Controversy in death and life

( Photograph is courtesy Daiji World )  

Teerthahalli a sleepy and quiet hamlet in Karnataka at the foothills of the Western Ghats is home to some of the states iconic writers and tallest literary figures. 

U.R. Ananathamurthy who died a few days ago is one such personality who was brilliant and unconventional and rarely shied away from controversy. He received the Jnanpith award in 1994, one of many Kannada writers who have done so and the Padma Bhushan in 1998.

His novel in Kannada, Samskara, translated to English by A.K.Ramanujan where Ananthamurthy describes the throes of a religious man midst of a decadent and rotten village of Brahmins and their archaic customs.This particular effort did not endear him to the Brahmin community even more so when he was a part of the community.

He was in the wake of controversy again after a Kannada news channel telecast a report about scholar and former Vice Chancellor of the Kannada University M M Kalburgi’s comments at a public programme. Speaking at a programme on Kalburgi had referred to remarks made by U R Ananthamurthy about idol worship in a collection of essays called “Bettale Puje Yake Kudadhu” (roughly translated as “Why nude worship is not acceptable”). The book was published in 1996.

In an essay in the book, Ananthamurthy talks about a childhood experience in which he urinates on a particular deity of the village, in a bid to challenge his traditional upbringing and the prevailing Hindu belief that everything was sacred. Many Hindu’s were not amused and URA was charged with hurting religious sentiment.

URA also decided that Narendra Modi smelt of fascism and wrote unstintingly against Modi, even threatening to leave the country should Modi be the nation’s Prime Minister. Not surprisingly he was presented with tickets to Pakistan, soon after Modi won the May 2014 general elections, leaving him rather red faced. However, after Modi became the Prime Minister, he did a complete U-turn, saying the remark was made when he was overcome by emotion and failing health.

On his death right wing activists allegedly burst crackers to ‘celebrate’ his demise leading to so called ‘secular’ organization calling for protests against this act. 

Ananthamurthty was a quiet man from a quiet place and I’m sure would be chuckling at both: the folk who celebrated his demise and those that are protesting against those that did. The irony is that Murthy believed in free speech and expression and I’m sure he would defend that even in death when on the receiving end of public opinion.

Ironically the funeral ceremonies were conducted in true Brahminical fashion with fifteen priests chanting Hindu hymns from the Vedas and performing the last rites while his son lighted the funeral pyre. This was apparently as per the wishes of Ananthamurthy, the man who courted controversy in life and death.

Mad Monkeys and Dictators!

The freshly minted Indian parliament saw a strange language being spoken. Hitherto the only other tongues heard there were Hindi, English & Hindustani.Curious parliamentarians were told that this language was Kannada and spoken in what was called Mysore. The gentleman who spoke this language further made a strange request, he said that the President of India should alter between the north & south!
The same year, a north Indian city saw a strange problem. A rabid monkey was at war with mankind and had bitten about a hundred people. The monkey could not be put down, because in this land, for Hindus, the monkey embodies the God 'Hanuman'. The Prime Minister of India shot off a furious letter to the Chief Minister, asking if he planned to hand over the city and eventually the state to monkeys? Sanity was restored and the mad monkey met its end, whatever its standing might have been.
The year I'm alluding to is 1950! One can see the attempt at inclusiveness and rationality, since which we ( India ) have bungled along, from one crisis to another, even while saying that we are growing to be an economic power.The inclusiveness that the gent from Mysore proposed has all but disappeared even as the disparity between the rich & poor widens and rationality went out of the window with the Babri Masjid & the burning of passengers at Godhra, in Gujarat.
Greater wealth has brought about a strange myopia and lassitude in handling issues which require urgent attention. The politician in India as well as the general well heeled population feel that we will not have an Egypt like uprising here because we go to the polls every five years and elect a motley crew of politicians, to run our ship. Absolute hogwash! The Indian poor is a patient animal but one can feel that patience running thin and when it eventually wears, it is going to be a day of reckoning for many.Unfortunately these kind of revolutions are rarely directed and have tragic consequences for the innocent as well.
Has the Libyan dictator Col.Gaddafi met his end? Amidst increasing chaos the dictator says his people love him? Do they, after 200 or more protesters have been killed and exapts of all hues flee Libya? Shades of a mad monkey?