MKV was born on Ugadi day at the turn of the 20th century - 1900. I am not too sure where he was born. But I would guess that it would either be Melkote in Mandya district of Karnataka or in the city of Mysore, Karnataka. He probably lost his father at a young age and his mother was the bread winner of the family. She was a Sanskrit teacher and as per my grandmother, she used to teach Sanskrit and Yoga to the Mysore royal family. At some point, she became a school teacher and was posted in some village near Hassan. Since educational facilities were not very good in that village, MKV was left at Mysore in his maternal grandmother's house. It was in Mysore that he did his primary, middle and high school education.
After completing his 10th (or its equivalent of those days), MKV's mother wanted him to start earning right away. However, MKV wanted to study further. Since all of his family were mired in dire poverty, they could not afford to let him study further and wanted him to start earning right away.
In the meantime, my grandmother's family hailed from a village called Gadi-Jogi-Hundi (near Srirangapatna in Mandya district, Karnataka) had migrated to Mysore for better opportunities. They were slightly better off than MKV's family as they owned some fertile land in Hundi. MKV probably heard that there was a girl of marriageable age in that family and decided to try his luck in pursuing his dream of further studies. He ran away from his house with just the cloth that he was wearing and approached Hundi Krishna Iyengar (my grandmother's father) to marry his daughter, Singamma (my grandmother). MKV probably also negotiated that Hundi Krishna Iyengar would pay for his education too.
Singamma was very pretty and was extremely fair complexioned. However, MKV was of a much darker complexion. At the wedding, it is believed that guests commented that the couple looked like butter placed on ragi muddhe (a dark colored savory).
MKV moved into his in-laws house and began further studies. He completed his B.A. probably from the Maharaja's College in Mysore. And then decided to study law in the Presidency College in Calcutta. By then, his in-laws family had also moved to the Shankarapuram area in Bangalore.
Life in Calcutta was hard for him as he was far away from home with not much money. Whatever money he got from his in-laws was probably spent on fees, books, accommodation, etc. Anytime, I wasted food or did not want to eat my food, my grandmother would always tell me that many times MKV would not have enough money for food in Calcutta and could only afford to eat one rasagulla a day.
He completed his education in Calcutta and returned back to Bangalore where he setup shop in the front portion of his in-laws house in Shankarapuram (where he started staying for rent). Though he put up a sign as an advocate, he did not get much business and very pretty poor. My grandmother used to tell me that she had exactly 2 saris in those days - one that she would wear and the other that was washed and hung up for drying (for use the next day).
Eventually, MKV got in touch with Sir Mirza Ismail who was a dewan in the Mysore government and got a job in the government. After that, things improved monetarily for the family and my grandfather had a good career too. He rose to the position of the Chief Electoral Officer in the Government of the Mysore state from which post he retired. To his credit, he conducted the first elections for the parliament in independant India in 1950 or so.
He also wrote a book titled "The Indian States and the Federation". Unfortunately, the only copy that my grandmother had is lost. It is possible that there are one or more copies of the book available in the Public Library near Vidhana Soudha. I should make a trip sometime and see if I can lay my hands on one.
After retirement, he devoted time to learning Sanskrit, reading the puranas, Ramayana etc. He also made sure that everybody in his family received good education. And he also paid for the education of others in his family (his brother-in-law, his sister etc). Because of the high position he held, he was also able to help many people get a good job too.
He passed away, again on Ugadi day (Chaitra Shuddha Prathami) in the year 1965. I will always remember this because we never celebrated Ugadi as that was always the day when thaatha's shraddham had to be performed.
It is on the shoulders of such people that we live today and are able to lead such comfortable lives. When I was studying, I never had to survive on one rasagulla a day. I probably ate more than one rasagulla as dessert after a very heavy meal. And God knows how much food I might have wasted. At least by remembering him and his struggles, I hope I do not forget the hardships that my ancestors have gone through because of which I lead a good life now.
