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Down Memory Lane: A Memoir
Ghorpade's childhood days at Shivapur, his old spacious house, have a lasting impact on his personality. In the lap of the hills, Ghorpade develops a deep love for nature. His proximity to birds and animals in their natural surroundings ignites in him a zest for wildlife photography. Tiger hunts with his father and stories recounted by his grandmother make this memoir all the more interesting. His empathetic and sensitive nature is illustrated in the incident where Ghorpade is anxious about the safety of bulbul's eggs in the nest when a gentle breeze starts blowing. His first encounter with urban culture takes place on joining St. Joseph's College, Bangalore. A secular spirit in Ghorpade is born there and duly maintained when he goes to study economics at Cambridge. Ghorpade marries at the age of 22 and joins the Congress party at 23. With Tekur Subrahmanyam and Indira Gandhi as his political mentors, he believes strongly about social uplift, gender equality and education for all. Initially, he encounters a stiff competition from the Pradesh Congress Committee, but his faith in the ideals of Tagore and Gandhi combined with his multi-faceted talents eventually lead him to becoming Sandur's representative in the Karnataka Assembly. Ghorpade works sincerely and with integrity. He focuses on irrigation, power and education at the grass-root level. However, he does not let his love for wildlife photography wane. He travels to Kenya and Tanzania and numerous wildlife sanctuaries in India to photograph flora and fauna in their natural habitat. In June 1983, he becomes the first wildlife photographer in the world to be honoured with the prestigious International Award of Master Photographer. Ghorpade's workaholic spirit and his commitment to Panchayati Raj lead him to becoming the State's Finance Minister and later, the State Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister. He is re-elected seven times as Sandur's representative in the Karnataka Assembly. Nevertheless, he feels the happiest in Sandur countryside in the midst of the simple village folk. He says, "Politics to me was only a means to serve and never an end in itself." He actively pursues spirituality and philosophy along with photography and now wishes to retire from active politics. The book is easy to read, but gets slow paced towards the end. Ghorpade's overemphasis on decentralisation and Panchayati Raj rob the book of its charm that his experiences in the wild serve to create. Trivial facts about political life in Karnataka may not interest the reader, but references to Indira Gandhi, Sanjay, Rahul and Sonia enliven a book that otherwise carries traces of an extended history lesson in a wildlife sanctuary. An added feature of this memoir is the section carrying 16 photographs, including snapshots from Ghorpade's experiences in the wild. This book will appeal to all past, present and future politicians or wildlife photographers, apart from those who enjoy reading inspiring autobiographies. |
This
is a book written with passion, honesty and humility by M. Y. Ghorpade,
a former Parliamentarian and Cabinet minister of Karnataka. This
autobiography describes his life as a politician with a difference.
Although Ghorpade was born in 1931 as the son of the ruler of Sandur, a
princely state in British India, his lifestyle was marked with a unique
simplicity.