A SEEKER OF BEAUTY–A PERFECTIONIST

A. JANAKIRAM

It is difficult, after an association of forty years, to say when, exactly, you met a certain friend of yours. So many events of special significance have overshadowed the ecstacy of the first meeting. As a matter of fact, in the case of a few people–as it was in the case of Sri Ramakotiswara Rau–each meeting seemed to be the first meeting. The fervour with which he accepted your hand and the enthusiasm with which he spoke of the progress–or the opposite–of Triveni, made you feel that it was the very first occasion of your meeting.

My translation of a famous poem of Devulapalli Venkata Krishna Sastri appeared in the first number of Triveni. Ramakotiswara Rau was fond of saying that I was present at the inaugural function of Triveni, when he was staying at the Malabari House, Vepery. I do remember going there: but I do not remember being present at the function. But, all the same, Ramakotiswara Rau used to say on many occasions, “Well! He should have been there–if he was not there–and I will regard him as one of the founder-members of the–now world-famous–magazine Triveni”. Indeed, it is a proud thing to be one of the founder-members of Triveni.

I remember one occasion, rather, vividly, when I was shown Ramakotiswara Rau, from a little distance, but I do not think we were formally introduced to each other at that time. It was in a house in Canal Bank Road, Mylapore, where I was staying with a friend. Ramakotiswara Rau was staying in the main portion of the house, and my friend was occupying the smaller wing. As our friend and myself came out into the verandah, Ramakotiswara Rau was just leaving the house on one of his morning visits–presumably to meet Sri Chandrasekharan, who was a good friend of Ramakotiswara Rau. Pointing to the receding figure of Ramakotiswara Rau, my friend said with a certain amount of awe in his voice, and great admiration, “That man is running a very high-class journal; he has given everything to bring out the journal regularly; and do you know, the exquisite furniture in the main hall that you saw, is going to the auctioners today to find funds for the next issue of the journal.” And ever since, Ramakotiswara Rau has appeared to me as the very essence of sacrifice for a cherished ideal; in this case the running of the journal Triveni.

Ramakotiswara Rau was a seeker of beauty–a perfectionist, perhaps to a fault. I have known him to condemn a whole form of his magazine and have the entire matter re-composed when he discovered a compositor's error. The cost of re-doing sixteen pages did not matter to him, nor the trouble to go through it once again. It was this pursuit of perfection which made him the remarkable person he was. Ramakotiswara Rau, as editor of Triveni, would give up many things to see his journal beautiful. One may say that he dedicated his life to the journal which he made very famous indeed. There is ample proof that though the journal did not have a large circulation, it did have a discerning circle of readers. Once, when I was in Delhi, I was introduced to a learned man from Lucknow whose first question to me as soon as he knew that I came from the South was about Triveni. The journal seemed to make a great impression on him.

Ramakotiswara Rau’s absence from the cultural field just at this time is no small loss to us. Triveni would infuse new hope to people rather dissatisfied with the present state of things. Ramakotiswara Rau was a true apostle of culture. He was also most hopeful, when everything around him appeared as hopeless. One has but to hope that the person or persons on whom the burden of continuing the publication of the journal has fallen will carry on the tradition established by him. It may be a voice in the wilderness, but the voice of Triveni has been powerful. The greatest tribute that the present generation of writers and readers can pay to Ramakotiswara Rau would be to see that the Triveni will continue to thrive–even if the odds are very much against it. Ramakotiswara Rau set an example of self-less devotion to a cause which it is hoped will be followed.

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