U.R. Ananthamurthy

Chandan Gowda

A fascinating portrait of the life and ideas of the great Indian writer and public intellectual, U.R. Ananthamurthy. Between 2012 and 2013, Ananthamurthy shared his personal experiences in a series of lively conversations with academic and writer Chandan Gowda, and reflected on issues that would preoccupy him until the end. Besides the vivid accounts of his childhood, friendships, the evolution of his intellectual life, and public involvements, his passionate ideas on tradition, on India's political culture, and on language and writing make the conversations an engaging and valuable document. A Life in the World - perhaps the first exercise of its kind done with an Indian writer - will enthral both general readers as well as admirers of Ananthamurthy's works.

A Life in the World: U.R. Ananthamurthy in Conversation with Chandan Gowda

U. R. Ananthamurthy

Ajji, can I have some water?... Just a few drops will do, Ajji. With the searing sky above and the blistering earth below, like cactus the people of this parched terrain are determined to stay alive. Emaciated children scurry along, dejected farmers pawn their ploughs, weary women sleep on empty stomachs... Would those perishing now have died anyway? Or is hunger calling them away prematurely? Filled with social concern, Satisha, the district commissioner, wants to help the afflicted. But he is caught between the politicians who are unwilling to declare the district drought-hit and the murky local realities where a religious outfit strives to protect cows, the desperate youth hold a deity responsible for the failed rains, and petty activists seek to secure their own interests. Can the idealist Satisha win the game where corrupt politicians are rolling the dice and stand by his conviction to help the afflicted? Written during the Indian Emergency, Bara depicts the tortuous realities of Indian democracy, and captures the political and moral dilemmas of the educated middle class

Chandan Gowda

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