi helped me to independently manage almost all surgical and gynaecological cases even in the absence of the respective specialists when I had a long stint in the remote Holy Cross Mission Hospital in what was then considered the notorious ‘Veerappan Territory’ for many years. It was a place where my colleagues and I used to see and treat the poorest of the poor patients with no means to go to cities for the treatment of even their most serious problems. I used to at times be physician, surgeon, gynaecologist, orthopaedician, anaesthetist or dentist, depending on what problem the patient had. I also used to maintain and repair all the hospital equipment, pumps, generators and jeeps!

My wife and I used to stay in a solitary house in the middle of nowhere on a thirty acre plot of land, completely cut off from civilisation. But we enjoyed our stay and I enjoyed my work and that is what mattered most. Our humble abode served as holiday home for dozens of our relatives and friends who would lose no chance to come down and spend many happy days with us. The years I spent there were the most fulfilling years for me both professionally and personally.

[To be continued]

e-mail: kjnmysore@rediffmail.com

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / August 05th, 2016

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Part II contd..

Over a cup of evening tea : My last meeting with my Mentor 

by Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD

In the year 2000 when I had been to Gulbarga with my family for the Silver Jubilee reunion of our batch, Prof. Narasanagi had retired and settled down at Bijapur. To pay my respects to him, I decided to return via Bijapur although it would entail a fairly long detour and so I called him up a day earlier from Gulbarga to say that I would be dropping in to see him. He was very excited to hear my voice and said that he would be very happy to see me after such a long time. When I met him the next morning, although he said that he was overjoyed to see me and my wife and children too, I could not help noticing that he was not at ease with himself.

During the course of our conversation he asked me if there was anything he could do for me. When I told him that the sole purpose of my visit was to meet him and pay my respects to him, he seemed visibly relieved and happy. He then became silent for a long time before saying “Javeed, I’m touched by your gesture and overjoyed to meet you and your family but let me confess that when you called me up yesterday to say that you were coming to see me you really gave me a sleepless night. From the moment you called me up I was wondering what the reason for your visit could be and whether I would be able at this age to fulfill your request if you had any. I even wondered whether you would be asking for my help in getting your daughter a medical seat here or at Gulbarga. I would have been heart-broken if you had asked for some help which I couldn’t extend to you!”

Once when my father visited Gulbarga to see me I took him to meet almost all my senior professors. When he met Prof. Narasanagi and asked him what impression he had of me my professor looked down, paused for a long while and then raising his eyes he said, “Sir, you have left a diamond in Gulbarga and I’m only polishing it. But mind you, polishing a diamond is very hard and slow work but don’t worry, I’ll do it to perfection!”

Talking of diamonds brings to my mind one more interesting incident about Prof. Narasanagi. As the time for our final year examination neared there was a strong rumour that he would become our internal examiner. Naturally all the students of our batch were happy that he would protect our interests if any of us ran into rough weather with any of the difficult clinical cases. But when the examination started we found that he was nowhere around. Thankfully, everything went very well with all of us and I in particular scored very high marks in all subjects including surgery.

While my close friend Ravi Dhaded scored the highest marks in surgery I stood second. When I went to meet Prof. Narasanagi after the results he congratulated me and said that he was very happy and satisfied that I had fared exceedingly well. He then revealed to me that he was supposed to be our examiner but he had turned down the offer of examiner-ship because the closeness he shared with me would seem unfair to the other students if he became our examiner! He then said, “You see, I am very particular that the diamonds that I polish should be absolutely flawless! No one should cast aspersions on their quality!”

Another lucky break in surgery

Having narrated the special relationship I had with Prof. Narasanagi, who was a really great surgeon and teacher, I feel I should tell about another chance encounter that introduced me to another great soul and enriched my life. Life is full of such serendipitous incidents and my life in particular seems to be richly endowed with them which are a great boon to the fledgling writer in me. This one is about how another very great surgeon took a liking for me and took me under his care and guidance due to a most unexpected turn of events.

Once very early during the course of my first posting in surgery I was among a group of students who were waiting to watch Dr. S.S. Hussain perform an operation. I just happened to be there in the operation theatre although I was never attached to his unit having been posted to his second-in-command, Prof. Narasanagi’s unit. Now, Prof. Hussain was the Head of the Department of Surgery and he was the person who held the record of having performed the highest number of Gastro-Jejunostomies in the country during his time. This operation was a kind of bypass that used to be done to overcome the narrowing of the duodenum and cure ulcers in the stomach at a time when specific drugs to suppress acid secretion were not yet on the scene. The arrival of this class of drugs has almost wiped out this operation which is now done only as a last resort to prolong the life of patients with stomach outlet cancer.

Prof. Hussain was a grey haired, stocky man and his most striking feature were his short stubby fingers which seemed completely out of place on a surgeon’s hands. An age old adage in surgery is that a good surgeon should have an eagle’s eyes, a lion’s heart and a lady’s fingers! While he certainly had the first two, Prof. Hussain certainly did not have the last of these three attributes. But he was a wizard when he picked up his operating knife and it was a joy to watch him at work especially when he was performing his favourite operation. Even as one saw him stitching layer after layer of tissues and wondered what was happening the net result of his handiwork would suddenly become evident as if by magic.

That day as Dr. Hussain emerged from the scrubbing room with his arms held aloft he seemed to be upset and furious about something. He looked around gravely and asked if anyone wanted to assist him in the operation that he was about to do. Seeing his angry countenance all those endowed with better judgment and common sense held their ground while I impulsively raised my hand and stepped out of the tightly huddled group of students. Being in the first clinical year I was actually among the junior-most ranks present there and my adventurism would have been seen as the most rash and disaster-inviting act by all my seniors of two years who were also in attendance there.

So when Prof. Hussain asked me which year I was from and I answered that I was from the first clinical year, they could not hold back their laughter despite their best efforts. He then pointed to the scrub room and said “Good, if you are sure that you want to assist me, for a start you can begin by cleaning all the three wash basins in the scrub room by the time I finish this operation. They are in a disgusting state and I hate it. And, mind you this too is very much a part of assisting me in this operation! Now that you have volunteered, please get to work.”

This time none of the others in the room made any effort to suppress their laughter which echoed around the room. After the commotion died down, Prof. Hussain and all the others entered the operation theatre and I entered the scrub room, alone. Yes, the wash basins there were indeed in a disgusting state, thanks to a lack of commitment in whoever was committed to keep them in a usable state. Wasting no time I pulled on a pair of surgical gloves and got down to work with a stiff brush and plenty of soap and in less than an hour I had them as sparkling clean as they had perhaps been when they were installed years ago.

When Prof Hussain emerged out of the operation theatre he walked into the scrub room and came out immediately with his blood stained hands still clasped together tightly. He looked at me long and hard and asked “Young man, what does your father do?” “He is a coffee planter and a former professor of Psychology Sir” I replied. “Ah, a coffee planter and a professor of Psychology! Very interesting, Very very interesting. Well, you may just be a first year clinical student but from now onwards, whenever I happen to be operating and whenever you happen to be free from your classes, you can scrub and join me as my second assistant. Young man, I’ll teach you how to operate!”

e-mail: kjnmysore@rediffmail.com

source:  http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / August 17th, 2016

Pages from History : Dr. S.R. Rao: A World Class Archaeologist from Karnataka

Education, Leaders, World Opinion

by Prof. A.V. Narasimha Murthy, former Head, Department of Ancient History & Archaeology, University of Mysore

Dr. Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao, popularly known as Dr. S.R. Rao all over the world, has made not merely Karnataka but our country proud by his contributions to Indian Archaeology, art and culture. It was my good fortune that I was his contemporary and I have learnt a lot from him and his works. Added good fortune is that I have been asked to deliver the third Dr. S.R. Rao Memorial Lecture at Bengaluru arranged by his daughter Dr. Nalini Rao, a Distinguished Professor of World Art in one of the American Universities. This is not an ordinary achievement indeed!

If my memory is right, Dr. Nalini Rao prepared her thesis under my guidance and I am proud of such a brilliant student. Now she has taken the initiative to arrange Dr. S.R. Rao Memorial Foundation for Indian Archaeology, Art and Culture where our Central Minister Ananth Kumar will inaugurate the photo exhibition at Bengaluru (Mythic Society) on Sunday, 24th July 2016.

About Dr. S.R. Rao: Born in 1922 at Anandapuram in Shimoga district, he received BA (Hons) and MA degree from Mysore and Nagpur Universities. Mysore University awarded the D.Lit degree to him for his magnum opus Lothal and Indus Civilisation. After retiring from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), he met Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister and apprised him of the Indus civilisation. Nehru shrugged his shoulders and said that Harappa and Mohenjodaro have gone to Pakistan and what will you do sitting in India. Dr. Rao had a stock reply: But now I have discovered Lothal in Gujarat which is a better maritime site than Harappa.

Immediately Nehru saw that Dr. Rao was conferred with the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship. Dr. Rao did not turn back. He researched and wrote the book Lothal and Indus Civilisation. Though lot more research has been done now even today it is considered as the most authentic book on Lothal. When he discovered the dockyard, the first of its kind in the ancient world, he did not like to presume things on his own. He invited technical experts who examined the Lothal dockyard and said that large ships could come down to Lothal and proved that Indus people participated in international trade during that period, which is more than 5,000 years old. The world of scholars were astonished at this great discovery.

Another special feature of Indus sites was the occurrence of small, square or rectangular clay seals which generally had an animal and a pictographic label writing above. Scholars all over the world tried to decipher this script, but nobody could give a satisfactory reading. Dr. Rao also tried to decipher the script by following a scientific methodology and learnt ancient scripts of Babylonian and Assyrian and began comparing the letters. Many scholars had presumed Indus civilisation to be Dravidian and tried to read the script as early Tamil. By this time it was known that Indus civilisation was the creation of the Aryans themselves. Without any presumption

Dr. Rao prepared a concordance of all the symbols found on the Indus seals and analysed them. He found that certain symbols occurred very frequently. Thus he came to the conclusion that Indus people were evolving an alphabet from picture writing. This gave him certain readings like pala, mahapala, baka, mahabaka etc. Thus he showed that they were proto-Samskrita and not Dravidian.

David Diringer, the greatest authority on ancient scripts exclaimed that Dr. Rao has hit the nail on its head. The Russian and Scandinavian scholars agreed to the suggestion of Dr. Rao. Dr. Walter Spink of Michigan University hailed the readings of Dr. Rao’s Indus script. It could safely be said that nobody has improved upon the readings of Dr. Rao. Many scholars suggested that this work deserves a Nobel Prize. Thus Dr. Rao’s contribution to the study of Indus Valley civilisation has not been surpassed by anybody. He was hurt when Dr. Mortimer Wheeler who become the Director-General of ASI wrote a book titled ‘2,500 years of Pakistan’ and even a school child knows that Pakistan was born in 1947. Thus he tried to give a false boost to Pakistan.

Another important contribution of Dr. Rao was the inauguration of under-water archaeology, known as Maritime Archaeology. He may be called as the founder of this branch of study in India. ASI did not show much interest in this branch. Without the active support of the government, he swung into action with the help of corporates interested in it. Many people thought that Krishna’s Dwaraka was a literary bunkum and was based upon myths. But Dr. Rao disagreed with this and went to Dwaraka (Bet Dwaraka) and with the help of deep sea divers went down to the bottom of the water. He collected lots of pottery and other artefacts which were in use at Dwaraka during Lord Krishna’s period and the scholars all over the world were greatly impressed by this. The devotees of Sri Krishna expressed their gratefulness to Dr. Rao for this great discovery. With assistance and guidance from National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, Dr. Rao opened up a new branch to trace the rise and fall of maritime civilisation. This led him to take interest in ancient as well as modern ship-wrecks. Apart from all these, Dr. Rao took interest in murals of Ajanta, Ellora, Badami, Lepakshi, Padmanabhapuram, Mattancherry and traditional paintings of Karnataka. He also gave more interest to conservation of monuments and also beautified the surroundings by gardens and lawns.

Yet another achievement of Dr. Rao is the formation of a Circle Office at Bangalore (Mid – Southern Circle) which was given the responsibility of maintaining monuments in Karnataka. Thus Hampi, Shravanabelagola, Pattadakal, Aihole and other places flourished well under his guidance. When he was in Hampi, he found a stone image of a saint and immediately he identified it as that of Purandaradasa. A workaholic, Dr. Rao did not take any rest and worked hard to spread the message of India through archaeology, art and architecture. When he passed away, condolences poured in from scholars all over the world.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / July 23rd, 2016

For him, the battle continues

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, World Opinion
Bezwada Wilson.
Bezwada Wilson.

The Magsaysay Award winner says India still has over two lakh manual scavengers

Fifty-year-old Bezwada Wilson, national convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), was declared one of the six recipients of the 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award by the Philippines-based award foundation, in Manila on Wednesday. Recognised for his efforts to eradicate manual scavenging, Mr. Wilson told The Hindu that India still has over two lakh manual scavengers who needed to be rescued, according to a nationwide survey by the SKA.

The award citation recognises Mr. Wilson’s work in “asserting the inalienable right to a life of human dignity”. Of the estimated 600,000 scavengers in India, SKA has liberated around 300,000, the citation notes.

Hailing from a Dalit family in Kolar, Karnataka, Mr. Wilson said his first brush with the local authorities over the abominable practice was in 1986-87, when he saw poor Dalit women cleaning human waste in the public latrines of Kolar Gold Fields. His own family members had been manual scavengers for generations.

“It was a big town, and in those days KGF was known to be the most electrified town after Tokyo,” he said. Yet, the town lacked public toilets with running water. Moved by the plight of the women who had to clean them every day, Mr. Wilson decided to petition the local town municipality to improve facilities. In 1986, he sent a complaint about dry latrines to the authorities and, when it was ignored, he sent the complaint to the Prime Minister, threatening legal action, the award citation notes. As a result, the town’s dry latrines were converted into water-seal latrines and the scavengers transferred to non-scavenging jobs.

Despite his 32 years of activism, Mr. Wilson says challenges remain in putting an end to the practice. “No thorough survey has been conducted as yet to enumerate manual scavengers though State governments have been promising one since 2010,” he said. Expressing scepticism over the implementation of the government’s flagship Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, he said the scheme did little to address the plight of manual scavengers and only sought to build more and more toilets.

Mr. Wilson formed the SKA as a network of activists in 1993. A PIL he filed in the Supreme Court, naming all the States, Union Territories, and relevant government departments as violators of the 1993 Manual Scavenging Prohibition Act, produced positive results. In 2014, the SC ruled in his favour demanding that all States ban manual scavenging and even fixed a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh for families of scavengers who had died on the job.

“In 2014, we gave the Centre a list of 1,073 people who had died while cleaning sewers, but the families of the dead are yet to be compensated fully. Only 36 people from the families of dead sewer cleaners have been compensated, but they did not get the full amount prescribed by the court,” he said.

Our Special Correspondent from Bangalore adds:

Practice still rampant in Kolar

In the hometown of Bezawada Wilson, who has been honoured with the Ramon Magsaysay award for 2016, manual scavengers are not hard to find.

The century-old mining set-up at the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) saw thousands of people — primarily from Dalit communities — being brought in to deal with night waste. Mr. Wilson’s father was among those brought from Andhra Pradesh to KGF.

Though mining operations ended in 2001, the prohibited practice continues in the town where dry latrines are abundant.

The government claims that there are only 82 manual scavengers in KGF. This is disputed by activists and government officials who peg the figure at 800 families — making it the highest density of manual scavengers in Karnataka.

“While more than 12 criminal cases have been filed across the State for manual scavenging, there is little clarity on the prevalence of the banned practice. A 2007 survey threw up a figure of 15,375 manual scavengers. This is clearly under reporting, says Narayana, Chairman of Karnataka State Commission for Safai Karmacharis.

“The number is higher than 25,000,” he alleged. “We have sought a re-survey, but government officials are looking at their list and claiming that the number has reduced.”

The announcement of the Magsaysay award for Mr. Wilson did not trigger celebrations in KGF. Much of his activities have been in Andhra Pradesh or at the national level.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News / Vidya Venkat / Chennai – July 27th, 2016

Release of Book on JC Wadiyar’s compositions marks Vaggeyakaras’ Day

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All
Pramoda Devi Wadiyar (fourth from left), who inaugurated the Vaggeyakaras’ Day celebrations organised by Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy at Jaganmohan Palace in city on Monday, is seen releasing a book titled ‘Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar’s Compositions’ authored by Musicologist Karnataka Kalasri Vid. V. Nanjundaswamy (third from right). Others seen are Academy Member-Convenor Dr. Sukanya Prabhakar, KSGH Music and Performing Arts University VC Dr. Sarvamangala Shankar, Academy Chairperson Gangamma Keshavamurthy, Registrar Banashakari V. Angadi and author’s wife Prof. H.S. Umadevi Nanjundaswamy.
Pramoda Devi Wadiyar (fourth from left), who inaugurated the Vaggeyakaras’ Day celebrations organised by Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy at Jaganmohan Palace in city on Monday, is seen releasing a book titled ‘Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar’s Compositions’ authored by Musicologist Karnataka Kalasri Vid. V. Nanjundaswamy (third from right). Others seen are Academy Member-Convenor Dr. Sukanya Prabhakar, KSGH Music and Performing Arts University VC Dr. Sarvamangala Shankar, Academy Chairperson Gangamma Keshavamurthy, Registrar Banashakari V. Angadi and author’s wife Prof. H.S. Umadevi Nanjundaswamy.

Mysuru :

“Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar’s contribution to music as a composer and critic will always be cherished by musicians,” opined Dr. Sarvamangala Shankar, Vice-Chancellor, KSGH Music and Performing Arts University.

She was speaking at a function organised by Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy, Bengaluru, at Jaganmohan Palace in city on Monday to mark Vaggeyakaras’ Day.

Dr. Sarvamangala said that thousands of composers like Patnam Subramania Iyer, Bidaram Krishnappa and Mysore Vasudevacharya laid a strong foundation for music with rich literature. She added that music and literature were both soothing elements for mind but not just that as a music should have a good literature for real value.

Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, who inaugurated the programme, also released the book ‘Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar’s Compositions,’ authored by Musicologist Karnataka Kalasri Vid. V. Nanjundaswamy, on the occasion. The day also witnessed Dr. Veena and troupe rendering compositions of Mysore Vasudevacharya and Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, lecture by the author, veena recital by Vidu. Rajalakshmi and troupe and violin duet by Tejas Manjunath and Pranav Manjunath.

Academy Chairperson Gangamma Keshavamurthy, Registrar Banashakari V. Angadi and others were present.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 20th, 2016

In her shoes

Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Sports, Travel, World Opinion
Special Arrangement / The Hindu
Special Arrangement / The Hindu

The fascinating story of Anu Vaidyanathan, the first Asian woman to compete in Ultraman Canada.

As someone who goes to bed praying the morning papers will publish findings that pizza is good for weight loss, two questions popped up when I read Anywhere but Home: Adventures in Endurance, written by Anu Vaidyanathan, “the first Asian female to have competed in Ultraman Canada”. It sounds suspiciously like auditioning for a superhero movie set in Nova Scotia, but what is it really? The answer is easy enough, as it exists in the finite and definable realms of sport and mathematics: a 10-km swim, a 420-km bike ride, and an 84.4 km run. (Four weeks later, again in Canada, Vaidyanathan switched her allegiance to a different superhero: Ironman. This time, a 3.8 km swim, a 180-km bike ride, a 42.2 km run.) I then asked the tougher question, the answer to which lies in the diffuse dimensions of metaphysics: Why?

I get why people climb the Everest. It sounds like something you’d want on your obituary note, or at least your Facebook post. But what glories can swimming, running and biking bring? As it turns out, Vaidyanathan is searching for a “why” too.

Despite the broad motivational-poster nature of the narrative (sample quote: “If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing”), Anywhere but Homeis also an intimate portrait of a single woman in India — “a quintessential Tamilian Brahmin — five times a year at least, during Pongal, Nombu, Ganapathi Chaturthi, Krishna Jayanti and Deepavali” — brushing off the “when are you going to settle down?” question, training on bad roads, without much money for equipment, putting her body through unimaginable stress, all because… Because… The answer, finally, comes from writer and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl. What athletes do with their goal-setting “frees them up from commerce or the meaningless pursuit of goals that depend on other people’s validation.” The other reason: “the grand challenges of survival were absent because we were children of luxury.” Hence the transformation of life into a hurdle race with a series of self-imposed challenges.

Vaidyanathan writes like a runner — breathlessly, without getting sidetracked. The pages seem to pant. The prose is observant (“watching dark grey clouds tease the distance between them and my rear-view mirror”), if sometimes too cute (a chapter is titled “An Inheritance O’Floss”). And often very funny, in the way everything circles back to running, even romance. About an early boyfriend, she writes, “I think I was in love. You would have to be, with a boy who took you on a 13-km run through the woods on a first date.” Later, she writes about dating a tall, soft-spoken German boy who did not understand why a ride was so much more exciting than a movie. “Miffed with his lack of understanding, I took off on a long run.”

I must say I saw the German boyfriend’s point. Vaidyanathan is quite a character, someone whose idea of a memorable Thursday includes a 3.5-km swim, a two-hour run, an hour of commuting on the bike, and 30 minutes of upper-body weights. (One can only imagine what her idea of a perfect Valentine’s Day is.) She never seems to rest. If she’s not working towards a PhD in Electrical Engineering, she is at home in Bangalore plunging into a start-up.

Anywhere but Home is mostly the story of a solitary pursuit but filled with family and friends. We meet the people Vaidyanathan leaves behind when she goes off on her runs and bikes and swims, the people she yearns to be with while living out of suitcases. We get to know her roommates and boyfriends (though we never seem to know when the relationships ended). We meet members of the running community, people who seem to think nothing of scrounging up enough money to fly off to exotic locations (Brazil! China!) for endurance events. And everyone is so giving. During a run, when Vaidyanathan was suffering from dehydration, sleeplessness and worries about an unsupportive crew, “Lena held my hand for nearly two kilometres, running alongside me, reminding me to never give up.”

The last chapter deals with another sort of hand-holder, finding “someone crazy enough to marry me”. And we sense a calming down, especially after the birth of Vaidyanathan’s son. “Giving birth brought with it a moment of great clarity. There was magic beyond what any class in engineering, science or objective observation had taught me. However, to sustain that magic past the endorphin rush of birth would involve a great deal of humility… Overnight, I went from being someone’s daughter to being someone’s mother.”

The epiphany lasted about six weeks. Soon, Vaidyanathan was back on the road, participating in a 10 km race. It wasn’t easy, but she finished, “just for the pleasure of having my son know that his mother embraced life’s challenges.”

Anywhere But Home: Adventures in Endurance; Anu Vaidyanathan, Harper Sport, Rs. 350.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books> Literary Review / by Baradwaj Ranjan / July 23rd, 2016

A Home in Malgudi …

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion
Writer R.K. Narayan’s house in Yadavgiri, Mysuru, which is being developed into a memorial on the lines of Shakespeare’s house in Stratford-on-Avon in England.
Writer R.K. Narayan’s house in Yadavgiri, Mysuru, which is being developed into a memorial on the lines of Shakespeare’s house in Stratford-on-Avon in England.

by June Gaur

Brand Mysore is set to get a fillip with the restoration of R.K. Narayan’s Yadavagiri bungalow opening up exciting possibilities not just for tourism but also for scholarship, part of the city’s raison d’ etre. Ironically, this comes at a time when Mysureans are locked in a battle to save Chamundi Hill, foremost among “the really worthwhile things” in the city as listed by R.K. Narayan (RKN).

One Vijayadashami, prodded by his grandmother, RKN pulled out a brand new notebook and wrote down the first sentence about his town. ‘It was a Monday and the train had just arrived at Malgudi station.’ India’s best-known fictional town was born.

From this home in Lakshmipuram, he sallied forth every day without fail into “the loved and shabby streets” (Graham Greene) of Malgudi (Mysore). The city of talkers yielded rich material for his characters. His destination was the town centre at K.R. Circle and Srinivasa Stores, from where he got a special kind of lavanga without which he couldn’t write, and M. Krishnaswamy & Sons on Sayyaji Rao Road, who supplied him with the tools of his craft. He made several stops along the way, antennae on the alert for stories. There was always time for stimulating conversation with the people he met. Indeed, as he notes in his 1974 memoir, My Days, many pressing issues of the day, “were settled on the promenades of Mysore.”

A backbencher at the Maharaja’s College from where he graduated, Narayan honed his writing skills and powers of observation working as a stringer for a Madras newspaper, The Justice. The joint family he lived in shored him up financially. When he decided he wanted to be a full-time writer of fiction in English, Narayan knew he was opting for a vocation that had not been heard of in India. In the 1930s, there was no literary tradition he could fall back on; no publisher or audience waiting to receive his first novel, Swami and Friends.

For years the manuscript sat on various publishers’ desks in England. A despondent Narayan gave up hope of ever finding a home for his “ugly orphan” as he called it. Yet somebody other than his grandmother believed in him. That was Kittu Purna, a friend from Mysore studying at Exeter College, Oxford. Purna disregarded Narayan’s entreaty that he “weight the manuscript with a stone and drown it in the Thames.” He did go to London however, and, with a phenomenal heave of the imagination, landed the manuscript, not in the Thames but at the door of one of England’s great writers: Graham Greene. Charmed out of his skin by the sheer theatre of Narayan’s little provincial town and its delightful people, Greene saw to it that Swami and Friends was published in England.

A series of wonderful novels, 14 to be exact, and scores of Narayan’s short stories written over a period of 60 years, are set in Malgudi. For many, the town, nestling somewhere between the forested Mempi Hills and the Sarayu River, is the real hero in his fiction. In its creator’s lifetime, speculation about Malgudi’s exact location fuelled an industry of research and never failed to amuse him. A New York researcher even went so far as to compile a map of Malgudi, a cartographic fiction of course, which pleased the author and was published in his 1981 collection, Malgudi Days.

Did Mysore inspire Malgudi? Most of Narayan’s contemporaries, among them Dr. M.N. Srinivas and H.Y. Sharada Prasad, thought so. Ramchandra Guha thinks it’s the town of Nanjangud while former ambassador A. Madhavan sees typical Mysore signposts of the 1960s in the Boardless Hotel, a popular eating joint of those times, and the ubiquitous jutkas, then the undisputed kings of the road.

While the exercise of matching up Malgudi with Mysore continues to draw the nerds, RKN himself was always non-committal on the subject. Though he did take a BBC crew around Mysore to familiar landmarks such as the Chamarajapuram Railway Station, where his story apparently began, he insisted that Malgudi existed only in his imagination and, therefore, he was free from the constraints that chronicling an actual place would impose. “I wanted to be able to put in whatever I liked and wherever I liked – a little street or school or a temple or a bungalow or even a slum, a railway line, at any spot, a minor despot in a little world. …..I began to be fascinated by its possibilities; its river, market-place, and the far-off mountain roads and forests.”

Despite the ambivalence here, there can be little doubt that many of RKN’s memorable characters were inspired by the real life people he met in Mysore. Syd Harrex, the Australian poet and Narayan scholar, once told me he’d met Cheluva Iyengar, undoubtedly the model for Mr. Sampath, at the writer’s Yadavagiri house for an interview recorded in 1972. Syd recalled that RKN had gifted Cheluva Iyengar a copy of Mr. Sampath – the Printer of Malgudi and had inscribed it so – ‘To Sampath the original.’

Cut to the present and the mammoth task confronting the authorities with regard to converting RKN’s home in Yadavagiri into a fitting memorial for the writer. Ten years ago, when the Sahitya Akademi held a seminar in Mysore to mark Narayan’s birth centenary, scholars visited this intriguing double-storied, cream-coloured house. In the semi-circular first floor study with its eight windows and criss-cross grills, they lingered to let imagination take wing, picturing the bird-like figure of the writer hard at work spinning the Malgudi magic that brings the world to Mysore’s doorstep.

The recent centenary celebrations have reinforced Mysore’s reputation as a University town. No doubt the decision to involve the University in establishing a Research Centre for archival and scholarly materials pertaining to R.K. Narayan will also involve Dhvanyaloka, the Centre for Literature and the Arts set up by the late Prof. C.D. Narasimhaiah (CDN). R.K. Narayan, scholars from India and around the world have always homed onto Dhvanyaloka where Prof. CDN guided countless numbers painstakingly through their research. The tradition has continued with CDN’s family, all English teachers, and CDN’s pupils from the University of Mysore who pioneered research into Indian Writing in English, having picked up the baton.

Among the resources which should be available here are T.S. Satyan’s priceless photographs of the writer, including one of him playing cricket in the compound of his Lakshmipuram house. A Trust run by Satyan’s family now takes care of all his work. However, one hurdle which will somehow have to be circumvented is the fact that all the writer’s manuscripts are with the Boston University Library, preserved in air-conditioned lockers. Only recently, in an expression of goodwill, the US has returned precious artefacts to India. Surely, Boston University can be persuaded to part with at least a fraction of the Malgudi man’s work from their archives. And hopefully, we’ll be able to take good care of this gift.

However, Mysureans looking to perpetuate RKN’s legacy please be a

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / July 13th, 2016

A Royal Interview …..: “It is an arranged , not a love marriage ,” says Yaduveer’s Father-in-Law

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All

If there was one constant refrain in the last ten days in Mysuru it was “Are you attending the royal wedding, did you get the invitation?” This was to witness a historic wedding after 40 years when the titular head Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar tied the knot on June 27, 2016. The royals from different parts of the country had descended to watch the six-day wedding in all its pomp and glory. Rajmata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar had planned the whole marriage to perfection that was watched by the whole world on their television screens and the lucky few in the opulent, magnificent Mysore Palace. The focus was also on the beautiful bride Trishikha Kumari Singh and her father Maharaja Kumar Harshavardhan Singh of Dungarpur and mother Rajkumari Maheshree Kumari.

After the six-day wedding, Star of Mysore caught up with a relaxed Harshavardhan Singh at Hotel Radisson Blu. The handsome Mr. Harshavardhan Singh, 60, was sitting relaxed in the lobby of the hotel after participating in the six days of hectic wedding rituals of his daughter. He was very articulate, witty and spoke at length about the wedding, the wonderful preparations made by Rajmata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, about the young, newly-married couple, about whether it was love marriage or an arranged one, his entry into politics as the Rajya Sabha MP and how he has fallen in love with Mysuru. Excerpts.

Harshavardhan Singh being interviewed by N. Niranjan Nikam at Radisson Blu.
Harshavardhan Singh being interviewed by N. Niranjan Nikam at Radisson Blu.

by N. Niranjan Nikam, Senior Journalist

Star of Mysore (SOM): Sir, just as Mysuru is in the Southern-most part of Karnataka, Dungarpur is a city in the Southern-most part of Rajasthan. The coincidence begins from here. You also have a grand legacy like the Wadiyars. How do you feel about the union of the two Princely families?

Harshavardhan Singh: Well, I feel very elated and happy that we are being part of the great Wadiyar dynasty. This is the first time we have come to the South. We had never gone South to find brides or grooms from Dungarpur. Our relations have always been with the Royal families of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan, like the Royalty of Bharathpur.

SOM: The match between Yaduveer and Trishikha, as everyone gushes, is a match made in heaven? As Mysureans we are very proud of our titular head of Wadiyar dynasty. What is the reaction in Dungarpur?

Harshavardhan Singh: Everyone is happy in our city also like they are happy here. I am getting calls from all over India. There is lots of excitement and this marriage is covered in all Rajasthan newspapers and a very prominent national newspaper carried the wedding photograph on their front page in their Delhi edition. I am also happy that Star of Mysore has covered this historic wedding very well.

SOM: Rajmata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar as we all know has planned the whole wedding meticulously and the whole world is a witness to it. What has been your experience in the last seven days?

Harshavardhan Singh: Well, it has really opened our eyes. We also follow the rituals and other ceremonies in our families. But it will last for just two or three days and a couple of hours each day. However, what we saw here was the Wadiyar dynasty culture and tradition being kept alive to the last detail. Madam has planned everything so well that every day the rituals were conducted according to the family traditions and it began in the morning and went on till the evening. That is how it should be; one must maintain our culture and traditions like visiting the temples for puja. I must tell you that both Yaduveer and Trishikha are also fully aware of the traditions and I am sure they will also keep it alive. They are young but still very mature. I have no words to thank Mrs. Wadiyar for all the wonderful arrangements she has made. We are all going back with very fond and ever-lasting memories.

SOM: There is a confusion about whether this is a love marriage or an arranged marriage. As the father of the bride, please clarify once and for all what it is?

Harshavardhan Singh: I am glad you asked me this question because there is so much being written about it. It is not a love marriage. Trishikha’s mother’s younger sister is married to Kamakshi Devi’s (daughter of the late Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar) son. Hence, there is already a Mysuru connection among us. Yaduveer and Trishikha would meet on social occasions. When we were looking for a boy for our daughter, she said that she would not mind marrying Yaduveer. We knew Swarup Anand Gopal Raj Urs and Leela Tripurasundari Devi (biological parents of Yaduveer). We approached them. But they said that it was too early as their son was studying in the US.

After a lot of convincing they agreed but still said they had to think about it as the horoscopes (Janampatti) had to match. There are about 34-36 points which have to match and there is the ex-amount of marks for that. Luckily, they matched. However, you must also remember that first Yaduveer had to agree to the match. Again, luckily he also did. Then we have what is called ‘Roka’ which means ok or in other words you have locked it in (laughs loudly). This happened in 2013. The late Highness Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar came to the engagement and also hosted a dinner for us at the Bangalore Palace with the band playing. We were just beginning to get to know him. He had attended one of our relative’s wedding in Mount Abu. It was a tragic shock for all of us. But Her Highness has very bravely withstood the shock and then adopted Yaduveer. I came for the adoption ceremony, but I was not able to come to the coronation as we were opening a museum in Dungarpur.

You must remember that my Sambandis (He asked for an equivalent word in Kannada and I told him that it is Beegaru which he then kept repeating) have changed between the engagement and marriage. If it was Swarup and Leela when the engagement took place it is now Her Highness. It must be a very unique occasion that has happened. I reiterate that it is an arranged marriage and not a love marriage.

SOM: Yaduveer has captured the hearts and minds of the younger generation and the people of Mysuru and it is just a matter of time before Trishikha also does. Do you want to give any advice to them?

Harshavardhan Singh: You are sitting on a very high pedestal. People have lots of expectations from you. This is a very huge responsibility. There are lots of problems. I would tell them, keep life simple and be grounded. But, I know that the young couple are very mature and grounded and they will rise to the occasion.

Theirs is more of an intellectual match. He studied economics and she used to lecture on a few subjects in her class. Both read a lot of books. Hence, I don’t think I need to give them any advice at all.

SOM: You have been elected as the Rajya Sabha Member as a BJP candidate. Why did you seek to be a member of the Upper House?

Harshavardhan Singh: I didn’t seek the membership. I have never sought it. It was a pleasant bolt from the blue, so to say. I have been a great supporter of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and a great fan of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also Amit Shah.

Unlike many who try for the Rajya Sabha membership, I did nothing. My grandfather, the last Princely ruler of Dungarpur, Maharwal Shri Lakshman Singh Bahadur was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1952. He was also a four-time MLA. He was in State politics and became the Speaker.

Probably because of all this I have been chosen, thanks to the CM. The area I come from is a tribal area. I have been chosen because it is reserved for the tribes. I belong to the Swara Jathi. It is an upper caste. This is my first time in politics. People of Dungarpur have lots of expectations. You must see the interest and the adulation that people accord me.

My grand uncle, Dr. Nagendra Singh was the President of the International Court of Justice, The Hague and also one of the persons involved in framing the Constitution. My uncle the late Raj Singh Dungarpur (my father’s younger brother) was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. We all love sports and I play cricket, squash and tennis.

SOM: That means both your son-in-law and you are charting the same path?

Harshavardhan Singh: Yes, we are on a similar journey. We now have to brace it out and both of us have two responsible postings (smiles).

SOM: Will you influence your son-in-law to enter politics since he has shown his inclination?

Harshavardhan Singh: I will not influence him. I will never do it (he tells very emphatically). I don’t think Yaduveer will enter politics. He has lots of responsibilities and he has to look after many things. Of course, Her Highness is there to guide him through. He may be interested in politics. Being interested and getting into it are two different things. Most Indians are interested in politics and that is why you cannot take the electorate for granted. Even the very poor know how to vote. Hats off to the Election Commission for doing a great job. The corruption and booth rigging have more or less come down.

SOM: The Royalties in the North, especially from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and a few other States have always had a better deal from the respective governments, unlike in Karnataka where people feel the Wadiyars have not been treated so kindly. Will this change now?

Harshavardhan Singh: I hope so. In Karnataka, Mysuru is the only State, unlike, in Rajasthan where we have so many States and hence there used to be many rulers.

There is no doubt that the Wadiyars have been treated unkindly in spite of their immense contribution to the State. There are lots of heritage properties in India, which only the Royals know how to maintain. The criticism against the Royals is that all they were interested in is girls, wine and song. Only Princes know how to look after the heritage. It is an inseparable part of their life.

SOM: The kings among hoteliers Maharana Arvind Singh Mewar and Maharajah Gaj Singh of Jodhpur were some of the distinguished guests at the Royal wedding. Have the Dungarpur Royals also been inspired to start hotels?

Harshavardhan Singh: Maharaja Kishangarh is also a big name in the hotel industry, though he was not present at the wedding.

I started the Udai Bilas Palace Hotel in Dungarpur in 1993 and it is doing quite well. It is the only heritage hotel in that part of a 100 km stretch. It is close to Gujarat and however, in Rajasthan, tourism has been given a big boost. The poorest of Rajput has become a tourist guide and is earning well. He also runs a home stay. I only hope that the Mysuru Royal family gets back its properties.

Coming to Mysuru, the more I see of it, I fall in love with it. You have such a nice Race Course and inside it a Golf Course, boulevards built during Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar’s time, you feel like you are in Europe. It is a clean and green city, a heritage city with lovely gardens and it has a good education system.

SOM: What is the emblem that is carried on your business card?

Harshavardhan Singh: The emblem or the crest depicts two tribals holding the shield with Hanuman inside carrying the Sanjeevini, the chink (antelope) on the top and with the motto inscribed “Nyayam Chirajayam,” meaning Justice for All.

SOM: After the wedding reception in Bengaluru on July 2, will you host a reception in Dungarpur?

Harshavardhan Singh: A few reports have said that I will be hosting a reception in Delhi. It is not true. You can’t go on and on. Her Highness has already done the best in hosting this wedding.

I have got both my daughters married off. My elder daughter Shivatmika is married to Tikka Saheb Jaideepsinhji Mandhattasinhji, the grandson of HH Thakore Saheb Shri Manoharsinhji Pradyumansinhji of Rajkot, last year in January.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles /by N. Niranjan Nikam, Sr. Journalist / July 02nd, 2016

A fitting tribute to a Scholar King

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Major-General H.H. Maharaja Sri Sir Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar Bahadur, Maharaja of Mysuru – 18 July 1919 to 23 Sept., 1974

1) The portrait of Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar that was used to sculpt the statue. 2) The life-size Italian marble statue of Sri Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, sculpted by Arun Yogiraj & team of city, was installed at Hardinge Circle after a 10-hour-long process in the wee hours of June 20, 2016.
1) The portrait of Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar that was used to sculpt the statue.
2) The life-size Italian marble statue of Sri Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, sculpted by Arun Yogiraj & team of city, was installed at Hardinge Circle after a 10-hour-long process in the wee hours of June 20, 2016.

by R.G. Singh Secretary, Ramsons Kala Pratishtana

Very soon, Hardinge Circle will be known as Jayachamarajendra Circle as the city finally honours the last ruler of the erstwhile Mysuru State with the installation of a full-body portrait statue of the last Maharaja of Mysuru.

Hardinge Circle was named in commemoration of the visit of Viceroy Lord Hardinge to Mysuru. There used to be a flowery hedged circle with a high post with five domed lights in the middle of the crossroads. The circular garden vanished without a trace yet the name remained, ‘Hardinge Circle’, called raucously by bus conductors, ‘Aardinsurkel.’

The location of the Jayachamarajendra Circle at the culmination of the Albert Victor Road is meaningful as we already have the statues of two other iconic rulers of Mysuru in a row. KR Circle, as it is known, is a commemorative statue to His Highness Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar whose achievements for the well-being and development of Mysuru has been well-documented, likewise the majestic commemorative statue of Chamarajendra Wadiyar in front of the Jayarama and Balarama gate of the Palace.

History seems to have ‘overlooked’ the reign, brief though it was, of Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar. Major-General H.H. Maharaja Sri Sir Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar Bahadur, Maharaja of Mysuru. He was born on 18 July 1919 at the Chamundi Vihar Palace to Yuvarani Kempu Cheluvajammanni Avaru and H.H. Yuvaraja Kanthirava Narasimharaja Wadiyar Bahadur.

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar had his early schooling at the Lokaranjan Mahal Royal School followed by graduate studies at Maharaja’s College of Mysore University and awarded a BA in 1938.

The death of his father on 11 March 1940 led to the title, ‘Yuvaraja Bahadur’ being conferred on him. The death of his uncle, the Maharaja on 3 August 1940, led to Jayachamarajendra ascending the throne on 29 August 1940 and anointed and installed as the Maharaja of Mysuru on 8 September 1940.

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar was installed as the ruler of Mysuru at a time when the winds of freedom were blowing across the country. The nascent freedom fighters had already made inroads in various parts of the State. Mysuru was not an exception. Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar signed the ‘Instrument of Accession’ on 9 August 1947 and Mysuru became a part of the Dominion of India on 15 August 1947. With an agreement merging Mysuru with Indian Union on 26 January 1950, he ceased to be sovereign.

Later he was installed as ‘Rajapramukh’ of the State of Mysuru and held this post till 31 October 1956. He was made the Governor of Mysuru on 1 November 1956 and continued till 3 May 1964, further he was made the Governor of Madras and he served till 25 June 1966.

The then Maharaja had made certain conditions to the accession of Mysuru to the Republic of India and this assurance made by the then party in power was rudely given a jolt when an Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 28 December 1971 by which the position of countless rulers were deprived of their rights as ‘rulers’ and the privy purse guaranteed under the accession agreement was abolished. Overnight, kings became ‘commoners.’

This betrayal led to an anguished Maharaja forsake the grand Dasara celebrations; placing the royal sword on the throne he retreated to a private forest reserve near Bandipur.

H.H. Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar married twice. The first marriage which took place at the Kalyana Mantapa of the Palace on 15 May 1938 was to Satya Premakumari Devi-ammanni avaru, the daughter of Pratap Singh Deo Bahadur of Jigni. The couple had no children. The Maharaja’s second marriage was to Maharani Tripurasundari Devi Ammanni Avaru, daughter of Balananja Raje Urs, an officer in the Mysuru State Forces. Both Maharanis died at Mysuru in 1983 within a span of fifteen days.

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar died on 23 September 1974 at the Bangalore Palace leaving behind one son and four daughters (the eldest daughter had predeceased him).

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar was an accomplished musician in both Karnatak and Western Classical music. He was an excellent pianist and there was a time when he expressed the desire to be a concert pianist and play with the great orchestras of Europe. In 1948, he was elected President of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Society. He was also an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London (1946) and a Licentiate of the famed Guildhall School of Music.

Blessed with an ear for music, Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar discovered Russian composer Nikolai Karlovich Medtner. A contemporary of Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, he wrote several compositions, all of which include the piano. Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar discovered Medtner when the latter was living in London and in failing health. The Maharaja founded the Medtner Society with the objective of recording all Medtner’s works and managed to record several concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra whose first president was the Maharaja. In gratitude to his patron, Medtner dedicated his Third Piano Concerto to the Maharaja of Mysuru.

The Maharaja was also equally at home in the realm of Karnatak music, both as an instrumentalist and a composer. There are 74 Karnatak compositions by him.

He was also the Vice-Chancellor of Mysore, Madras, Annamalai Universities as well as the Benares Hindu University. Like his forefathers he was a Patron & Chief Scout of Mysuru State between 1940-1956, Chairman of the Wildlife Board of India. He was conferred a Hon LL.D by the Banaras Hindu University (1942), a D.Lit. by the Annamalai University in 1955 and a Hon. D.Lit. from the University of Queensland, Australia.

That he was deeply spiritual can be gauged by his scholarly books: “An Aspect of Indian Aesthetics” (1956), “Dattatreya-the Way and the Goal” (1957), “The Quest for Peace: An Indian Approach” (1959), “The Gita and Indian Culture” (1963) and “Religion and Man” (1965).

It is said that he had visited the ashram of the sage, Ramana Maharishi, in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. No Palace diarist has recorded this meeting but what is available is a book published by the ashram, ‘Day by day with Bhagavan’ by one Devaraja Mudaliar. In an entry dated 1945, there is Devaraja Mudaliar and others talking to Ramana Maharishi. Asks Mudaliar: ‘It is said that the Mysuru Maharaja had come to see you.’ Nodding in agreement, the Sage replies: ‘He just sat quietly. He did not ask any questions. After sometime he bowed and took his leave saying that he would like to live here but the call of his people was too strong.’

Maharaja was also a good equestrian and fond of dogs. Regular visitors to the Palace in the late 50s would normally be shocked when they were in the Amba Vilas waiting to see the Maharaja, they would instead be forced into immobility as a pair of giant hounds wandered in and sat flanking the hapless visitor. The Maharaja would arrive, apologise on behalf of the dogs. “They will not hurt a fly” the Maharaja is said to have remarked leading one of the visitors to comment later on, “but I am not a fly.’ The Maharaja was quite accessible to his subjects and visitors.

Those fortunate enough to have met him would unanimously say, ‘A gentleman and a scholar.’

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / by  R.G. Singh, Secretary,  Ramsons Kala Pratishtana  / July 02nd, 2016

Mysuru to witness royal marriage of Yaduveer Wodeyar with Trishika

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Maharaja of Mysore duing pre-marriage rituals
Maharaja of Mysore duing pre-marriage rituals

Mysuru:

Maharaja of Mysore Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar will today tie the nuptial knot with Trishika Kumari Singh ,  who belongs to a royal family of Rajasthan.

The iconic Mysore Palace Amba Vilas Palace has been decked up for the royal wedding of Wodeyar family scion Yaduveer.

Trishika is the daughter of Harshvardhan Singh and Maheshri Kumari from the Dungarpur royal family in Rajasthan. The marriage ceremony will take place at the kalyana mandapa at the karkataka lagna and savitra mahurat time between 9.05 a.m. and 9.35 a.m.

The elaborate pre-marriage rituals had commenced on June 24.

The groom took a ‘yenne snana’ or oil bath early on Saturday morning, followed by a ‘pada puja’ of Parakala Mutt’s Abhinava Vagheesha Brahmatantra Swatantra Swamy , who is the family’s rajguru.

As per established custom, the rituals began in the Mysore Palace in the presence of Pramoda Devi, the Queen mother and other family elders.

24-year-old Yaduveer was crowned as the ostensible head of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family in a traditional ceremony held on May 28 last year.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / New Home> City> Bangalore / ANI / June 27th, 2016