Chandan Gowda, who teaches at Azim Premji University, Bangalore and a columnist for Bangalore Mirror and Deccan Herald was in conversation with Nikhil Govind who is the head of Manipal Centre for Humanities, Manipal University. The session started with the release of the book ‘A Life in the World‘ by UR Ananthamurthy which is a conversation between Chandan Gowda and Ananthamurthy. The book is a fascinating portrait of the life and ideas of Ananthamurthy between 2012 and 2013 wherein, Ananthamurthy shares his personal experiences in a series of conversations with Chandan Gowda.
The book deals with afterthought about the various authors in Kannada literature at his time and experiences that mattered to him. Chandan clarified that the book was not his personal biography. It is a chronicle of ideas that evolved inside Ananthamurthy. It is highly filled with visuals and tells us in great detail about the intellectual life Ananthamurthy lived.
Chandan Gowda shared his thoughts on the richness of the book. At the end of the book, Chandan says, “Ananthamurthy was truly thankful that he had so many friends from different castes and communities which mattered to him in a very important way”. Ananthamurthy mentions in the book that he didn’t get a proper Sanskrit learning and also didn’t have a chance to go to urban schools . Ananthamurthy encountered the ideas of Lohia back in his early twenties. He was always self reflecting about who he was. Chandan mentioned in his book that Murthy spoke about the branded Bangalore that has been taken over the corporate which Ananthamurthy refused to accept.
About the Author: Bharath Srivatsav is a student of mechanical engineering from Bangalore. He dreams of building a career in cinema and literature. Some of his hobbies are reading books, travelling places and blogging about films. He currently writes for TheSeer.
