The town, nestled in quiet corners of Western Ghats, has lost one its proud sons in Girish Karnad.
Karnad studied at the historic Marikambha Govt School here from Class VI to IX after his father Dr Raghunath was transferred to Sirsi Govt Hospital.
“Girish was a scholar in the English language. He had written a play in high school itself. We used to sit on the same bench. He left for Dharwad after Class IX. We were in touch through letters,” recalls Girish Karnad’s classmate Vinayaka Barkur, who runs a provision store in the town.
Another classmate D N Hegde Halerikoppa told DH that Girish Karnad had a very good memory. “I used to miss classes due to personal issues. Girish used to explain to me the lessons taught in the classes. He used to reproduce an entire lesson taught by teachers. Such was his memory. During the Class IX exam, he had finished a paper in just half-an-hour. But when the results were announced, Girish, as usual, was first to the class, Hegde, an advocate by profession, recollected.
During his high school days, Girish was not completely atheist. Along with us, he used to visit temples. But during his college days in Dharwad, he started questioning the set rules and beliefs. We were active in theatre activities. At national-level youth festival in Delhi in 1956, he acted in an English play, while I was a part of a Kannada play, he recalled.
The students and teachers at Girsh Karnad’s alma mater Marikambha High School paid their respect to departed soul by observing a minute’s silence.