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I quickly pbaded the security check at the airport when my phone rang. Normally, I do not answer calls from India when I travel abroad. But this one I had to take. There was a great urgency in the voice. "How can you allow this to happen! You must not let them stop the game. Tell me what I can do – who can I talk to? Young people do not understand that unless they resist bullying, they will continue to terrorize us.
It was Girish Karnad, deeply concerned that one of the pieces we had supported at the Indian Arts Foundation had just been closed. by protestors claiming that it had harmed their religious feelings. She called Shiva, and was led by Dayasindhu Sakrepatna. It dealt with the challenges of going out for the homobadual community and stories of their love and loss.
Karnad kept telling me that I could call him anytime and that he would walk with us or talk to the authorities if necessary. In this distance, my eyes shone with deep gratitude.
There are very few times in life when the news of the disappearance of a pillar like Girish Karnad plunges into the heart to the extent of a deep personal loss. I have read his works, watched his plays and his films, I have listened to him as an audience at seminars and conferences and I have applauded vigorously when he has rocks those big boats in her charming way.
A Colossus
Scholars and practitioners of the performing arts, film and literature will pay him many tributes paying tribute to his contributions to the theater and to the idea of modernity in India, to the writing and imagination of possible worlds, to build narratives capable of linking the heart of our folk tales and folk forms to the visions of the contemporary scene, and to encourage and to inspire troops of young writers, manufacturers and researchers of the performing arts.
But for me, the most important personal loss, which I will miss most, remains his deep love and empathy for the ecology of the theater and for what he has defended with and politically.
Whenever I met him. as a Rangashankara theater in Bengaluru or any other public space, he always asked about the Foundation, the work we were doing in the theater and the artists we supported. I was often a little shy in his brilliant presence, but he never let me feel conscious. He came for all the programs we organized and has always bought tickets for a lot of friends. There are stories of his support for all kinds of spaces and theater practices that can be found among the artists of Karnataka. His encouragement and support will be missed.
The next time I stand on the corner with a sign of resistance, Girish Karnad will miss me. In the last few years, when we have become accustomed to having artists show their true colors, change sides or keep quiet, Karnad has spoken up and fiercely defended policies of hatred, discrimination, fanaticism, of safranization of institutions and India fair and secular.
I remember how, at the Tata Literature Live! In Mumbai in 2012, where he was supposed to talk about his plays, Karnad spent more than an hour criticizing in detail VS Naipaul and his misrepresentation of the history of India, particularly in regarding Muslims and Islamic culture. Naipaul was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the same festival, and Karnad never verbally said: "If the authors of this award deliberately keep silent about their opinion of the criminalization by this stranger of Part of the Indian population As rapists and murders, so let me tell you that silence is more than irresponsible. It's shocking. "
Walking the Conversation
But unlike many public intellectuals whose participation in debates and discussions remains limited to television and seminar panels, Karnad walked the streets for the values he believed in. The image of him wearing a sign at a protest in September 2018 that said "Me Too Urban Naxal" in English and in Kannada has become iconic.
Despite his diminishing state of health, Girish Karnad made a point of participating in the very first "Not My Name" protest in Bangalore in June 2017 to protest the lynchings of Muslims and Dalits in all the country. His mere presence illuminated faces and hearts at a time when we were facing a really dark world.
Whenever the city came together to resist anger, in search of justice, he stood by us. Whether it's for the homobadual movement or the steel bridge that citizens do not want, Karnad would defend what he valued. Despite the death threats, he has clearly stated his point of view in a clear and incisive manner, both in writing and by addressing television cameras.
I am sure that after the murders of the writers MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh, he knew the depths of the evil against which he was fighting. In fact, his name was on the same list of results. Yet for him, there was no retreat or apology for the ideas he represented. This gave courage and inspiration to each of us who knew him from afar.
We were right in front of the Kalapalli crematorium building, making our last tribute to Monday. His family and close friends were coming out. Saras, his wife, said softly, "He was so proud of you all." "And we of him," we meant. Proud that he was from our city, proud to say that his voice was telling truth to power, proud to be able to stay in his shadow and seek justice. which was the fear for the safety of the actors and the team. In some ways, I still think we have failed Girish Karnad. Next time, we'll just have to do better.
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