Profiles

Childhood and Education

During his childhood he lost eyesight in one of his eyes while playing gilli-daṇḍa^[1]. By 1947 he lost eyesight in the other eye too. Thus all his main works were dictated and written by a scribe. His writing skills and his memory were extraordinary.

Unspirited Functioning

Despite all this, the administration showed no increase in its spirit and enthusiasm. I have thought about its reason. In my view, it was the lack of intensity, drive, and spirit of freshness in people, which caused this. Let me quote an example.

By nature, Narasinga Rao Purnaiah [i.e. Krishnamurti] was a great person. He was a generous man who carried a serious disposition and was a well-informed reader of books. His eyes had lost their sharpness. Yet he would closely read and grasp the most difficult of treatises.

Political acumen, rights and duties of the citizens, answerability of the government, the role of newspapers in protecting the welfare of the people – these things found expression in a hitherto unseen rigour for the first time in Karnataka (the erstwhile Mysore state) during 1928–29. The ‘Ganapati Riots’ of Sultanpet, Bangalore provided the stage for this.

Heavenly Friendship

My maternal grandmother Sakamma lived a long and healthy life. Cooking was an integral part of her daily routine. She was also responsible for the safekeeping and storage of the groceries. And she also had to keep the kitchen and the hall neat and tidy. She never took a day off. Like how my chikka tata (grandfather's younger brother) Ramanna took up the responsibility of managing the finances without running away from it, every single day, my grandmother held the responsibility of the household duties with the same alertness.

A Blossomed Heart