Girish Karnad - All Purpose Genius

It was dinner time.

- Prathima Nandakumar

In the Saraswatpur residence of the Karnads in Dharwad, the mother told the father casually, “And we had thought we did not want him!” She was referring to her fourth child. The jolted son, in his mid-30s, prodded her to reveal more. She confided that they wanted to terminate the pregnancy, while she was carrying him. But, when the doctor did not turn up after a long wait, they gave up the thought.

The mother’s revelation was immortalised when theatre giant Girish Karnad put it in his autobiography, Adadata Ayushya. He dedicates the book to the “life-saviour” doctor, Madhumalati Gune, who never turned up on the fateful day.

Karnad’s creative exuberance gave life to the characters drawn from the past and the present. They spoke, poked, pondered, prodded and, at times, provoked the receptive minds. In life, he donned many hats: playwright, actor, director, artist, rights advocate and administrator. But when Karnad, 81, bid adieu to this world, he did it quietly. The farewell to the Jnanpith awardee was simple, private and sans worldly moorings—no rituals and state honours. He had wanted it that way.