Is Prof. CDN in Town?  Australian High Commissioner !!

Sir,

The article titled CDN’s Dhvanyaloka is 40 (Star of Mysore dated Dec. 7) carried my memory back to over 40 years with the above query which is still registered in my mind. The then Australian High Commissioner in India was on a visit to Mysore and we, myself with a couple of Revenue and Police Officers, were waiting at Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel to receive him.

No sooner he arrived and entering the Hotel, he asked looking at us — Is Prof. CDN in Town? Please enquire and let me know. For some time everybody was silent as those present could not make out who this CDN he was asking and I immediately responded telling him that I will let him know after he was ushered to his Room. All around me was curious to know about CDN.

 I was his student in Maharaja’s College in mid-fiftees and I continued to be in touch with him as I was serving in Mysore as Information Officer for a long time. Prof. CDN (C.D. Narasimhaiah) had earned popularity in English literature both as a Teacher and Writer and his Centre for Studies in Commonwealth Literature had spread his name across these countries. He was awarded Padma Bhushan by Government of India.

About his connection with Australia,  CDN was the first Patron of Asia origin of the Association of the Study of Australia in Asia. Besides serving in the University of Queensland in Australia in 1963, he had published a book titled “The Flowering of Australian Literature.”

Perhaps, this is how the Australian High Commissioner had known CDN and made that query. It was a great disappointment to him when I informed after finding out that CDN was out of town and will be returning a week later.

Mysore, particularly the literary world, misses CDN a lot but his son Prof. C.N. Srinath is cherishing CDN’s memory by organising useful and interesting literary activities along with cultural evenings in Dhvanyaloka, a very valuable literary asset created by his father.

Many Happy Returns to Dhvanyaloka.

– K. Vijaya Kumar, V.V. Mohalla, 8.12.2019

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