I have told that my youngest grandfather was someone who indulged in loose talk. His view was also sinister. Sometimes he used to talk ill of my maternal grandmother Sakamma who was an extraordinary woman. With her being in the house, it had brought in a sense of good conduct, regulation and discipline. But our Sheenanna was opposed to being disciplined, “Who is she to this house?”, was his feeling. With such feelings came abusive words too.
My father was down with an illness. He was not in a condition to speak. His body and hand movements were also limited. When this was the situation, one morning at around nine, three to four Muslim men visited our house and told me, “We have come to see our teacher.”
I said, “He is extremely tired and he is unable to even speak.”
“We will not engage him in talk. We will just see him with our eyes, perform salām, and then we will return. Please inform him that Qasim and Haidar Sabi from Mulabagal have come to see him.”
I remember very little of that argument. Whenever I remember this behaviour of Sheenanna, I feel disappointed and worried. Why did he behave like that? The sarcasm that was never in his in father, mother, and brothers, where did he get it from? Some of the incidents in his life might have made his mind sour.
I have earlier mentioned about his behaviour during the travel to Tirupati. Sheenanna was not a person without having mistress. He had three or four of them.
Every morning during the days when we were working on Gokhale’s biography, we went for a walk. Once we returned, we would sit to work with the documents. This was our routine.
Out of my grandfathers, hasn’t it been evident that my third grandfather Sheenanna was very dear to me? But when it comes to him, will I be able to talk about every facet of his nature without hiding anything? Is it respectable? On the other hand, would it be appropriate if I tell only tell about his acceptable behaviour and skip the rest? Forget about being appropriate; will the readers benefit as much as they would have by my writings? This is the apprehension I have.
Every human has flaws, however small or big.
Dṛṣṭaṃ kimapi loke'smin