Sunday, October 18, 2020

V. Seetharamaiah - a brief biographical sketch

Venkataramaiah Seetharamaiah (Vi. Si.) was born on 2nd of October, 1899 in Budhigere, Devanahalli. He was second of four children. His parents – Venkataramaiah and Doddavenkamma were a devout couple, who came from a lineage of priestly class of Smartha Brahmins. Vi. Si. spent his first six years growing up in the care of his grandmother and his mother’s younger sister at Budhigere. His father, a priest used to work more often in Bangalore. Unfortunately, Vi. Si. lost his father when he was just eight years old.

He was then sent to Bangalore for further schooling in 1906. He joined the Municipal school in Chamarajpet, Bangalore where he got a double promotion. He was then sent to Anglo-vernacular school. Some of his notable classmates in school were K. V. Iyer, T. P. Kailasam and C. S. Venkatachar. Among his favourite teachers were the likes of Pandit Jayarama Venkatacharya and Doddabele Narayana Sastry. During these school years (1906 – 1916), he had the rare privilege of listening to Rt. Hon. V. S. Srinivas Sastri’s lectures, who eloquence in English and large turban captured Vi. Si’s imagination at a young age.

 

Vi. Si. loved watching Cricket matches. While he loved playing Cricket as well, his frail constitution meant he could not keep it up for too long. Residing in Chamarajpet, Vi. Si. attended concerts of famous musicians of the time like Veena Sheshanna, Bidaram Krishnappa and Mysuru Vasudevachar. His favourite artists of the time included the likes of M. Venkatappa and A. V. Varadachar. This was in addition to his keen interest in attending Vedic recitals, Poetry recitals, Gamaka recitals and a few literary meets locally. He completed his Intermediate (S. S. L. C.) in 1916.

 

After schooling, many of his seniors routinely went to either Madras or Pune Universities for higher education. Vi. Si. sadly could afford neither. Fortunately for him, around this time, University of Mysore came into existence. Mysore was close by! He sat for the entrance examination to gain admission to University of Mysore. This exam was held at Bangalore Collegiate High School. One of the valuers of these answer scripts – J. Tate while correcting Vi. Si.’s English paper is said to have remarked thus: “Not bad, pull the young fellow’s nose and ask him to write simpler English & keep his sentences shorter” (This was high praise indeed!).


To read the full biography, Click Here.