Though G S Shivarudrappa was recognised as hailing from Shimoga district in central Karnataka, his ancestors came from Guggari village in Dharwad district. The ‘G’ in his name stands for Guggari, a place he never got to visit. In 1988, when he was chairman of the Kannada Sahitya Academy, he had told his poet-friend Channaveera Kanavi of his desire to go there. The visit never materialised, though.
He was one of the dearest students of poet laureate Kuvempu. Incidentally, he wrote his PhD thesis, titled ‘Soundarya Sameekshe’ (A survey of aesthetics), under the guidance of Kuvempu.
GSS was a great teacher who inspired several Kannada scholars, including M Chidananda Murthy. Because of his personal interest, Kannada talents like Chandrashekhara Kambar, Ki Ram Nagaraj, D R Nagaraj and Chidananda Murthy joined Bangalore University and excelled. In one of his articles, U R Ananthmurthy had described GSS as the ‘Dronacharya of his times,’ equating him with Kuvempu and D R Bendre.