OBITUARY: UR ANANTHAMURTHY (1934-2014)
Ananthamurthy, rated as one of the best writers in the country who won acclaims from critics and fans alike, breathed his last this evening, 10 days after he was hospitalised with fever and infection, the doctor attending on him said.
Ananthamurthy is survived by his wife Esther, a son and a daughter.
“He had a cardiac arrest. We tried to resuscitate but it was not successful. So we with great regret announce that he is no more with us,” Manipal Hospital Medical Director & Chairman – Medical Advisory Board H Sudarshan Ballal told reporters.
Ananthamurthy, who had been suffering from kidney related disease for some years and was undergoing dialysis treatment with diabetes and heart problem, turned critical last night, he said.
“His condition got critical since last night and blood pressure also deteriorated. He was also facing breathing problem, so we had kept him under ventilator..,” Ballal said.
Ananthamurthy’s wife and children were by his side when the end came, hospital sources said.
In his several decades of literary life, he has won the Padma Bhushan in 1998, Jnanpith award in 1994 and the state Rajyothsava award in 1984.
His nomination for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize brought him to the attention of a Western audience. He was also the Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala during the late 1980s.
IN THE MEANTIME, according to a report in Hindustan Times (August 23, 2014),
Karnataka Police have registered a case against alleged BJP and Hindu Jagarana Vedike activists who burst crackers to “celebrate” the death of famed writer UR Ananthamurthy.
A case was registered by the Mudigere police in Chikmangalur on Saturday against unidentified BJP and Hindu Jagarana Vedike activists under sections of the IPC relating to rioting, causing public nuisance and forming an unlawful assembly. Police sources said that they have footage and photographs of the incident and hope to nab the culprits soon.
The miscreants burst crackers at four places in Mangalore and one spot in Chikmangalur soon after the news of Ananthamurthy’s death was announced on Friday evening. Ananthamurthy who was known for his strong anti-BJP views had raised a storm during the Lok Sabha elections by saying he would leave the country if Modi became PM.
This happened even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quick to convey his condolences minutes after the death of the Jnanpith and Padma award winning author
Activists of the Youth Congress and various Left parties held a protest in Chikmangalur town to condemn the actions of the Hindutva activists.
Mangalore police commissioner R Hitendra said, “We have registered a case in one incident against unidentified persons.”
In Mangalore, over a dozen organisations, including the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti and the Democratic Youth Federation of India, have decided to picket the Deputy Commissioner’s office demanding that the police take cognisance of the other three cases as well. In a release to the media, the organisers of the protest said that there was enough video footage and photos to identify the miscreants.
“The actions of the Hindutva activists were clearly aimed at creating communal discord and disaffection toward a celebrated national icon,” DYFI president Muneer Katipalla told HT.
Sharan Pumpwell, Bajrang Dal state president, told HT, “The celebrations were not organised by us. Some of our sympathisers might have been carried away. As far as our differences with Ananthamurthy are concerned, they were intellectual, not personal.”
BJP state president Prahlad Joshi refused to react to the incident.
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