DH-PV founder K N Guruswamy remembered for many roles

Slices of personal history brought alive collective pasts and added context to the present on Monday at the Bangalore International Centre where people gathered to celebrate the life and times of K N Guruswamy, the founder of Deccan Herald and Prajavani.In his book which also chronicles the life of his grandmother Kadiramma, Hari Kumar remembers his grandfather as someone who understood the significance of the press as a powerful instrument of change.

KN Hari Kumar, Former editor-in-chief of Deccan Herald and Prajavani, talks at 'Remembering KN Guruswamy' at Bengaluru International Centre, on Monday, June 19, 2023. Credit: DH Photo/Pushkar V

The author remembered his grandfather as a traditionalist – a man of the old world with a liking for the maharajahs and the aristocracy – who could fit into the modern times, leading a newspaper in a new democracy, in 1948. Credit: DH Photo/Pushkar V

KN Guruswamy was a man identified for his joie de vivre while being an astute, clear-headed businessman who knew his priorities, Hari Kumar said. Credit: DH Photo/Pushkar V

In a video message, former Chief Justice of India Justice M N Venkatachaliah said Guruswamy’s story was also the story of a community’s rise against odds. Credit: DH Photo/Pushkar V

Held around the launch of the book Grandfather and Grandmother: A Memoir by K N Harikumar, the event saw the varied facets of Guruswamy (1901-1990) unfold in the words of speakers who knew him as family, friend, employer, and an ingenious entrepreneur who steered a successful liquor business before he emerged as the unlikely founder of newspapers. Credit: DH Photo/Pushkar V