Words are not enough to explain about few things, I feel one
such rare subject is to write few things about my father Dr V S Acharya,
‘appa’!
Childhood and Youth
He loved vehicles and machines. What I heard from his
friends and classmates was he had a bicycle and was seen riding it all around
Udupi during his school days. Later while in college he bought a scooter and
made adventurous trips with his friends to Agumbe, Coorg and Mysore. Later in
our early childhood he had a small car. Till recently (till he became minister)
he used to drive it himself. Very recently he showed a calculation of his personal
car driving statistics almost 7 – 8 lakh kilometers over the last 40 years. Not
many people know he was an expert cycle and scooter mechanic. He was also fully
familiar with parts and functioning of vehicle engines, electrical motors,
boilers and generators. He had fabricated a working dynamo cum motor in his
school days. He had a micro power plant
using water flow from ceiling in his highschool days. His passion for
electricity since his early days was something unique. He explained to me once
vividly how first power plant of Udupi then installed by Madras Government
running on oil was working and how he had seen the motor and generator, switch,
transformers and how at 8 am and 8 pm one generator unit would be switched off
and other machine was switched on etc…He also mentioned in detail on how they
were decommissioned and shifted to Chennai after state reorganization.
He had special attachment with one of his childhood neighbor
who was deaf and dumb. They were
emotionally very close and because of this association he was conversant with
sign and facial expression language and deep sympathy for challenged.
Man with a mission
I accompanied him as a small child to project site of Udupi
water supply scheme both dam site and purification and pump house site
periodically. During the days of main concrete work, installation of pumps and
trial run of plant I spent whole days with him at the site. I distinctly
remember all those visits and his explanation of the things happening. Exciting
was the story he told us how his team with engineers used to explore Swarna
river on each high tide / full moon day upstream in search of a suitable spot
for building the dam and how they used to taste the river water for salinity
and finally Baje near Hiriadka was chosen for building the dam. His love and respect for Swarna river was
unique. His confidence in Udupi water supply scheme and quality of Swarna River
was evident by the fact that whenever in Udupi he always consumed tap water
directly without boiling or further treatment at home till his last days. While travelling, by taste he used to
recognize Swarna water from other bottled water.
Early days in Politics
Most of my childhood memory with appa was extensive travel
to various places both nearby and far off places either as part of his social
or political activities. He also used to take us to political protests. First
one I remember distinctly is “Akki gate” and “Jail Bharo” against price hike
movement. Most traumatic and depressive period for whole family was when I was
in fifth standard while protesting against draconian law “Maintenance of
Internal Security Act” (MISA) and he was arrested and sent to Mangalore,
Bellary and later Bangalore Jail. That was most insecure period of our life.
This taught us importance of Democracy, freedom of expression and evils of
autocracy first hand and let us totally shattered over two years. Silent
weeping of mother when alone, words of consolation and frequent visit of my
maternal grandfather (dada), periodic visit to Jail to meet appa, meeting with
Advani and Rama Jois at Bangalore jail, appa’s political activists visiting our
place in all sorts of fancy dress at odd hours to evade police arrest, failing
health of grandmother, totally clueless younger brothers Kiran and Ganesh and
their innocent questions about where abouts of appa on those days are all
memories which can never be forgotten.
Then came the release of appa from the jail and further
expansion of his political activity to whole district as party district
president. From then on his public life became more hectic and his networking
expanded.
Appa and religion
Appa’s was very religious at home and privately. He used to
do Pooja for “Saligrama” daily whenever in town, taught me basics of
sandyavandhana and Pooja procedure after my Upanayanam. All his initiatives,
challenges would start and end with special seva at Udupi Sri Krishna and
Mukhyaprana. He took keen interest in development of Kadiyali temple and
recently supported renovation of our Kula devatha temple at Karambally. He took
keen interest when “Naga Bana” (snake habitat / snake worship place) of our
locality was renovated with least damage to greenery and insisted on
maintaining as much greenery around the renovated place. He did an in depth study of Udupi and had his
own vision of “Vastu” design for Udupi region. To complete the original
religious Vastu of Udupi city a missing temple of Lord Subramanya was explored
and built as per traditional design. It may not be a coincidence that his last
payment from personal account was on 13th February 2012, his seva
amount paid to Karambally temple for annual festival scheduled a fortnight
later (29th Feb 2012).
Appa as a doctor and Humanitarian
As a busy medical practitioner he had numerous stories some
told by him, many told by relatives or patient themselves later when they met
us. He never practiced medicine for money. He had an inherent drive to serve
the needy and poor. He never maintained a record of money payable by patients
if they ask for credit. He had immense faith in goodness of human beings. His
favorite guiding principle initially in profession, later in public life was
when one has the capability to help others especially for those who are in need
and going through crisis. Satisfying feeling will be your source of energy and
enhance your performance all round!
Appa and Media
Appa followed mainstream newspapers both national and
regional very meticulously. His day would not start without spending at least
1-2 hours glancing, then reading news and other articles. When we were young he
used to tell us newspapers are like window to the world. He was very much
conscious of image of the party as projected by media. Any clarifications,
rebuttal or views on the media reports he would plan and execute promptly
within few hours and would ensure it appears in appropriate newspaper next day.
He strongly believed in free and fair media. He was very sensitive regarding
role of media on public perception of issues or personalities. Of late he was
not very happy with quality/taste of some news appearing in newspapers. He
would be very critical if there were factual errors or blunders in news items
or columns. He loved explaining policy issues or complicated administrative
matters in simple terms to others including interested journalists.
He used to masterly ignore most of the tabloids, evening
papers and sensationalized breaking news in TV channels. Hardly ever he reacted
to such media reports. Over last few years when paid news, totally baseless
allegations and obviously biased one sided news items gained headlines with
clear not so straight motives he did extensive review of privileges and
responsibilities of media in other countries both developed and developing
countries. In that context when during one of the purely media created crisis
he did raise a discussion on need for media ombudsman, self restraint by media
and self declared code of conduct. I am sure way media that is also part of
society showing declining standards and total lack of concern for ethics of
publication and scant regard for expected good practice will soon come under
some system of monitoring and audit of accountability for a healthy democracy.
Appa as a Family Head
Due to his hectic professional life and later public life he
hardly had time to spend with family. However when he was at home he would make
it a point to talk with all of us, ask about our studies later our job and
health. He was very much concerned about his grandchildren. In spite of hectic
schedule over the last six years as minister he would keep track of progress
and all round growth of his three grandchildren.
Appa as a politician
We found a totally different behavior in appa compared to
other politicians whom we had met or knew. He was not a ‘typical politician’.
He would never promise things, which he cannot deliver. If he believed in a
cause he went ahead with full steam till he achieved, at times single handedly.
He never ever had double speak just to please somebody. Public causes or
issues, developmental issues and morally right issues were on top his agenda
both out of power and while in power.
Appa as a Minister
Sadly we spent less and less time during last six years
after he became minister. By choice all of us (all the family members) decided
not to get involved in administrative matters. He was so busy with all the
administrative and political responsibilities we used to consciously avoid
discussion on political and official topic at home during his visits. He used
to share important or interesting achievements. Except while on the stage or
official meetings he used to attend his phone calls personally, during any time
of the day. He used to tell us “Government never sleeps”. I feel he had taken
the responsibilities as Minister with full seriousness. He had extreme liking
for public finance, budget, power, civic administration and administrative
reforms. However he handled medical
education, animal husbandry, Home, higher education, Muzarai, IT and BT over
the last six years. He studied meticulously details of each of the departments
and even other departments in details and had full knowledge. He had a clear
road map for each of the department headed and tried his best to impart good
governance and impart policy changes. He never ever shared state secrets,
political gossips or confidential information with any of us or even with his
close aides. I learnt first hand what was the meaning of “oath of office of secrecy” and how to practice it in real life!
Appa as a simple human being and philosopher
Appa wanted things to be neat and perfect. He would
personally ensure all the gadgets and cars at home are in perfect working
condition till his end. He had a neat handwriting both in Kannada and English.
He used to prepare meticulously for any meeting, discussion or public speech.
If he were not familiar with subject he would collect all the relevant
materials well in advance, study them discuss with experts and formulate his
stand or speech. He used to respect others time. He took extreme care to report
on time for all the meetings, bus or flights. He had great liking for Sanskrit
versus, slokas from Bhagavad Geetha, Vachanas of sarvajna, Keerthanas of
Purandara dasa and Kanaka dasa. He would cite them and explain them aptly for
the context in his speeches.
His food habits were very simple. He used to eat small
quantity of food but would appreciate quality of the food both at home and
outside. At domestic functions he would personally ensure quality of food
served is of best quality and prepared using best possible ingredients.
Because he used to read a lot and write a lot he had
preference for good looking and quality spectacles and smooth writing pens. He
had a small but tasteful collection of gold-strapped wristwatches, finger rings
and beaded chains.
He walked his talk through out. Never compromised on values
and ethics he believed. Put public and party’s interest supreme till the end.
Personal integrity, not to hurt others by words or deeds, help others in need
in whatever way possible, console who are in grief, ongoing strive for
perfection in whatever we do, equanimity and well synchronized personal
thoughts – words – deed are the qualities which we imbibed from our appa.
Raviraja V Acharya
excerpts from the book Dr V S Acharya
