A story-teller's world unveils in writer's museum

True to its various epithets, including ‘Heritage City,’ Mysuru is home to over 600 heritage buildings. According to the Heritage Committee constituted by the district administration to chalk out plans for their conservation and development, a list of 201 heritage buildings that need to be conserved has been prepared.

In the past one week however, two of these buildings have been demolished and they will slip into history as commercial complexes with more carpet area will come up in their place.

 In the midst of the demolition there is some heartening news of conservation too. Although writer R K Narayan’s house is not in the list of heritage buildings as it was constructed only in the early 1950s, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) took up the cause to renovate it for posterity. The renovation was initiated following public demand mostly on the social media and by pro-active media.

The bungalow is a two-storey building on a site measuring 90 ft x120 ft totalling 10,800 square feet. Narayan died at his daughter’s residence in Chennai on May 13, 2001 but he had vacated the bungalow much earlier. Only a private guard was in charge of the whole building for many years.

A decade later in September 2011, the bungalow was sold to a private party. Everything remained under cover till the buyer started to demolish the building only to invite the wrath of the people and famous personalities alike. Demolition works were stopped and the MCC officials, who had given permission to pull down the structure, were suspended. The MCC revoked the order for demolition.

Though MCC officials made a bid to buy the building to convert it into a museum, Narayan’s legal heirs, his grandchildren Bhuvaneshwari and Srinivasan, backed off by expressing dissatisfaction over the price quoted.

They finally agreed to sell it for Rs 2.4 crore. Later, the MCC restored the bungalow at an estimated cost of Rs 35 lakh, including Rs 29.50 lakh on civil works and Rs 5 lakh on landscaping, gardening and other works.

Narayan’s nephew R S Jayaram and his family members also agreed to offer the writer’s personal articles including his clothes, spectacles, reference books and furniture. The museum now has two cots, a table, a sofa and the chair and desk used by Narayan, his photographs and two cartons of books from his collection and other articles are on display. Different awards and honours received by him have also found a place here.

Toral Varia, a former journalist, speaking to DH over telephone from Delhi, said that she stumbled upon a signboard at Ayurveda College Circle showing the direction towards the R K Narayan’s House during her tour to the city last weekend and decided to visit it at any cost even though it was around 3 km from the signboard.

“It is a beautiful place but it needs a little more publicity,” she said.

Purnima Gupta, an IT professional from Delhi, living in Bengaluru said, she had lived in Mysuru for some time and when her friends planned a weekend visit to Mysuru, she made it a point that they visit the museum.

“The museum authorities should sell some small souvenirs. They can also arrange a small audio-visual show about the writer and his times,” she said.

Supervisor M V Anand Kumar said that since its opening on July 23, 2016, over 3,000 people have visited the museum with a minimum of over 15 people visiting the premise on any given day.

“The museum is open from 10 am to 5 pm and is closed on Tuesdays. The number of visitors are comparatively more over the weekends,” he said.