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V.S.Srinivasa Sastri (Part 1)

It is very hard for me to write about V.S.Srinivasa Sastri or to get anything written about him. It is a challenging task to decide where to start and where to end. What’s all the more difficult is for me to control my own emotions. I had always considered him as my younger father (Uncle).  He too, similarly, had great affection for me. It is impossible not to get swept by his showering of love and affection. However, this might also hinder an essential quality called objectivity which every pen portrait should posses.

D.V. Gundappa: A Profile by Dr. S.R. Ramaswamy

Note: This is the first part of the English translation of a series profiling D.V. Gundappa's life and legacy authored in the original Kannada by Dr. S.R. Ramaswamy, part of his essay collection titled "Divatigegalu."  

"Do you have a notebook?” asked DVG when I went to see him one evening. When I said “yes,” he made me write this verse:

अज्ञस्य दु:खौघमयं
ज्ञस्यानन्दमयं जगत् |
अन्धं भुवनमन्धस्य
प्रकाशं तु सुचक्षुषः||

Mahābhārata – Episode 83 – Kṛṣṇa Consoles Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī

Everyone present there congratulated Bhīmasena. He bowed down before his elder brother and said, “Now the entire world is yours, free of all obstacles. The main person behind all this hatred and enmity is now fallen here with his limb broken. Duśśāsana and the other evil men have been eliminated too!”

Yudhishitra said, “Yes! What you say is true! Thanks to Kṛṣṇa’s generous assistance, we have now won over the entire world. You have vanquished the enemy and have been victorious!”

ವೇದಮೂರ್ತಿ ಶ್ರೀ ಶೇಷಣ್ಣಶ್ರೌತಿಗಳ ಶ್ರದ್ಧೆ-ಸಿದ್ಧಿ--ಸಾಮವೇದಸೇವೆ

ನಾನು ಊಹಿಸುವಂತೆ ಅವರ ಮನಃಸಿದ್ಧತೆ ಬಹುಕಾಲದ ಮುನ್ನವೇ ಆಗಿತ್ತಾದರೂ ವ್ಯಾಸಂಗಸಿದ್ಧತೆಗೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಅನುಕೂಲ ಬಂದದ್ದು ನಿವೃತ್ತಿಯ ಬಳಿಕ. ದಿಟವೇ, ಅವರು ನಿವೃತ್ತರಾದಾಗ ಮಗಳ ಮದುವೆಯ ಬಾಧ್ಯತೆ ಉಳಿದಿತ್ತು, ಮಗನ ವಿದ್ಯಾಭ್ಯಾಸ ಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಬೇಕಿತ್ತು. ಇದಕ್ಕಾಗಿಯೇ ಶೇಷಣ್ಣನವರು ನಿವೃತ್ತಿಯ ಬಳಿಕವೂ ಕೆಲವು ಕಾಲ ದುಡಿಯಬೇಕಾಗಿ ಬಂತು. ಈ ಎಲ್ಲ ಬಾಧ್ಯತೆಗಳು ತೀರಿದ ಬಳಿಕ ಹೆಂಡತಿ-ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ಕೂಡಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಕೇಳಿದರಂತೆ:

Shekdar Gundappa (Part 3)

The Hauteur

Such goliathon pastimes of my great grandfather were rather popular. For a subject of the Queen of Scantiness that I was, I sensed pride in every pompous fable that surrounded my great grandfather. At least he got to eat what he wanted.

From the aforementioned conversations gleaming with haughtiness, it is quite evident that hauteur was an obvious underlying factor in his administration.

The Dawn of the Hotel Industry in Bangalore: Venkanna's Hotel Menu and Social Norms

 

Note: This is the second of a two-part series of an English translation of D.V. Gundappa's essay titled "Bengalurinalli Hotel Udyamada Arambha," the tenth essay in the volume titled "Hrudaya Sampannaru," in the Jnapaka Chitrashale volumes. 
 

Read Part 1: The Dawn of the Hotel Industry in Bangalore

Decamping

Mahābhārata – Episode 82 – Bhīma Defeats Duryodhana in Single Combat

Just like Yudhiṣṭhira, the other Pāṇḍavas too spoke provocative words. Listening to their humiliating words, Duryodhana decided to fight the battle and said, “You are too many! You have chariots, weapons, and everything needed for a war. I am all alone! I don’t have anything with me – neither chariots nor weapons. I don’t possess even an armour now. I have been grievously injured. Is it right for a person like me to fight you all? How is that justified? I am not scared of any of you! Enraged, I can chase you all away from the battlefield. However, this is not dharma!