Saying it like poetry

Two collections of essays – S. Diwakar and Mallikarjuna Hiremath – are reminiscent of the great tradition of prose we had in writers like D.V. Gundappa and Pu. Ti. Narasimhachar

Moorusanji Munda Dharawada

By Mallikarjuna Hiremath, Rs. 95

Ondondu Nenapigoo Ondondondu Vasane

By S. Diwakar, Rs.150

Ankita Pustaka

T hough non-fictional prose writings (literary essays) had occupied a pre-eminent position in renaissance period (Navodaya) in Kannada literature, the modern (Navya) and post-modern (Navyyotthara) periods witnessed a gradual decline in the interest towards essays. Perhaps ideological specificity and socio-cultural concerns were the reasons for the decline in the interest of this delightful genre of literature. However, the two collections of essays would largely fill this gap and it could be confidently said that these two are in the great tradition of Navodaya writers like DVG, Pu.Ti.Na., Murthy Rao who were the harbingers of the tradition of essay writing in Kannada.

The nine essays in Mallikarjuna Hiremath’s Moorusanji Munda Dharawada offers a delightful experience of reading intelligently discovered things about our lives. Though Hiremath is nostalgic, he does not discard the present. The present draws its sustenance from the past and vice-versa. In the particular essay, Moorusanji Munda Dharawada, there is a pleasant past connected with an equally pleasant present, which carries with it the rich understanding of life. There is a warm touch of the writer with the changes that have taken place in the present. In an essay like MommakkaLa Sangada, there is a

description of the emotional role the grandparents could play in a joint family, though there is a strong indication of the gap that may develop between the generations later.

The two essays - Hogali Bidri and Adarsha Shikshaka are not political, but there is a sense of righteous indignation which compels the author to think of the decadence of the values of the society around. Though Thadavayithe? is a light-hearted essay which speaks about being late habitually, the creative activities involved while being late is cogently explained. Mobilayana is actually a reply to Murthy Rao’s classic essay on telephones. Telephones were not inevitable, but mobiles are. In the essay – preetiyanthaa vasthu bhavadalli kaaNe, Hiremath presents his well thought out thesis on Love, particularly between a man and his wife, taking the support of Kalidasa, Shakespeare, Eric Fromm, Bendre, Tolstoy and others.

S. Diwakar, one of our important contemporary writers in Kannada, seems to have derived an eclectic model of writing essays from the great masters of Kannada literature.

As he discusses this issue cogently in Prabhanda: Halavu Prakaaragala Sankararoopa (p.111), there are two models of essays in Kannada, - one is that of A.N. Murthy Rao’s, the other is of Pu.Ti.Na’s. Murthy Rao, he feels, is rich in ideas, but lacks the lyricality of Pu. Ti. Na. If these two models can come together, non-fiction writing in Kannada will be hugely benefitted, he feels. One can assertively say that this collection of 36 essays, Ondondu Nenapigu Ondondu Vasane is a good example for that. Ideas drawn from a variety of interests – literature, art, music, painting, environment, books, translations, media, human relations, politics, history, etc., but the style is lyrical.

Many of the essays read like short stories. The essays are characterised not only by wide, in-depth readings, but also a strong sense of Kannada roots. While reading Jean Giono, he remembers Saalumarada Timmakka. He begins with William Faulkner, continues with Adiga, KSNa, Chittal and Ananthamurthy, and ends up with Jacques Schiffrin’s Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Similarly while listening to Balamuralikrishna’s waraprasthara, he is reminded of Jackson Pollock’s ‘action painting’. His perception is something that creatively connects two disparate ideas.

Diwakar speaks of 99 different ways of telling the same story, portable readers, unique experimentation in narrating a story in second person, the iscovery of Raja Rao’s Nareegeetha by C.N. Srinath, the shortest stories in world literature, translating classics, multiple interpretations and Raja Rao’s translation of the classic Kannada poem, Punyakoti… are all discussed with a lot of enthusiasm and conviction. Further, literature and its relatedness to other streams like journalism and advertisement are discussed in some essays.

Like Hiremath who remembers the bard of Dharawad (Bendre) almost always, Diwakar’s devotion for Gopalakrishna Adiga is obvious throughout the collection. Adiga is remembered often not just for his poetry, but also for his righteousness. DVG’s political thinking is also discussed at length to throw light on contemporary political turmoil in India. There are some anecdotal essays like Vi.See mattu London, where in Diwakar takes up the role of a biographer / historian who has recorded some consequential events in the lives of the writers and artists.

When Hiremath is read, one feels that he is saying something we already know, but with a marked perceptual difference. Diwakar talks about things that we never would have seen or heard or thought of otherwise. What is common is that there is a conscious effort to look at the positive aspects in everything around. One can recognize a genuine desire to share exciting things with readers.

K. Sundara Raj