The poet from up close
RISHIKESH BAHADUR DESAI
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G.V. Kulkarni, a close associate of the poet Da. Ra. Bendre, will soon publish his book Na Kanda Bendre. The book will not only have details on the time that he spent with the mystic poet, but will also put many of Bendre's poems in a fresh perspective
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MULTIFACETED G.V. Kulkarni: `Bendre's talent can best be explained by the Gestalt theorem which says the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.' Bendre is seen in a discussion with the Kirana gharana doyenne Gangubai Hangal
How many of us knew that the Jnanpith award-winning poet Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre left his mystical poem Jogi incomplete? Did it occur to us that a pair of crows dancing on his roof inspired one of his most popular poems "Kuniyonu Bara"? Did we know Bendre's unpublished works run into half as many pages as his published ones? Has anyone tried to fathom the grief he must have suffered after six of his nine children died over the years? Did we realise some of his best works like "Nee Heenga Nodabyada Nanna" and "Baro Sadhanakerige" were written after he suffered great tragedies in his life?
Many details
All these and many more nowhere-else - to-be-found facts are scattered across the book Na Kanda Bendre: Jeevana Mattu Sahitya by Gurunath Vithalrao Kulkarni, his student and confidant. "He was my Guru, friend and parent," is how Dr. Kulkarni explains their relationship.
Dr. Kulkarni is a Mumbai-based writer, who has made a mark in all his chosen fields. He has retired after serving for over three decades as a teacher. He has been a copywriter and translator for an advertising company, radio-script writer, columnist, reporter and a publisher. The septuagenarian is also an internationally renowned Yoga researcher and teacher. He has written 20 books on a range of topics under the nom de plume Jeevi. He founded the Mumbai-based Harshavardhan Prakashana which has published them.
Jeevi and Vasu Putran translated Bendre's Jnanpith award winning work Naaku Tanti for the Kendra Sahitya Academy. However, his most important contribution seems to be his efforts in making people understand the various dimensions of life and works of a multi-faceted talent like Bendre. "The common man's efforts in understanding Bendre is very similar to the story of five blind men and an elephant," says Dr. Kulkarni. "Each has his own understanding of him. Some see in him a poet, some a numerologist, some a strong follower of Aurobindo, some an astrologer, some a scientist and for some, a retired teacher lost in his own world. But Bendre was all this and more. His talent can best be explained by the Gestalt theorem which says the whole is greater than the sum of its parts," he says.
"The best way to understand a poem is to understand the poet and the context in which the poem was written. If we have no clue about these, we are bound to fail. That is why even minute details of the life of a writer appeal to me. And since I wanted people to understand Bendre better, I decided to share all the information I had and it resulted in a book," he says.
Born in Domnal in Bijapur, he studied in Gadag and Dharwad. He first visited Bendre's house with his teacher V.K. Gokak. "I was instantly drawn to Bendre. He was very charismatic. It changed the way I thought, spoke, wrote and behaved," he says.
Bendre
Kulkarni's scholarly essays and speeches on Bendre's poems like "Naku Tanti", "Jogi", "Gangavatarana", "Yugadi", "Meghadoota"... have made many readers and critics look at the poet with new eyes.
"For example, the poem "Rudraveene" speaks about the never-say-die human spirit that blooms even amidst misery. For many years however, everyone thought that the last line of the poem was Alutiruvudu... (crying). But I was intrigued at the word and asked Bendre for a clarification. He told me it was Aralutiruvudu (blooming) and it was a print mistake. After I clarified this in my book, many Bendre scholars and even his son Vaman Bendre sent thank you notes and congratulated me for setting the record straight," he says. That Bendre's symbolic poem "Doo" was a treatise on Gamow's numerology theory was made known by Jeevi's reinterpretation of the poem. Similarly enlightening was his work on the poem "Herige" (child birth). It drove home the point that it was about Vedic psychology and about the way a poet struggled to give birth to a poem.
Dr. Kulkarni now plans to write another book, an anthology of all his writings and speeches on Bendre. He also plans to publish his 2000 page diary, which records all his meetings with the writer, including footnotes about interruptions in their discussion by visitors, that day's newspaper headlines, and even notes on the day's weather.
Dr. Kulkarni regularly contributes to sites like www.dharwad.com and www.thatskannada.com. He now plans to set up a website dedicated to his guru Bendre. Dr. Kulkarni has been conferred the Karnataka Shree award by the Kannada Sahitya Parishat at the 71st Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Moodubidre. At the Bendre fest to be held in Bangalore on October 14, 15 and 16, Dr. Kulkarni will present two papers, Gangavatarana: A commentary and Bendre and friends. Writer-philosopher Bannanje Govind Acharya and others will also speak.
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