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Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthmurthy was born on December 21st, 1932, in the Shimoga district, in Theerthahalli. His parents were Sathyamma and Rajagopalacharya. As a child, Ananthmurthy would be greatly influenced by Shakespeare and Ananthamurthy. This in turn would shape his socio-political conscience in the later years. Shuffling between various activism of that time and his studies, he eventually went on to receive his Master's degree in English from Mysore University.

His career would begin in the Mysore University itself, as an English teacher. Following this In 1963, he would shift to Birmingham University UK,  for his doctorate in English, after which In 1965, he would go on to publish his first novel Samskara. From 1987 to 1991, Ananthmurthy would be the Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University at Kottayam. In 1992 he became the Chairman of National Book Trust India and, the Sahitya Academy in 1993 went on to elect him as its president. Furthermore, he acted as an Honorary Chairman of Film for 8 years(2000-2008) at the Television Institute of India in Pune.

Ananthmurthy has an impressive list of accolades although they are not that many. While he won the Jnanpith award in 1994 and Padmashree in 1998, he was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2013, which by no means is a trivial feat.

If not in academics, Ananthmurthy would spend much of his time in social movements that provided him opportunities to build a close association with the likes of Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, and Shanthaveri Gopala Gowda. However, he had a knack for surrounding himself with controversies. It started with him breaking the boundaries of religion when he married Esther. He belonged to the Madhwa family, which did not approve of this union. He was unafraid 'to call spade a spade '. He had a  bold and secular voice that often exposed blind beliefs and many non-progressive practices in Hinduism, especially among Brahmins. Consequently, a section of society was always ready to bear down on him.

An instance of this is the 2014 election when Ananthmurthy openly admitted his dismay over Modi's rule if he were to win the election.

In a telephonic interview with CNN-IBN he said:

“I won’t live in a country ruled by Narendra Modi. When I was young, I used to criticise Prime Minister Nehru. But, his supporters never attacked us. They always respected our views. Modi supporters are now behaving like Fascists. They are behaving like the Fascists in Germany during Hitler. I don’t want to see a man like Modi in the chair, where once a man like Nehru sat and ruled. I am too old and unwell. If Modi becomes the PM, it will be a big shock to me. I won’t live.”

A huge damage had been done by his statement, although the 81-year-old writer cleared up the air by saying that his words were a result of his emotions. However, the enraged right wing activists filed police complaints against him and burnt his effigies.

Ananthamurthy’s candid opinion regarding politics and politicians is not new. Once he had denounced Indira Gandhi while working in the Mysore University and was thus giving a show-cause notice. Ananthmurthy had once argued in an interview with Girish Nikam that:

> “We should not be politically correct – then we are NOT correct. If there are enough people who can swim against the tide, then the democracy is safe. Hence political correctness which places all value on the majority is a wrong thing. Even one voice is enough because ideas have a way of living… We should not be worried about being politically correct, we should be able to say whatever is unpleasant..”
> 

This is the essence of Ananthmurthy and the way he lived.

Ananthamurthy had a very welcoming vibe. He could be easily approached by anyone,  whether it was a small or a big writer, or even someone who wasn't one. Addressed fondly as ‘Meshtru‘ (master / teacher), he encouraged a new generation of writers by inculcating in them a desire to read and write more.

Learning was his addiction. Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian novelist who has written the popular novel ‘Things fall apart,‘, was interviewed by him. He was also a major pillar that sustained the Ninasam Culture Camp. Held every year in October in Heggodu of Sagar Taluk, the participants are encouraged to take part in dance, seminar, drama, debate, workshops, etc.

An affliction of the kidneys proved fatal for him in his last days. He was declared dead on 22nd August 2014. A renowned social scientist, Shiv Vishwanathan thus said of his death in The Hindu:

“It was as if a cosmos had collapsed, a way of life had disappeared. It was not the achievements of the man as a writer and a public intellectual, but the man himself as an achievement that mattered.”

A person who wore many hats during his lifetime, Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthmurthy is considered the leading figure of Navya a new modernist movement in Kannada literature. He was a poet, academician, thinker, journalist, and mentor. Let us look at what went into the making of such a versatile man.