DR. BHAVARAJU
NARASIMHA RAO –
A GENTLEMAN PAR EXCELLENCE
DR. D. ANJANEYULU
For any person in a position of responsibility, always eager to get things done somehow, any how, it is difficult to remain a gentleman. But not altogether impossible. Luckily for us, there are a few, who are able to manage their affairs competently enough, without ceasing to be gentlemen, by the compulsion of their nature and the influence of their culture.
Dr. Bhavaraju Narasimha Rao was one of those nature’s gentlemen. I have had the privilege of knowing him closely enough to be counted as one among the inner circle of his personal friends. I had met him first over forty years ago at Hotel Woodlands in Mylapore at a party given by Narla to a senior political leader (may be A. Kaleswara Rao) on his election to the Speakership of the AP Assembly. Here was a tall, dark, wiry, muscular, middle-aged man, polite and sociable, though a little reserved. No elaborate introduction was needed, as we could easily place each other – he as the printer and publisher of TRIVENI quarterly, and me as a Sub-editor of the Hindu.
We took to each other instantly and I invited him to my house. Whenever he was in Madras - thereafter, he used either to meet me or ring me up from his room in YMIA or his hotel in Mylapore. Off and on, he would suggest an article to be written by me for a special number or a topic of cultural and literary interest to work upon. After a few years, he wanted to include me as a member of the Advisory Board, but that had to wait for some more time, for obtaining the approval of the founder - editor, whose standards were very high and attitude uncompromising. But, finally, he was able to convince him about my background and suitability for the position, which, of course, was only honorary. In due course, I was described as “Associate Editor”.
A few years later, Narasimha Rao decided to have an office at the YMIA Building on the first floor on Armenian Street, in George Town. This enabled us to meet more often and me to keep track of the latest publications of Triveni Publishers. At that time, his son, Murthy, was studying in Loyola College. But the sojourn in Madras did not last too long, as he was cheated by the person whom he relied upon for keeping accounts and canvassing for advertisements. By this time, Murthy had completed his academic course and found a berth in one of the Nationalised Banks. The office thereupon was shifted back to Machilipatnam.
Meanwhile, there were so many ups and downs in the financial prospects of TRIVENI, but Narasimha Rao, as printer and publisher, always, took it as a sacrament, never failing to bring it out. There was a time when he invited me to take over the entire editorial responsibility and bring it out from Madras, with the goodwill and support of local friends and well-wishers. It was not possible, as their number was fast diminishing and new generation of readers had come up, with different values, which was hardly aware of the existence and identity of TRIVENI. But the golden Jubilee number, with a collection of valuable and readable articles, was released from Sastri Hall in Mylapore at an impressive function in which Mrs. Rukmini Devi Arundale, Prof. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, Mr. K. Chandrasekharan and others took part.
Sometimes, when all around was dark, help used to come from unexpected quarters. By this time, Ramakotiswara Rao was no more. And Bhavaraju was by now publisher as well as editor. A few years ago, Prof. C.V.N. Dhan of Guntur offered to print the periodical at his expense. It looked as though a good Samaritan had come our way, without our searching for him or working for it. The new arrangement of printing and production from Guntur, while the Editor stayed on at Machilipatnam, did work for some time. The Diamond Jubilee number of TRIVENI was released from Guntur by Professor K. Satchidananda Murti, then Deputy Chairman of the University Grants Commission. Soon, Narasimha Rao was obliged to have second thoughts about the continuance of TRIVENI in Guntur. He was looking ahead into the future.
Though he was nearly ten years my senior, I thought he looked ten years younger than me. He always managed to keep fit. May be by playing tennis regularly: more so by playing fair with everyone and keeping off tensions and worries.
By this time, he was getting on in years, fast approaching eighty. Probably, he had a premonition that something more substantial had to be done, to place TRNENI on a sound footing and ensure its publication in future, irrespective of his presence on the scene. With his son already in Hyderabad and the support of leading citizens like justice Avula Sambasiva Rao, and others including justice Nittoor Srinivasa Rao he formed the TRIVENI Foundation as a trust. The editorial collaboration of Prof. I. V. Chalapathi Rao must have encouraged him decisively.
Whatever be the provocation, Narasimha Rao was never known to have said a harsh word against anybody. He was shrewd enough to understand human nature: but he was a gentleman who followed the dictum: “Na bruyaat satyam apriyam”.
Dr. Narasimha Rao (who had some years ago received an honorary doctorate from Nagarjuna University) was always thinking not only of TRIVENI, but also of those closely associated with it. He remembered their years of birth, in which he used to see a pattern; K. Ramakotiswara Rao (1894), K. Chandrasekharan (1904); Bhavaraju Narasimha Rao (1914); and D. Anjaneyulu (1924). Now Prof. Chalapati Rao is about the same age as the last, he also used to say that almost all of them had small families – a daughter and/or son or none.
But none of them had an inkling that he would soon be not on the scene. We don’t know if he had it. If he had, he did not breathe it out to anyone. But, though his physical presence is no longer there, it is just possible that, according to Theosophical belief, his astral body may be hovering around TRIVENI Quarterly. He was a lucky man, because he vanished in a trice. His life and death were an admirable illustration of “anaayaasena maranam; vinaa dainyena jeevanam”.