MYSURU: The passion in Saraswathi Badekkila’s voice is unmistakable.“Did you know that our National anthem has four more stanzas and they are even more beautiful?” asks the 88-year-old from Mysuru, who each Independence Day, gathers all her children, grandchildren and neighbours and sings the entire song.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, she recalls how she was in Class IV when she was given a pamphlet containing the original and complete five-stanza hymn penned by Rabindranath Tagore, a part of which is the current National anthem. Saraswathi says she felt it was her duty to learn the song in entirety and “that’s how it has to be sung.”
“I thought it was my duty to learn the entire anthem. It takes us through a journey of our country’s Upanishads and uplifts our culture. It is beautiful and one should not sing it incomplete,” says Saraswathi. The current length of the National anthem is 52 seconds.
A native of Dakshina Kannada district, a beaming Saraswathi, who lives in Mysuru, says, “I tried to teach it to a lot of youngsters, including my children and grandchildren. They do listen with great interest ... but don’t want to learn it. If anyone wants to learn, I am ready to teach.”
Reminiscing about her childhood, Saraswathi tells us about her active participation in some of the pre-freedom walks and Prabhat Pheris shouting slogans of “Bharat Mata ki Jai.”
A student of Besant National Girls’ School set up by Annie Besant in 1918, Saraswathi studied there until 1947 when she completed her SSLC. She says her Kannada teacher, PK Narayana, wrote many songs not related to freedom and they would learn and sing those songs too.
Her late father, a Kannada laureate and a Pampakavi awardee, had met Mahatma Gandhi and stories about the freedom struggle were regularly shared at her home.
Calling herself unfortunate, she says, “I was two-and-a-half-years old when Gandhiji visited Mangaluru. I had spilt hot water on me and injured myself which is why my father couldn’t take me to see Gandhiji or else I would have definitely met him.”
Saraswathi, who has never missed voting in a single election, says true patriotism is to show that you are a responsible citizen.