After Tagore and Premchand, if one can think of a literary figure who has had a national reach in India, it is UR Ananthamurthy (1932-2014). URA was no doubt the most influential Kannada writer of his times. But he was, equally, an inspiring teacher, creative administrator, critical thinker, and a public intellectual who responded to all the major issues of our times. All this, together, created his charismatic persona. While his writing travelled beyond Karnataka through their English translations, he himself travelled widely and spoke to people across the country and around the globe. He had a way of connecting with his audiences as he deployed language in a masterly fashion, ‘not merely for communication but for communion’ with his listeners, as he has explained in his essay on ‘Language’ in the book. He was a gifted orator who could hold his listeners in thrall even when he was addressing complex issues with tremendous moral gravity. He was a lively conversationalist who could animate any subject under the sun, transforming it with the touch of his magic wand. He was intent and warm, engaged and engaging in any company. In short, URA was a presence. And it is precisely this quality that A Life in the World has managed to capture.
April 2020, volume 44, No 4