K.G. Subramanyan:
A Life Fully Lived

Sandhya Bordewekar

Sandhya Bordewekar in conversation with Prof. K G Subramanyan about his life as a student in Santiniketan.

Sandhya Bordewekar: You went to Santiniketan in 1944, aged 20. Santiniketan was a long, long way off. So why Santiniketan and what were the initial days there like?

K.G. Subramanyan: I had joined the Presidency College, Madras to study Economics in 1941. I was very active in the Quit India movement of 1942, got arrested and spent 6 months in the Alipuram Camp Jail near Bellary in 1943. The College struck me off its student list. In jail I met Gopala Reddy, an alumnus of Viswabharati who taught us the nationalist songs of Tagore and talked about his days at Santiniketan. I was aware of who Tagore was as I had received a copy of “Geetanjali” as a prize in school, but could not understand it much as a child. But I grew to admire his unique educational experiment. I used to draw and paint as a school student. Deviprasad Roychowdhary, Principal, Government School of Arts and Crafts, Madras, who saw some of them while I was in Madras, sent for me and tried to convince me that art was my real vocation. My elder brother had apparently taken note of this. So he wrote to Nandalal Bose behind my back asking whether he will take me as a student in Kala Bhavana.
Those days Nandalal had the final say on whom to entertain in Kala Bhavana and whom not. He did take some time to make up his mind but he gave me a chance and I set out for Santiniketan. That was the first time I was travelling north of Madras. I knew no northern Indian language except a few words of Hindi. I reached Bolpur sometime in the night. The station master was friendly and showed me a place to sleep, and put me on the bus that came every morning from Santiniketan to receive visitors. The morning was cool and bright. When I got off the bus, on one side of me was this impressive, columned building and on the other a jade-coloured sculpture that was more modern than anything I had seen so far. The sound of of Kala Bhavan. The administrators certainly felt insecure. They had lost their mentor who had given the institution a philosophy and direction, raised for it the needed resources, attracted to it distinguished people from all over the world… but they did not have this ability. So they wanted to freeze it where it was. Or where they thought it was.