Mysore: “While Dr G.S. Shivarudrappa dedicated his most famous poem ‘ede thumbi haadidenu,’ to my father, my father too thought of him as one of his two eyes. That was the relationship they shared. His death has shocked my family as we feel like we have lost one of our own,” said T.S. Chayapathi, son of Thalukina ShyamaRao, who the late Dr G.S.S often referred to as “Priya Meshtru” (favourite teacher).
Thalukina Shyama Rao was the eminent poet’s teacher while he did his BA honours and MA at the Maharaja College. Reflecting on their personal rapport, Chayapathi says it all began one day in the late 1940s when G.S.S came to college on an empty stomach and almost fainted with hunger during his father’s Kannada class.
“Soon after the class my father asked him if he had had any breakfast and when he said he had not he brought him home and food was served on a plantain leaf to both of them. My father jokingly told him, “eat shamelessly. It was at this time that their personal relationship sprouted and lasted forever,” he recalled. Dr G.S.S. will be cremated with full state honours on Thursday.
