Kolavennu Ramakotiswara Rau – The Man

KOLAVENNU RAMAKOTISWARA RAU – THE MAN *

A dinner discourse and fellowship was arranged in the house of Bellamkonda Raghava Rao. Nayani Subba Rao also came. Ramakotiswara Rau was already present whom I was meeting in Madras every now and then.

I cannot say whether Triveni was Ramakotiswara Rau or whether Ramakotiswara Rau was Triveni. I do not think that any other editor sacrificed so much of his life for his journal. On some urgent work if we awakened Ramakotiswara Rau who was sleeping, his first words after waking up would be about Triveni. “Has it been received, the article which Dr. Radhakrishnan promised to write and send?” he would ask. People who get so deeply involved in the work they had taken up are very rare. There will be one or two such in a million. This deep enthusiasm and keen interest of Rau will pervade all those who are around him. This dedication to help Triveni in some form or other will overtake everyone. Such a thing was sure to happen.

It was Triveni that established a high standard of journalistic writing. Not only that, in the field of literature, arts and the political arena also Triveni established high levels of value and made people follow the values in their lives to some extent. Triveni successfully proclaimed that whatever is done should be done well, that quality is of prime importance, not profit and that ideals should be given the first place and not money making. That is the reason why the expressions –“Triveni Mentality” and “Triveni Attitude” came into popular use. The articles should be good and readable, the paper used should be of A1 quality, the print should be lovely and beautiful. There should not be a single printing mistake, the journal should come out in an attractive and beautiful get-up in all respects, whatever the cost!
Whatever the personal inconveniences, his Triveni should appear very, very beautiful – that was the ardent desire of Ramakotiswara Rau. Even if he starved for three days he must buy the best paper for Triveni. Even if he could not put on the upper cloth on his shoulder he needed, the cover page of Triveni should be pleasing. How many editors will entertain this kind of anxiety and eagerness? This is typical of ‘Triveni attitude.’ ‘Buchi Babu’ in his work “The End Result” describes such an act like this as “sacrificing comfort for the sake of beauty” and this description perfectly fits Kolavennu Ramakotiswara Rau.

Ramakotiswara Rau is a very gentle person. The multifaceted human nature appears to him like a mirror. He finds and sees his nature and figure in everyone else. He thinks that all others are equally pure hearted like him. This kind of faith leads to his being deceived sometimes. But on such occasions he does not feel pained like us. Once I had tasted a bitter experience which he took lightly. I came to know that a person of a high status in life was not going to keep his word given to Ramakotiswara Rau. With a sincere desire to prevent a bosom friend from experiencing utter disappointment, I Informed Ramakotiswara Rau what was going to happen. By then my friend was building castles in the air in a dream world. He did not believe me as there was no need for him to believe me. But the end resulted in the manner I had cautioned him. Ramakotiswara Rau did not feel pained or disappointed. “Let the offer go its way! I too will go to my Narasaraopeta and live there without being interfered by others” he said calmly.

On another occasion I was sitting in a park in Bangalore. He came to me and said, “I am likely to get a job through a friend known to us both. It is indeed a job which I like most. I’ll get a salary of seven or eight hundred rupees a month. Shall I accept the job? What do you say?”

“Why ponder over it? Accept the job immediately” I told him.

“This is a sort of a government job. Like all government jobs the salary is also high. But there won’t be much work. You see, I don’t feel happy receiving such a high salary without doing work in keeping with the salary,” he concluded. People of this kind, I think are called idealistic persons.

My English translation of Krishna Sastry’s song was published in the first issue of Triveni. Ramakotiswara Rau tells me that I was present at the meeting held at Malabar house in Vepery, Madras, on that occasion. But I do not remember to have been present there that day. Yet he says “all these years I thought that you were present there that day. That means you were definitely there.” How good natured and friendly!

* Translated into English by D. Ranga Rao, Associate editor, Triveni, from Achanta Janakiram’s “Sagutunna Yatra” (On-going Journey) Part I. Janakiram was an outstanding writer of yesteryears.