UTTARAHALLI: Had K S Narasimhaswamy been alive today (January 26, 2015), he would have turned 100.
A household name in Karnataka, his poetry has charmed Kannadigas for about eight decades. His collection Mysura Mallige, first published in 1942, has gone into more than 32 editions, and is to this day considered the best gift for newly-weds.
Narasimhaswamy wrote delicate love poems at a time when nature poetry dominated Kannada literature.
His poems gained immense popularity both on the sugama sangeeta concert stage and as film songs. Some often sung songs are: Raayaru bandaru maavana manege, Balegaara Channaiah baagilige bandihanu, Deepavu ninnade gaaliyu ninnade, Ninna premada pariya, and Ninnolumeyindale baalu belakaagiralu...
Music composers such as P Kalinga Rao, Mysuru Ananthaswamy and C Ashwath took his songs to the length and breadth of Karnataka. T S Nagabharana made a film called Mysuru Mallige, basing the script on his poems. The film won both popular and critical acclaim and won many awards including the national award (1992).
K S Na (1915-2003), as he was affectionately called by Kannadigas, was given the prestigious Pampa Award in 1997. He presided over the 60th Sahitya Sammelana in Mysuru in 1991. Bangalore University had conferred an honorary doctorate degree on him.
City Express spoke to some lovers of his poetry.
Prathibha Nandakumar, Kannada poet, loves his line ‘Hindabaaradu dundu malligeya dandeyanu/Onagabaaradu olava chilume’ (Never crush the garland of jasmine/Never let the stream of love dry up).
“Probably no poet wrote about the sensitive emotions of women like he did. The women in his poems truly represent us. He has spoken about many complex things in simple words,” she told City Express.
He was a legend and a people’s poet. Once, a beggar sang his song, without knowing who the poet was, and collected money from him. “His poems enjoyed the status of folk songs status in his lifetime,” Prathibha said.
K Kalyan, who writes lyrics for Kannada films, said, “The moment I hear Narasimhaswamy’s name, I think of the line ‘Deepavu ninnade gaaliyu ninnade/Aaradirali belaku/Kadalu ninnade hadagoo ninnade mulugadirali baduku’ (The lamp is yours/the gust yours/May the light keep burning./The sea is yours/the ship yours/May life never sink)."
Kalayan says Narasimhaswamy was a true love poet. “I was fortunate to have been close to him in his last years. I used to go and felicitate him every year and take his blessings,” he told City Express.
Actor and director T N Seetharam remembers Narasimhaswamy’s lines, 'Chigura hambala jinkegaadare/Huliyu kaadide podeyali’ (While the deer yearns for a tender leaf/A tiger waits in the foliage.)
“Narasimhaswamy released my play Nammolagobba Najookaiah at Ravindra Kalakhetra,” recalled Seetharam. J H Patel, who was a minister then, was the chief guest.
By then, the government had given Narasimhaswamy a 30x40 site and he had built a house on it. Seetharam drove Narasimhaswamy in an Ambassador car to the event.
At the function, Seetharam told Patel the government should have given Narasimhaswamy a 50x80 site, considering his stature. Patel said he would ask Ramakrishna Hegde, the then chief minister, to give him a bigger site.
But Narasimhaswamy declined. “No no, this is enough. I have built a small house in this site with great difficulty. How can I build a big house on a bigger site?” he asked.
He said his only desire in life had been to live in a small house of his own. “You drive me in a car, and people like my songs. What more do I want?” he said.
“At that moment, everyone was embarrassed as all of us dream of big houses and cars,” Seetharam said.
Host of events
Many organisations in Bengaluru are paying their tributes to Narasimhaswamy in his centenary year.
Aneka, a group of literature lovers, held a day-long event at his home district of Mandya, with H S Venkateshamurthy and other poets participating in it. A poetry collection called Hoobutti (Basket of Flowers) was released to mark the occasion (Priced at Rs 136, it can be ordered online too).
Upasana Trust has organised a cultural festival in association with the poet's family at Auden School, Hoskerehalli Cross, Bengaluru, at 5 pm today.
English translation of Prashnege Uttara
This much-sung poem begins with the line Ondirulu kanasinali. It appears in K S Narasimha Swamy’s Mysura Mallige, first published in 1942. The anthology continues to go into popular reprints to this day.
Question Answered
In a dream one night,
I asked my beloved,
‘Which do you like more:
my town or yours?
My town is Honnuru,
and yours Naviluru:
which do you like more?’
‘Which do you like more:
my town or yours?’
Is that a question to ask?
Lounging in bed in my town,
I dreamt of yours:
need I say more?’ she said.
‘Which do you like more:
my town or yours?
Is that a question to ask?
Quiet, my prince!’
‘On the way to my town,
coconut palms beckon,
banana trees wave.
Clasping thorn fences,
buds of bobbing jasmine
daub the air with perfume.
Girls from my town
prance along laughing
to the fair in yours.
My love then prompts me
to say:’Honnuru it is,
happier than Naviluru!’
#Kannada: Honnuru: Town of Gold; Naviluru: Town of Peacocks.
— Translated by S R Ramakrishna