JOIN USCollege days are something one can never erase from memory. I did my Masters degree in Kannada from Bangalore University (1972-1974). Since ours was the first batch in the university campus, we really enjoyed our campus life.
There were nearly 70 students in our batch. H Narasimhaiah was the vice-chancellor and ‘Rastrakavi’ Dr GS Shivarudrappa was the head of the department. ‘Jnanapeeta’ awardee Dr Chandrashekhara Kambara was our professor. We were lucky enough to have professors like Dr Chidananda Murthy, a great poet, NS Lakshminarayana Bhat, RS Mugali, K Marulasiddaiah and so on.
Even though ours was the first batch, we did our first year of MA in Central College (Majestic). The second year was really exciting because we were exposed to a completely new environment. It was a memorable experience since the campus was half-done, we had regular visitors to the class like small snakes, chameleons etc.
When we came to know that our campus is going to have a beautiful and meaningful name called ‘Jnana Bharathi’, we were all very happy.
Every day was a new day for us. Attending college was more like a picnic. We had our own university bus. If we missed that, there was no alternative to reach college, as I myself had experienced.
Near the campus, there was a stream with small rocks surrounding it. We used to sit on those rocks with our feet dipped in the water, sharing and eating our tiffin.
It was a great experience. The joy we got out of this was just unimaginable. Even now, I get nostalgic remembering the sweet old days of my college life.
Many of my batchmates have made a name for themselves in their own way. To mention a few: Srinivas Prabhu, who secured first rank in BA (Honours), is now a famous cine and television artiste. SV Sujatha and I secured third rank in BA from Vijaya College.
Our head of the department was Nadoja G Venkatasubbiah. He is going to complete 103 years this year. Sunanda Gururaj, YK Sandya Sharma and Nagalakshmi Harihareshwara are famous in their fields – a writer, yoga instructor and ‘gamaki’ respectively.
Nagalakshmi was in the US for more than 20 years and she started ‘Kannada Kampu’ there. I was in Goa from 1976, and was an active member of the Kannada Sangha, the music society and so on. I was teaching the ‘veena’ there from more than 33 years.
From 2011 to 2014, I engaged myself in recollecting, reprinting and publishing my father’s writings (he was a famous Kannada short story writer of his time). For the first time after 41 years, we are having a small reunion called ‘Sahapatigala Milana’. I hope I will see all my old friends there.