The spirit of freedom and the birth of a paper

Some newspapers name themselves after the cities of their origin. And some become synonymous with the cities in which they are launched. Deccan Herald, first published on this day 75 years ago, was never meant to be just a city newspaper, and it had no Bangalore in its name. From the very beginning, it was grander in its scope and vision. ‘Deccan’ is a term derived from the Sanskrit ‘dakshin’ (south) and given to the region south of the river Narmada. The name was suggested by a judge at a time when the borders of the Indian states had not been defined, and older geographical descriptions, such as the deccan plateau, were still in vogue.

Deccan Herald became the first home-grown English-language daily newspaper in the Mysore province, and its mascot, the Nandi, was most likely inspired by the majestic carved sacred bulls we find in Bengaluru and Mysuru. About 130 Kannada publications were being published in these parts then, but in the English-language space, Deccan Herald had no peers. Seven decades on, it is still ahead of two of its three direct rivals in a fiercely competitive market.

In 1948, the year Deccan Herald was launched, India was getting its first taste of freedom from British rule. It took two more years for the country to get a democratic, federal structure. The bitterness of the Partition had not seeped to the south. Princely Mysore was largely well governed, and Bangalore, though not as prominent a city as Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Madras, had a lot going for it. The Bangalore of the late ‘40s boasted a Westernised cantonment with its attendant poshness, but it had no English-language newspaper to call its own. Kempegowda’s pete vs the British Cantonment was just one of the many tensions the city’s chroniclers were attempting to comprehend. Bengaluru exploded as India’s information technology capital in the ‘90s, with the advent of economic liberalisation. Yet again, Deccan Herald was in the best position to observe and comment on the many complementary and contradictory impulses of the city.

The lead on the day of the launch of Deccan Herald was about the Nizam of Hyderabad continuing to resist the idea of joining the Indian union. In the initial years, international news often made it to the front page, as it does to this day. The paper had everything other ‘national’ newspapers took pride in, and a little more when it came to Karnataka and Bengaluru. Over the decades, Deccan Herald came to be identified strongly as a Bengaluru paper, and by extension, a Karnataka paper. That was flattering and reassuring, of course, but annoying when the implication was that it was ‘local’ while its rivals were ‘national.’ Deccan Herald is as national in outlook as any other publication, and is proudly Kannadiga at heart.

Horses and hunting

How the newspaper took birth is an intriguing story. K N Guruswamy, excise contractor with a taste for the good life, was convinced in 1948 that it was time to launch an English-language newspaper in Bangalore, as the city was then called. A lover of horses and a hunting enthusiast, he had made windfall profits in the toddy business during World War II. He had the imagination, the resources and the daring to venture into a business regarded as fickle and unviable. A Kannada newspaper he had invested in, Mathrubhumi, hadn’t made much headway, but that wouldn’t deter him from launching Deccan Herald. The office came to be housed in a stately building he had bought on South Parade. It was located on the city’s glitziest street, and he was contemplating starting a cinema there. Another cinema, the Plaza, stood just two buildings away. (It was razed much later and the M G Road Metro station came up in its place.)

A happy conspiracy of circumstances, and encouragement from eminent men in public life, led to the launch of The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd and Deccan Herald. Prajavani, the company’s Kannada daily, followed just a few months later. In subsequent decades, two more publications were added to the stable---the general interest weekly Sudha (1965) and the literary monthly Mayura (1968). South Parade eventually became M G Road, and Funnels, the bar with a ballroom, made way for Deccan Herald and its sister publications. The group espoused causes enshrined in the Constitution and took bold positions on matters of national importance. It has now diversified beyond print, delivering news, views and entertainment with a bouquet of online and offline channels.

There is much that Deccan Herald can be proud of as it turns 75 today. What does Deccan Herald stand for? The simple answer to that is ‘public good.’ It has remained steadfast in its faith in what constitutes journalism, placing public good over profit.