A Birth Anniversary
mum's dad (aja's)
birth anniversary is today
he'd have turned
eighty-four (my tenth-standard Hindi score)
had he been around,
and there'd have been some laughs.
his early retirement from politics
led him to other trysts
with books and ideas, explorations of many worlds
that he'd been introduced to
back in the Rajkumar College
the one at Raipur
where they were trained to administer and to rule.
come independence
and the family made the unusual choice
of joining the congress party
instead of the other one
towards which most of the other rajahs and maharajas made a beeline.
of his stint in parliament
he had many anecdotes
and of the time
he went around the world in fashionable coats
(as seen in the pictures and black and white reels)
- he was an avid photographer,
had set up a dark room
and presented me with my first camera
when i was very, very little.
made me a member of the wizbiz club
(a Telegraph corner for kiddies of the era).
Was interested in hypnotism, ventriloquism, spirituality
and stationed himself in Vizag (my grandma's town)
-a longish drive from his one-time kingdom in Orissa, Daspalla
(the hotel on the premises in Vizag's named after it, and makes
the best dosas in town, i can tell ya).
That's also in the Eastern Ghaats
- lands where Lord Jagannath's worshipped,
the harbour-town from where goods are shipped out and so on.
Helped to set up the local Jagannath temple, became the President of the
Ramakrishna Mission, Vizag
Went on occasional evening drives to vendors of newspapers, juices, gadgets
and mags.
Had a number of shikar-stories from the olden days
With his feet on a moodah (the same one on which one stood at age four-plus
shouting vote-for-Congruss),
he'd tell us stories
of beats and bisons, jungles, bullets and pythons.
Later, when i'd ushered in delegations
(as i choose to describe them now).
Development-sector experts, students, professionals
people from many worlds
he'd hold forth on those very many stories
sitting in this lush Dutch bungalow
where the architecture sings syncretic glories
right here in Visakhapatnam
where i now sit and write
(am here from the village
for a day and a night or two, visiting).
He, most exceptionally,
adapted to technology.
Was certainly no mathematician or scientist
But was an avid surfer in this coastal town
chatrooms, icq, hotmail, he did astound
us
by this ability to keep in touch.
sent out new-year cards diligently designed
and embellished with personalized hand-written lines.
-an exceptional soul
in changing times!
Odes to Lord Jagannath he wrote in literary style
A whole lot of them in Oriya
that were performed during many a Jaganath Rath Yatra
-always intended to publish and to record
never did, but The Lord's been kind
the songs are famous nonetheless
amongst humankind!
(one attempted a couple of translations into the English language
but as a Shakespearean actor, he might not have taken to the meterless shine).
Was not at all amused by communists
but was enthused to find me on TV
asking for a Forest Rights Act
emailed me instantly
suggested that i should appear often
on that medium
even offered me the constituency that was once his in the distant tedium.
four years after he passed on
i did make my first trip
to his village Daspalla,
and did equip myself
with the feel
of the zeitgeist
which, to me, was the same deal
as other areas here in the eastern ghaats, to be sure
though he'd been the MP of Bhuvaneshwar.
By V. Shruti Devi (quill-o-the-wisp)
