Compliments from Karanth

That Dr. Shivarama Karanth, known for his sternness, wrote to him a letter of appreciation and affection was something that made Balachandra Rao feel blessed.  It was Dr. Karanth who presided over the function of declaring open the new Muddana Memorial Building in 1987 and felicitated Balachandra Rao on behalf of the people of his native place Nandalike.  Even later he observed   the development in Nandalike and nodded at it with appreciation.  His hearty words expressed in 1994 are a tribute to this part of the land.

“To whatever state we may belong, when we consider the ancient history of our country we do remember a poet, a saint or a hero, who displayed his special qualities like high merit, inventive genius, even violent display of heroism.  For Kannadigas poets like Ranna and Pampa are important from this point of view.  In the same way memories of great heroes, artistes, kings are chunks of history that we carry in our memories.  But we remember poets like Bhasa and Kalidasa by virtue of their great works that are available even today.

“For Kannadigas, especially for those in Dakshina Kannada, there are a few names from the past worthy of remembrance.  The foremost among them is Rathnakar Varni.  The next prominent poet is Muddana or Nandalike Lakshminarayanappa.

“But what have we done right from the beginning of the 20th century to preserve the glow of these great names for a long time?  Our valiant writers got their works printed and published on their own.  Ugrana Mangesh Rao, Padmaraja Jain, got the poetic works of Rathnakara Varni printed and gifted them to posterity.  Poet Muddana had the good fortune of belonging to the age of printing.  Still the place of his birth did not get the prestige that places of birth of many other poets – Gadagu, Devanuru, Laxmeshwar got.

“Muddana, who just crossed the threshold of modern era, is the latest of our great poets.  But he deserves to be remembered for ever.  He is our own.  His place of birth deserves to be remembered.  It is Nandalike, not far away from Mulki.

“The late Bidaram Krishnappa also belongs to the same place.  But there is one admirer who made people remember the birth place of Muddana.  It is Balachandra Rao, born in the same place Nandalike.

“Balachandra Rao encouraged his friends in ‘Mitra Mandali’ to build a memorial building in Nandalike so that the memory of Muddana would be lasting.  He got up a festival on the occasion.  He was able to run an organization exclusively meant to perpetuate the memory of poet Muddana.  He has been organizing now and then literary programmes in commemoration of this proud son of Nandalike.

“It is great work from this point of view to have founded and to be running an  organization, which can provide an answer  not only to Muddana’s admirers but others who are curious to know, when they read Muddana’s  works or look at his  portrait,  ‘What is this Nandalike like?’ It is a challenging task to run an organization meant for perpetuating the memory of a poet, and the memory of the place of his birth.” 

Nandalike Balachandra Rao had captured the images of Dr. Karanth in several gestures on the occasion of the inauguration of the Muddana Commemoration building. 

He sent a few photographs to Karanth’s address with trepidation in his heart.  He did not really expect any answer.  But Karanth did reply to the letter.  And it contained not admonition, but appreciation.

“Photos have come off well.  I can certify their good quality.”

Nandalike Balachandra felt triumphant.  That night he had a sound sleep.