Category: People

Biltin Toker, my friend Biltin Toker was my friend at Oxford, he was from Istanbul, Turkey. He studied architecture at Oxford and we became close friends. He used to win prizes for his innovative architecture designs and he and his designs used to be flashed at the Oxford towns local paper, Oxford Mail. After we…

The multi-faceted genius of a lawyer. The book (Nani A.Palkhivala, a life by M.V. Kamath, Nani A.Palkhivala Memorial Trust, Hay House India, 2007, pp 524, Rs.595) is a rare one. A beautifully written book on a beautifully-lived life. The subject of the biography is a distinguished lawyer whose types are not born every time in…

I have written elsewhere, some time ago, about the number of persons who influenced my thought and also the way I think about issues. Those whom I didn’t not know personally but whose books influenced me form one set of such persons. These range from poets to philosophers, journalists, men like Boris Pasternak and other…

  Sir Isiah Berlin in my time was professor of Political and Social Theory and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. I attended his lectures regularly and became much influenced by his way of thinking and arguments. Sir Berlin was for longtime attached to New College and I used to see him often in…

  Mrs Reena Ganguly (right) seen with her daughter Kushi at Santinikathan. Reena was my classmate during all my four years at Santinikethan. She is an eminent researcher in Chinese topics. She has retired from Cheena Bhavan after a distinguished career in teaching and research. She now lives at Santiniketan.

R.K Narayan, the internationally renowned writer of English novels was a long time friend of Isvarmurti. They used to meet at Coimbatore and Madras and discuss various topics besides literature. There emerged a close relationship and understanding.Infact R.K Narayan’s in-laws were living in Coimbatore and were friends of Isvarmurti. Thus the relationhip was more than…

Thakhazhy , is the literary luminary of modern Malayalam literature. Isvarmurti knows Thakhazhy very well. He invited him to be his guest in Coimbatore in 1966 and organised literary meets with Tamil and other language writers in the city.

  Rare photograph showing Pandit Nehru along with Professor Satyan Bose (the Einstein-Bose Theory of Statistics fame) who was Vice Chancellor of Visva Bharati. Other promiment person in the photo is Professor Tan Yun Shan, founder of Cheena Bhawan. Isvarmurti (third from left front row) is standing next to Prof Bose.