Tata Inspirational Quotes

Tata was also an inspiration to three other next-generation stars of Kannada literature, theatre and culture: U.R. Ananthamurthy, Girish Karnad and B.V. Karanth. It was only after I got to know them well later that I realised how profound Tata's influence had been on them during their formative years and how much they stood in genuine awe of Tata's pioneering intellectual and personal explorations despite their ideological differences with him. Among the trio, Tata was personally very fond of Ananthamurthy (1932-2014). When Tata was in Mysore, he would always drop in for a cup of coffee with Murthy. Basking in Tata's reflected glory, Prathibha and I too have benefited much from Ananthamurthy's incredible affection and charming erudition.

Among Karnataka politicians he had two lifelong admirers. One was Ramakrishna Hegde whom he had known from student days. Somewhat oddly, the other one was from the Congress--Marpadi Veerappa Moily who was inspired by Tata's emancipatory politics captured in Chomana Dudi. As a young lawyer, Moily had fought the landlords on behalf of sharecroppers when the land reform laws were implemented in South Kanara during the early 1970s. Both Hedge and Moily consistently supported Tata's literary and cultural efforts during their tenures as chief ministers of Karnataka.