From our Director, Dr. K. Ullas Karanth:
Tributes have poured in from far and wide, Narendra Modi included, to mourn the death of Prof. M. Chidananda Murthy, eminent scholar and Kannada activist. Many in the CWS ambit may not know that Prof. Murthy’s son, M. C. Vinay Kumar, is our colleague. I noticed a report in the daily, Prajavani, which carried a photo of Krithi and I consoling Vinay at his home. It described us as “members of the family”. Indeed, we are: in more ways than one.
Of greatest impact on me has been Prof. Murthy’s dedication to the cause of strengthening the Kannada identity. This disciplined, upright and powerful advocacy was triggered years ago, when Prof. Murthy was expelled from a cinema theatre on Brigade Road because he asked for the tickets in Kannada!
I was fortunate to recently moderate a panel discussion on the Kannada cause at Bangalore International Centre, in which Prof. Murthy participated.
Not many know of Prof. Murthy’s interest in nature conservation, which I suspect, began with Vinay Kumar’s association with CWS as a ‘line transect volunteer’ two decades ago. It was my privilege to share with Prof. Murthy my writings on wildlife, and in return receive his prolific output on Karnataka and Kannada. I recall with fondness he had telephoned to congratulate me, about my article pleading the cause of ‘mother nature’ in the context of Modi Government rising in 2014.
The ‘CWS Conservation Family’ deeply condoles the loss of ‘Chi. Mu.’, the “intellectual strongman” of Karnataka.
(Feature image courtesy: Bhagya Prakash K.)
