U R Ananthamurthy , whose writings spurred social transformation, to be given state honours
U.R. Ananthamurthy's funeral will be held in Kalagrama near Bangalore University campus at 3 pm on Saturday (Photo: DC)
Bengaluru: “Most people know Dr Ananthamurthy as a writer, but to me, he was a philosopher. He saw life differently and altered our perception of things, too.” This was filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli’s heartfelt testimony to his good friend and adviser Dr U.R. Ananthamurthy, soon after the latter’s demise on Friday evening.
Kasaravalli and poet Dr Jayant Kaikini were among a long line of eminent personalities who visited Manipal Hospital on Friday evening to pay their last respects to the behemoth of Kannada culture and literature.
Chaos reigned at the hospital, thanks to a torrent of media reports that continued all through Friday. Rumours about his condition ran rife through the city, a shortage of facts and an overabundance of imagination resulted in absolute confusion. Media personnel thronged the hospital premises, while Dr Ananthamurthy's wife and children remained in the ICU, well out of sight.
Close to a dozen policemen were deployed around the hospital, who tightened security to ensure that the necessary arrangements were made in peace. Dr Ananthamurthy's body was shifted to his house in Dollar’s Colony in RMV Extension in an ambulance, a little after 8 pm. The funeral is likely to be held in Kalagram near Bangalore University campus at 3 pm on Saturday.
Dr Ananthamurthy was first put on dialysis in 2010, but that didn't dampen his enthusiasm. He even travelled to London in 2013 for the Man Booker International Prize, at a great cost to his physical wellbeing.
Revered by Kannadigas and respected the world over, Dr Ananthamurthy’s works were chiefly concerned with the many intricacies of living in Karnataka, its traditions and shortcomings, combined with a profound knack for putting life in perspective. He always showed an affinity for politics and his works often intersperse larger socio-political situations and their impact on the nuances of day-to-day living. Novelist and literary critic Chandrahas Choudhury once wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the power of Ananthamurthy's fiction "resides in the way its universal ideas are worked out through the frame of the local."
His was a lifelong dance with controversy, a life lived with absolute courage, no matter how bad things got or how loud the critics screamed. He continued his questioning of cultural and social norms, despite being ridiculed for some of his political statements.
At his home in Dollar's Colony last year, during an interview with Deccan Chronicle, he looked back on a life that had already been lived to the fullest, with success courting him at every turn. “It always sought me, but fame shouldn't change the way you see the world,” he said.
“It's a very existential feeling, to finally come to see every human being as just that, without tying them to their caste or status in life. It is a gift that only writing can bring you. It makes you feel like a child again.” He trailed off at this point, as if gazing into a world only he could see and muttered, “It's been a good life.”
That was one year ago. His health deteriorated rapidly since and he even lost his eyesight in the last few months of his life. Doctors at Manipal Hospital admit that he had been
in and out of hospital of late, due to kidney ailments.
He was admitted ten days ago with renal failure, which led to a severe lung and kidney infection spreading through his body. The best efforts to revive him proved in vain.
( Source : dc )
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