Remembering Tejaswi

 

ಪೂರ್ಣಚಂದ್ರ ತೇಜಸ್ವಿ

Today afternoon when I got up from sleep, the clock was showing two thirty. I usually rise bit late after working whole night in the office. But today I dont know why I got up this early. I started surfing the TV channels for next few minutes. In an hour or so, I happened to see an interview of Poornachandra Tejaswi in E-tv. I threw the remote aside and started watching my favourite writer speak. As most of the people know, Tejaswi never come out and give interview to media. He loves being reserved. So it was a surprise sight. It was a repeat telecast from TV archives. A wonderful interview of Tejaswi by Jayanth Kaykini – who is also my favourite writer.

In the middle of the interview a flash news bar appeared saying that Tejaswi passed away in Mudigere due to heart attack. I could not believe my eyes. The person who was shown discussing his works, life and world on TV is not there with us any more.

I turned to other kannada channels TV9 , Udaya news and Chandana to confirm the news. It was true. The news came as a nightmare to me. Kannada writers, politicians and eminent personalities shared their words in all the TV channels. Tejaswi’s death is certainly a big loss to Kannada literature.

He has always been my favourite writer. I remember my school days, when I read his book about flying saucers. I was so fascinated by his writing that I started an extensive search for the books and details on extra terrestrial life.  Then I read his book ‘Karvalo’, which became my all time favourite. His novel ‘Jugari cross’ is a superb thriller depicting the invisible chains of underworld mafia surrounding the tranquil forest area of wesern ghats. ‘Chidambara Rahasya’ is also loveable for its depiction of normal social life of emergency time.

Tejaswi’s short stories are trend setters. They bacame a bench mark for the future writers in Kannada. ‘Abachurina post office’, ‘ Tabarana kathe’ ‘Kirigoorina gayyaligalu’ and ‘ Kubi maththu iyaala’ are remembered for its cinematic narration. I remember a kannada lecturer of mine, who while explaining the charecter of  Tabara could not resist himself from shedding tears. That is the depth of charecterisation mastered by Tejaswi. Some of his works were adapted for cinema and recieved many awards.

His love for nature is very evident in his works. Whether it is bird-photography or his writings on wild life,  we can see his extensive research and decades of experience. He loved the silence of the jungles. As he said in his interview, jungle becomes alive when we surrender to it by our silence. May be this is the reason he loved silence. Ku.Vem.Pu is also a nature loving poet. In his writings we see jungle as a godly thing which protects the human being. But in his son’s writing the reality was somewhat different.Tejaswi showed these jungles in the need of protection by man. The truth had changed with the passage of time. His writings on wildlife is more than just ‘a wondering look at the jungle’. It goes beyond that, with a scientific temper, it  touches the most fundamental issues and gives a whole new look to the nature. I some times wonder, whether his writings on wildlife and human evolution are really non-fictions. because his writings were very rich in discriptive style and language.

There are some other fields in which tejaswi worked. Painting, Sitar, agriculture, ornithology-cum-photography  and environment studies and activities. As he said, he is a better painter  than a writer. But his writings made him more popular. Achieving a celebrity status in kannada literature is a tough task. Kannada literature has seen many writers and a variety of writing styles. We have many Jnana peeta awardees. Amidst these many writers  creating  a distinguished place is really a difficult job. Tejaswi was successfull in achieving this status in those days of Karanth, Ku.Vem.Pu and Bendre.

I always wanted to meet Tejaswi. I wanted to tell him how beautifully and effectively he has created the imaginary world for the readers. I wanted to thank him for providing us a window to the world of international literature, history, science and wildlife in those days when ‘internet’ was a word never heard.

I know my dream of meeting my favourite writer is shatterd forever.  I can see him only in his writings. His thoughts and ideas are immortal as his writings. I ask all the people who like  kannada literature to pick up and read the treasure Tejaswi has left behind for us.

Before I end this article I wanted to add one more thing. My wall clock stopped working at 2.30pm exactly  at the time of Tejaswi’s death. Perhaps indicating the end of an era.

( This is a vedio tribute to Tejaswi posted by churumuri.com which is very meaningful.)