Biography of V.K. Krishna Menon and Musings on Jairam Ramesh

Sir,

Apropos MP Jairam Ramesh’s book launch event in city on V.K. Krishna Menon’s biography titled “A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon” (Feb.21) and the birth centenary lecture on “Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar” by Jairam Ramesh at the Senate Bhavan in Manasagangothri (Feb.20), the reports of which were published in SOM dated Feb. 22 along with KBG’s “Musings on conversation with Jairam Ramesh,” I wish to state as follows:

It is difficult to comprehend why anyone wants to write a book “now” about “Nehru’s evil genius.” I would have been happy if Mysore Literary Association had instead arranged a reading of the book “V.P. Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India” by Narayani Basu.

Be that as it may, it is surprising that Jairam Ramesh, who just the previous day spoke eloquently about Maharaja Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar’s contribution as the first Chairman of Indian Board for Wildlife had to speak the very next day about someone who caused incalculable pain to the Maharaja by scuttling his promised patronage to Western Music. May be, neither Jairam Ramesh nor the former diplomat Ravi Joshi, who was in conversation with the former Minister of Environment and Forests, were aware of this unpleasant association with the Mysore Maharaja.

Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar was not just an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London, but one of the greatest patrons of Western Music. The Maharaja founded Medtner Society in London in 1948 and got recorded the entire works of Russian Composer Nicolas Medtner (1880-1951) in 3 Albums (61 works – opus numbers).

“The Gramophone” magazine (world’s authority on classical music since 1923) in its 1948 issue says: “The recording by His Master’s Voice of the principal compositions of Nicolas Medtner is perhaps, one of the greatest romances in the history of the Gramophone. How fortunate and indeed, wonderful that destiny should have brought Medtner’s genius within the spheres of vision and great musical appreciation of H.H. The Maharajah of Mysore. For the Maharajah thereupon decided that Medtner must no longer languish in the desert of neglect, and that his genius and contribution to the world of music must be made known.”

This apart, the Maharaja was the first President of the Philharmonia Concert Society and Philharmonia Orchestra, London in 1948.

In the book “On and Off the Record: A Memoir of Walter Legge” by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, the author recounts: “The visit to Mysore was a fantastic experience. The Maharajah was a young man, not yet thirty… He had intended to be a concert pianist and had been accepted by Rachmaninoff as a pupil when both his father and uncle died and he succeeded to the throne — which meant giving up all ideas of a musical career and returning home at once.

In the weeks I stayed there, the Maharajah had not only agreed to paying for the recordings of the Medtner’s piano concerts, an album of his songs and some of his chamber music, he also agreed to give me a subvention of £ 10,000 a year for three years to enable me to put both the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Philharmonia Concert Society on a firm basis. The only condition was that there should be a Committee of distinguished personalities in British musical life — excluding performers.

I returned to London happy about everything except the prospect of a Committee to advice on programmes. As things turned out it was only in the first year that the generous subvention would be paid in full. The malign interference of the late Krishna Menon reduced the annual subvention to £ 5000 after the first year and stopped it completely after two more years.”

This despite Sardar Patel, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India, obliging the Maharaja by getting the Ministry of Finance to release the foreign exchange required for the Philharmonia Concert in London and order being issued to Reserve Bank accordingly.

An interesting footnote to the hagiography of Krishna Menon.

– Raja Chandra, Bengaluru, 23.2.2020

NOTE: I heard that Jairam Ramesh, just as he had alluded sarcastically to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his book launch function, had also made a sarcastic remark on Modi at the lecture he delivered the previous day at the Senate Bhavan on ‘Jayachamaraja Wadiyar and the Indian Board of Wildlife.’ It was about the Congress PM (Dr. Manmohan Singh) wanting to set up a Lion Sanctuary like the Gir Lion National Park but the Chief Minister of Gujarat (Modi, of course) scuttled it. Servility, thy name is… —KBG

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