HOMAGE TO A HUMANIST
A.
S. RAMAN
I
did not have the privilege of knowing Ramakotiswara Rau personally, partly
because of the generation gap, and partly because of the halo that surrounded him.
But there was no communication gap between both of us. My rapport with him was
instant. It began as a compulsive reader-editor equation, imperceptibly grew
into a meaningful contributor-editor collaboration and finally culminated
in a many-splendoured pupil-preceptor dialogue. The
medium of the initial contact between both of us of course was Triveni
which has been a magnificent obsession with me ever since I
first saw it in the Theosophical College Reading Room, Madanapalli,
in the early 30s. The journal did not just impress me: it overpowered me. I at
once developed veneration for the man behind it. Triveni struck me as an
epitome of suavity, scholarship and sensibility and I began to etch in my own
mind the portrait of the editor as I imagined him to be. He was, according to
my own fancy, a superman. If he were not one, I asked myself, who else was
he–to be able to make every issue of Triveni such “a thing of
beauty”–such a treasure of everything that the best minds cherished? Soon I had
the reader’s itch to write to the editor. He confirmed my image of him through
his letters which gave me an insight into what he actually was. And what he
was, he exactly looked: nothing more, nothing less. He was the type that would
be a misfit in a system which was not perfect, ideal, exemplary. Everything
about him was so sublime: noble thoughts, refined responses, lofty sentiments:
they all came so naturally to him. He lived like a crusader and died like a
martyr because he tried very hard to bridge the gulf between his own vision of
the world and the reality of it, as he saw it. I learnt a lot from my
correspondence with him. When I emerged into adulthood, naturally, I found
myself looking at everything around me through his eyes. My contributions began
to appear in Triveni, not because of their intrinsic merit, I guess, but
because of his conviction that he had found a fellow-crusader in me. Later,
when I became a professional journalist, I realised
that a number of my decisions could be sustained
because of his early
impact on my taste and sensibility.
Ramakotiswara
Rau was a humanist turned journalist. His concern primarily was with the basic
decency innate in each one of us. He employed his powerful pen to draw our
attention to our own potential. He was probably disappointed in men: but he
never lost faith in
THE P. E. N. ALL
Be it resolved
that
the Executive Committee of the P. E. N. All-India Centre places on record its
deep regret at the passing away on May 19, 1970, of Shri
K. Ramakotiswara Rou, a P. E. N. Member since 1936;
that
it recalls his valuable services to the cause of literature and journalism in
Be
it also resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the bereaved
family with the sincerest sympathy of the Executive comimittee
and the P. E. N. All