Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
A fan's tribute to MS, R.K. Narayan
|
The collection of English, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam articles includes the 1974 Magsaysay Award citation and MS' response
|
B.S.Ramakrishna with his scrap book on M.S. Subbulakshmi.
CHENNAI:
In what is an avid fan's perfect tribute to his favourite author and musician, an artist with an advertising agency in Bangalore, has put together a compendium of print and web articles on R. K. Narayan and M.S. Subbulakshmi.
The hardbound scrapbook on R.K. Narayan, which took several months to complete, gives a comprehensive picture on the life and times of the creator of Malgudi, which shares hallowed literary space alongside William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha or Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Macondo.
B. S. Ramakrishna, who was recently in Chennai, says that he started off as an ardent admirer of R. K. Laxman's cartoons before becoming a fan of the cartoonist's brother and author R. K. Narayan.
Encyclopaedic in the richness of content, the collection includes Narayan's first article, `How to write an Indian novel,' which came out without a byline in the September issue of `Punch' in 1933, a photograph of Narayan and his discoverer Graham Greene inside the BBC's London studio and a picture showing how London publishers Hamish Hamilton got the author's name wrong-R.J.Narayan- while launching the first edition of `Swami and Friends' in 1935.Carefully cut out newspaper and magazine photographs in black-and-white show the author wicket keeping in a game of cricket with nephews and at Chamundi Hills in the company of mother, wife and child besides M.S. Subbulakshmi and T. Sadasivan. There is another snapshot of the author revisiting Number One, Vellala Street, Purasawalkam, where he was born, to find no trace of his house.
The collection includes a Letter to the Editor, perhaps the last he wrote to The Hindu in which R. K. Narayan complains of an inflated telephone bill and a letter penned by an ailing Graham Greene who advises Narayan to take care of his own health because `literature demands it.'
The Hindu and Frontline constitute the bulk of his resources though there are articles from sources ranging from New York Times to the Manchester Guardian. Right there among the finest tributes is a piece by V. S. Naipaul for Time magazine.
Ramakrishna responded to M.S.'s death in 2004 by putting together a compendium on the music legend exploring her genius, bhakti and austere lifestyle.
The collection of English, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam articles includes reports of Jawaharlal Nehru's famous lines, "Who am I a mere Prime Minister, before the queen of song,' Mahatma Gandhi's special liking for "Vaishnavo Janato', the 1974 Magsaysay Award citation and the singer's response and the MS Blue saris weaved by a Kancheepuram merchant. Ramakrishna had met the singer at her Chennai home in 2002. After hearing him sing a Purandara Dasa krithi, she advised him to retain interest in singing.
"My next project is a similar anthology on R. K. Laxman," said Ramakrishna who can be reached at 080-23344731, e-mail: bsramki18@rediffmail.com)
M. Dinesh Varma
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
|
