By Prof MS Thimmappa
When I joined Maharaja's College, Mysore, in 1959 for my degree course, UR Ananthamurthy (URA) had just joined as teacher in the English department of Mysore University where he had also studied.Giri Hegde and G S Sadashiva, my close friends as well as school and college mates (we were known as three inseparables) were prominent short-story writers at that time. They took me to meet URA first in the college canteen and subsequently at his residence.
URA became a part my intellectual, social and personal climate ever since. Although he was a teacher and we were students, he treated everyone as equals. He would wade into discussions on a range of issues, always with deep involvement, fresh ideas and a style that possessed magical attraction. It was impossible not to be impressed and influenced by him.
Subsequently, much later, there were many functional relationships as well. When I was president of the Federation of University Teachers' Association, he was the president of its constituent Mysore University Teachers' Association. Together we have conducted meetings, waged a demonstration and been on strikes. URA was one of my staunch supporters. When I was Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University, he was a visiting professor of English in the Kannada department for a year. He was also instrumental in bringing Ramchandra Gandhi, a renowned phi losopher (also grandson of Mahatma Gandhi) as visiting professor for Bangalore University.
The close interaction we had was of course in Mysore City, both at his residence and in Coffee House at Dasprakash Hotel circle. Almost every evening we would congregate at Coffee House, two large tables occupied by fine literary minds. It was URA who introduced us to modernity and modern literature both in English--think TS Eliot, WB Yeats, JP Sartre, Albert Camus and Franz Kafka--and in Kannada (Gopalakrishna Adiga and Yashwant Chittala, among others). There used to be heated discussions as we walked from the city or Crawford Hall to Saraswatipuram, all the heat by URA on subjects ranging from DH Lawrence and Simone de Beauvoir to Shivaram Karanth and RK Narayan. URA always bristled with fresh ideas, deep thinking and wide reading. His openness, affection and respect for all around him are astounding and endearing.
Some people have called URA an opportunist, claiming he sided with power to win awards or gain position. But when one interacted with him, read his short stories, novels or other works, one at once realised that those allegation fall aside as irrelevant to his genius.His many short stories, novels and non-fiction works have brought light and freedom.
(The writer was a close friend of UR Ananthamurthy and a former Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University.)
When I joined Maharaja's College, Mysore, in 1959 for my degree course, UR Ananthamurthy (URA) had just joined as teacher in the English department of Mysore University where he had also studied.Giri Hegde and G S Sadashiva, my close friends as well as school and college mates (we were known as three inseparables) were prominent short-story writers at that time. They took me to meet URA first in the college canteen and subsequently at his residence.
URA became a part my intellectual, social and personal climate ever since. Although he was a teacher and we were students, he treated everyone as equals. He would wade into discussions on a range of issues, always with deep involvement, fresh ideas and a style that possessed magical attraction. It was impossible not to be impressed and influenced by him.
Subsequently, much later, there were many functional relationships as well. When I was president of the Federation of University Teachers' Association, he was the president of its constituent Mysore University Teachers' Association. Together we have conducted meetings, waged a demonstration and been on strikes. URA was one of my staunch supporters. When I was Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University, he was a visiting professor of English in the Kannada department for a year. He was also instrumental in bringing Ramchandra Gandhi, a renowned phi losopher (also grandson of Mahatma Gandhi) as visiting professor for Bangalore University.
The close interaction we had was of course in Mysore City, both at his residence and in Coffee House at Dasprakash Hotel circle. Almost every evening we would congregate at Coffee House, two large tables occupied by fine literary minds. It was URA who introduced us to modernity and modern literature both in English--think TS Eliot, WB Yeats, JP Sartre, Albert Camus and Franz Kafka--and in Kannada (Gopalakrishna Adiga and Yashwant Chittala, among others). There used to be heated discussions as we walked from the city or Crawford Hall to Saraswatipuram, all the heat by URA on subjects ranging from DH Lawrence and Simone de Beauvoir to Shivaram Karanth and RK Narayan. URA always bristled with fresh ideas, deep thinking and wide reading. His openness, affection and respect for all around him are astounding and endearing.
Some people have called URA an opportunist, claiming he sided with power to win awards or gain position. But when one interacted with him, read his short stories, novels or other works, one at once realised that those allegation fall aside as irrelevant to his genius.His many short stories, novels and non-fiction works have brought light and freedom.
(The writer was a close friend of UR Ananthamurthy and a former Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University.)
