His 118th birth anniversary celebrations will see the launch of his biography Today, written by his daughter Radha Tekal
By Ranjani Govind
Not much of information is available on the life of freedom fighter and writer Siddavanahalli Krishna Sharma on the net even as the Gandhi Sahitya Sangha established by him in Bangalore is all set to roll out his 118th birth anniversary celebrations (4 July 1904 – 14 October 1973) with the release of his biography ‘Kannadada Kidi’ written by his own daughter Radha Tekal (79), a member of the Kannada Lekhakhiyara Sangha in Bangalore.
I did find an interesting post, though, by Neeta Rao, great-grand-daughter of Krishna Sharma, who with pride showcases a letter written by Mahatma Gandhi addressed to Krishna Sharma dated October 7, 1939, discussing negotiations during the Indian Independence Movement. Writes Rao, “My great-grandfather was a freedom fighter, so he corresponded with Gandhiji frequently. He remained the epicentre of my family until he died. This artifact (letter) is significant as a source of our family pride, and a reminder of what he helped to accomplish; it is a marker of how the great man was politically respected in India.”
Brings back to the question, how much do we know of “Sharma’s journey” the self-less social worker, except for us being familiar with some of his written works – outstanding translations as Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘My experiments with truth,’ KM Munshi’s ‘Krishnavatara’ and Acharya Vinobha Bhave’s ‘GeetaPravachan.’ His own authored books as ‘Ramavatara,’ ‘Parnakuti’ ‘Wardha Yatra,’ ‘Kuladeepakaru,’ ‘Nirbhaya Bore Gowda,’ amongst others have had some eminent writers and poets as Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, Da.Ra. Bendre and DVG sing commendations of his stylistic pen. ‘Ramavatara’ and ‘Parnakuti’ are seeing re-prints even now, five decades after Sharma’s death!
“And why not,” says a retired professional and connoisseur of literature and poetry, KS Nagesh, a resident of Talaghattapura who has read Sharma’s cross-section of works. “Sharma’s flair evokes concentrated awareness of experience. His creative bandwidth is substantial enough to have readers wonder if some of his translations as the ‘Krishnavatara’ was just his own individual work!”
Consider Sharma’s eloquent expressions on Jarasandha’s tale in the book, adds Nagesh explaining the colourful illustrative imagery brought through that had him engrossed for hours during his read!
The same sentiments are carried forward by poet and senior journalist Rajendra Patil (Deputy Editor, Samyukta Karnataka – Hubballi) in his Foreword to ‘Kannadada Kidi’ when he writes on how honoured he felt to be part of the book as Radha Tekal’s effort was in mirroring a Hero who wanted India’s youth to remain socially and politically conscious and take part in meaningful movements. “The moment I heard that Radha madam was writing a book, I remember I sat up till the wee hours and noted down the details that I had gathered about Krishna Sharma and immediately sent to her. I thought recording Krishna Sharma’s life for posterity was significant by the members of his family, as they would even have first-hand accounts of the great man,” says Patil.
Just a few months ago when this journalist happened to meet Krishna Sharma’s older daughter Usha at JP Nagar, she felt gratified that her sister Radha had taken all pains to trace “anna’s life” whose delight was in seeing people read extensively. The last three years, she said, had Radha travel to meet people and “gather nuances” of the great man. He had nurtured lifetime values into his nine children – six daughters and three sons.
“The biography of my wonderful father will remain a cherished document for history and reference. All of us, amongst the surviving siblings, have pitched in for documenting Anna. My younger sister Sandhya Sheshadri in Mysore too helped in reminiscing quite a few incidents and bring them in a perspective for the book,” says Radha.
Siddavanahalli Krishna Sharma was a multi-faceted person. Apart from writing books he was a skilled orator, journalist and editor of ‘Vishwa Karnataka’ and a social worker and educationist who was inspired to join the freedom movement under Mahatma Gandhi. He was born in Doddasiddavanahalli village, near Chitradurga, as the third child of Rangachar and Seshamma. Throughout his life, he was an active participant in the freedom struggle, first in Hyderabad, and later in Bangalore. He is identified with many activities and social movements after independence, the Bhoodan movement and Kannada Ekikarana movement talks of his passionate participation.
Radha Tekal, fourth daughter of Sharma, anxiously completing the last leg of formalities for ‘Kannadada Kidi’ release, was kind enough to take up questions insisting that the book is her modest attempt to “gather a sea in a cup.” “My book documents Krishna Sharma not just as a freedom fighter, writer or a social worker, but as a caring man seen through the eyes of people, and as a man who instilled Gandhian principles across his near and dear ones. All I can say is that I am proud to be Krishna Sharma’s daughter. That I could complete this book is in itself my father’s blessing,” says Radha, as bouts of bad health had intimidated her at times.
Brought up in Bangalore, Radha completed BA from MES College in 1964. Writing being in the family gene she took to it naturally but had an extra passion for translations because of her familiarity with Telugu and parts of Andhra. Her translation works from Telugu to Kannada cover a gamut of popular Telugu novelists as Yeddanapudi, Muppala Ranganayakamma, Avasarala Ramakrishna Rao and Surya Deva Rama Mohan Rao, amongst others.
In an exclusive interview to Avadhi Mag Radha Tekal shares her thoughts on the modest man who always lived in Malleswaram and had established the Gandhi Sahitya Sangha in 8th Cross to propagate Gandhian Literature and Philosophy. “My entire family is happy that Margosa Road was named after my father in 2014,” she says.
Excerpts of the interview…
* What made you take up the biography writing now as you say it was a dauting task given your age?
It seems like a dream now. I was destined to write this, and the push came from writer Dr. KR Sandhya Reddy who is a good friend. We often meet at Kannada Lekhakhiyara Sangha meetings. When we were causally discussing my father, she said, ‘people like you must document him, you are a writer yourself!’ I took it lightly as my writings were more associated with novels but in my next meeting Sandhya has altered my thinking “to believe that we owe it to Krishna Sharma’s stature, and it was all worth taking up this lifetime pursuit myself.”
That set the beginning and the next few years from 2017 saw my diary filled with meetings with people and travel, many a time I feared leaving the book unfinished. But kind people as Neelathahalli Kasturi (Gandhian, writer and a Gamaka Vachana expert) proved an anchor for I could have lost myself in the ocean finding people who could speak on Krishna Sharma. Kasturi himself had extensively travelled and written on my father in ‘Vyakthi Shakthi’ a book that I generously referred to. Writers as Hampana and Patil Puttappa amongst many more were of immense help. Journalist Rajendra Patil too helped me get information on Sharma’s activities in Uttara Karnataka. And Dr. SR Ramaswamy Editor of Rashtrotthana Sahitya’s Uttana Mag has offered his blessings in the book.
What was the best thing you realised about your father?
Given his modest background, he had the nerve to think differently and follow his objective to awaken people towards freedom struggle issues! Consider this: A young teenager, Krishna Sharma, after completing his 10th at Chitradurga is taken by his father Rangachar to Mysore to explore prospects of studying law. My grandpa is said to have been impressed with his son’s articulate and expressive communication with people. But Krishna Sharma happened to come across the freedom movement newspaper in Kannada ‘Sadhvi’ of Venkatakrishnaiyya and was magically drawn towards the patriotism. Instigated and impressed, his journey had begun!
What are the aspects that go into the book?
Sahitya and Samaja Seve were his forte! Taking these ideals forward, many well-known writers I spoke to recollect his help to people (who later flowered into big writers) wherein he ushered them into the world of meaningful prose. While Ta.Ra. Su. stayed at our home for two years, we were all young when Prof. Nadig Krishnamurthy, Mattur Krishnamurthy and Basavaraj Kattimani visited us often to take help from Anna.
Anna had such a philanthropic bent that when he established the Bangalore Education Society to impart education to children at marginal cost, his pride swelled when he saw students pass out and excel in their fields! He was also in the forefront of litterateurs and thinkers during the Kannada Ekikarana Movement (Unification of Karnataka) and people spoke extensively on my father’s panache and elegance in his extempore translations of Gandhi, Nehru and Patel’s speeches! I don’t know how he had become such a perfect linguist! These aspects had to be there, although other portions also see him as a family man.
What are the aspects you have of Sharma even as he attempted his best-sellers at home?
It’s a 250-page book with small, homely chapters for a friendly read. My mother Pramilamma was a huge support, as her energy and force had helped Anna concentrate on his outgoing interests. With typical homegrown wisdom she had taken up the responsibility of attending to her children’s welfare. When he had completed ‘Parnakuti’ his emotional side came through as he added the line, ‘In happiness and sorrow Pramila remains my permanent companion.’
One more of a memorable experience was my elder sister Usha and me being part of Anna’s marathon translation of KM Munshi’s ‘Krishnavatara’ when he had asked us to sit and take down his oral dictations. If you can believe, it took nearly four years for him to complete as Usha and me after college would obey him and meticulously write as he liked our handwriting! By the time he took up his individual work, ‘Ramavatara’ in the 1960s, we were all married! I remember amma telling me that Anna visited educationist MPL Shastry to take guidance for his Sanskrit references from scriptures. The three parts of his work were later brought out by SiddaGanga seer Shivakumaraswamy, Udupi Pejawar Mutt’s Vishwesha Tirtha Swamiji and Mysore’s Parakala Mutt Swamiji. What came as a setback was his sudden loss of speech after his last book release around 1967-68, as Parkinson’s had set in.
* You said he practiced what he preached….
Tolerance, truth and discipline were ideals with which he brought us up.
Every one of us (siblings) remember how often my parents would go on a fast when one of us lied or made a mistake! The punishment was seen when our parents went hungry. Until we accepted our fault, he would neither get angry and beat us, nor eat. This was the way we were brought up. And this punishment was too strong, it sounds like a movie, but we saw our parents starve often to see us grow up with the right ideals.
* And your book traces the interesting formation of Gandhi Sahitya Sangha?
The Quit India Movement in 1942 had Gandhi’s call to youngsters – to unite and free India from Britishers. Some frustrated youngsters in their angst to contribute more had taken to hooliganism. It was Sharma who reached out to them and channelised their interests into taking up freedom movement work. It helped them get gradually acclimatized to Gandhian ideals. They were asked to collect money (50 paise, 20 paise and 10 paise) for celebrating Gandhi Jayanthi. After the celebrations, with the excess Rs. 120, students bought 25 books to start a library as advised by Sharma. So, the Gandhi Seva Sangha started in 1942, was later renamed the Gandhi Sahitya Sangha. Under the British rule, the library housed books that were banned by the government including titles as The Indian War of Independence by VD Savarkar, Gadinadu Gandhi by Abdul Khan and more books on the Indian National Army.
(Book release by Gandhi Sahitya Sangha – ‘Kannadada Kidi’ – a biography on Siddavanahalli Krishna Sharma authored by Radha Tekal; Official launch by senior Journalist GN Mohan, Editor, Avadhi Mag & Bahuroopi Publishers; July 4, 4pm, 8th Cross, 4th Main, Malleswaram; 08023215740)
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