KAMATH: A DESI JOURNALIST, NO BROWN SAHIB

M V Kamath was one of the rare Indian journalists who stood his ground as an intellectual with desi moorings in the face of straight-from-Britain brats or Brown Sahibs who penned pieces on India that were anything but original. When there was mad race to prove oneself more English than the English themselves, he was content remaining rooted and was published across the country even by less known publications. May his soul rest in peace.

A 2004 Padma Bhushan awardee, he was associated with TOI, Illustrated Weekly and scores of dozen other publications and never denied contributing for a newspapaer or magazine just because it was local, regional or lesser known. His death on last Thursday leaves many of us with a challenge: can we really bridge  the knowledge and age gaps that he used to do so readily for any one?

 He was to many what Ezra Pound was to Eliot or Acharya Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi to budding Hindi writers in 1920s.

I am particularly indebted to him for his critical reviews of my books Before the Headlines (Macmillan, 1999) and Dictionary of Media & Journalism (IK International, 2004). I confess the space he gave to the books was more because of his generosity and less because of their innate quality.