In Memorium: M. Chalapati Rau

IN MEMORIUM
M. CHALAPATHI RAU
(1908 - 1983)

We are sad to record the sudden death in Delhi of M. Chalapathi Rau, friend, contributor and well-wisher of Triveni Quarterly, on 25 March 1983.

Journalist, author, man of letters and humanist, M. Chalapathi Rau was born in or about 1908 (his correct date of birth not being available to us) in Visakhapatnam District.

After early education in his native district (where his father was a Police Officer), Chalapatbi Rau joined Presidency College, in Madras, where he took his M. A. Degree in English Language and Literature in 1929. He then took his Law Degree from the Law College, Madras.

After apprenticeship in the chambers of Mr. Pappu Soma­sundaram, a leader of the Madras Bar, Chalapathi Rau enrolled himself as an Advocate some time in 1932. Shifting his scene of activity to Visakhapatnam, he practised Law there for a short time. Along with some like-minded friends, he organised a literary ­cultural association, known as the Atheneum, of which Dr. S. Radhakrishnan was President and he was Secretary.

It was obvious by then that Chalapathi Rau’s real interest lay in literature and journalism, rather than in law or Govern­ment service. He had appeared for the I. C. S. Examination, but was not selected for medical or other reasons.

Soon, he came to know K. Iswara Dutt, Editor. Twentieth Century, Allahabad, who took him under his wing. When Dutt came down to Madras, to edit The People’s Voice (organ of the People’s Party started by the Maharaja of Pithapuram) in 1936, he took Chalapathi Rau as his Assistant Editor and leader-­writer. But the paper folded up soon after the first general election early in 1937 (under the Government of India Act, 1935). Then he was invited by Dutt to go along with him to Allahabad, where he started the journal, The Week End (on the model of New Statesman and Nation)mainly as an outlet for Chalapathi Rau.

Before and after this experiment, Chalapathi Rau wrote regularly for Triveni Quarterly, contributing reviews, translations and articles of literary and political interest. It was his political articles, like “A Decade of Indian Politics”, “The Third Assembly” and “The Viceroys of India,” which brought him to the attention of Jawaharlal Nehru. When Nehru founded National Herald in Lucknow in 1938, with K. Rama Rao as Editor, Chalapathi Rau joined its staff as an Assistant Editor and leader-writer.

When National Herald was closed down in 1942, following the action against it during the August Movement, Chalapathi Rau found himself in Delhi as one of the Assistant Editors on The Hindustan Times, then being edited by Devadas Gandhi. Besides writing editorials, he was contributing a weekly column, with the caption “Off the Record”, under the pseudonym, “Magnus.”

On the revival of National Herald in 1945, Chalapathi Rau returned to Lucknow as Joint Editor, taking over as Editor the next year. He continued to be at the helm of affairs of The Herald for an unbroken period of 32 years till 1978. For the last ten years of that period, he was functioning from Delhi, where the paper had started its new edition in 1968.

Since his retirement from The Herald, Chalapathi Rau was doing a lot of freelancing. He was busy with a number of books, including one on The Buddha, apart from other literary and journalistic assignments.

Among his professional achievements was the organisation of the journalistic fraternity on trade union lines for the improve­ment of its working conditions. He could be rightly considered as the founding-father of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (started in 1951-’52). He was also responsible for the Government setting up the first Press Commission and the Wage Board which fixed the salaries and service conditions of journalists of all categories.

A life-long admirer and friend of Nehru, Chalapati Rau was closely associated with the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and the Nehru Foundation for the International Awards for Peace and Friendship.

For some time, he was also connected with the UNESCO in an advisory capacity.

Apart from his day-to-day work on his newspaper, Chalapathi Rau had many publications to his credit–like Jawaharlal Nehru­–a  biography (in the ‘Builders of Modern India’ series); GovindBallabh Pant – his life and times; All in All (a collection of profiles); Fragments of a Revolution: Gandhi and Nehru; Magnus and the Muses: Off the Record: The Press in India: the Romance of a Newspaper; The Indian Drama and others.

He was also associated with other publications as an Editor­–The Gandhi Commemoration Volume (Gandhi Abhinandan Granth); and the Volume on Gurazada.

A few weeks prior to his death, he joined as Chief Editor of Meredian International, a new non-political monthly, in Delhi. He died suddenly of a heart attack in Delhi on 25 March 1983.
–BHAVARAJU