Sunday, January 20, 2019 DECCAN

AN HERA
RALD 5

SundayHerald articulations One on the move

The New York Transit Museum, established
in 1936, explores the development of the greater
New York Metropolitan region through tours,
workshops and exhibitions. It’s situated in Brooklyn.

KEY FIGURE Your pet author...

Yashwant Chittal.

Your literary influences...

Tito lives on
“Non literary” life.

You grew up reading...

Yashwant Chittal, A K Ramanujan,
K V Tirumalesh, Poornachandra
Tejaswi, Deepavali special issues,
Sakshi literary quarterly.

Your current read...

In a museum, Nenape Sangeeta, autobiographical
refl
flections by Vidyabhushana.
KALPANA SUNDER JAYANT KAIKINI
explores the life Your most indulgent habit?

B
orn in Gokarna, Jayant Kaiki- Going to Gokarna, my home town.
of Josef Tito, ni is a writer of acclaim who’s
known for his short stories, Your worst habit?
Yugoslavia’s much- poems, lyrics for Kannada films,
and scripts for films and plays. This
Doing things in the last minute.

loved dictator who Masters degree-holder in Biochem-

istry from Karnatak University ty,
What can’t you live without?
People, and a bit of chaos.
revelled in royalty Dharwad, worked in Mumbai for
several years before settling down Your pet haunt...
and constantly in Bengaluru and taking up writing
full-time.
Mumbai.

changed the face GIGANTIC Museum of

His body of work, shorn of
verbal wizardry, has endeared
Your comfort food...
Homemade fish curry, rice.
of the country Yugoslavia. PHOTOS BY AUTHOR itself to one and all, winning sev-
eral awards and accolades. This If you could swap jobs with any-

I
am the leader of one country which has
two alphabets, three languages, four
religions, five nationalities, six repub-
lics, surrounded by seven neighbours,
a country in which live eight ethnic
minorities.” - Josef Tito
Coming from India, the name Josef Tito
was familiar to me — after all he played a
pivotal role in the Non-Al
Aligned Movement
along with India — I remember a road in
Delhi named after the leader. I was in Bel-
grade, Serbia and visiting the Museum
of Yugoslav History complex where the
leader’s mausoleum is located, along with
a museum of memorabilia from his life.
Tito’s funeral was a tremendous affair,
and his funeral was attended by as many as
world leaders from Margaret Thatcher to
Yasser ArArafat. A 209-strong delegation at-
tended this man’s funeral, from 128 coun-
tries. There were 31 presidents, four kings,
22 prime ministers and other dignitaries.
This leader, who was born to a Croat
father and a Slovene mother, kept Yugo-
slavia together for more than 35 years...
“He was a benevolent dictator,” says an
elderly man who I meet at the museum
in Belgrade.
In the leafy
fy Topcider suburb
of Belgrade lies the leader’s me-
morial complex — a museum
and mausoleum scattered
among birch trees and
landscaped lawns
dotted with statues
including a cloaked
Tito statue. One of
Serbia’s most pop-
ular museums, it
hosted more than
1,20,000 visitors
in 2017.
Tito was a cult
personality — though
there were stories of se-
cret police, work camps
for dissidents, and his
STERN Tito’s statue in
the compound of the
House of Flowers.
ruling with an iron fist; many believe that
he played an important part during the
days of the Cold War by treading the path
of non-alignment with other leaders like
Indira Gandhi, Krushev and Sukarno.
“Unlike other Communist countries, Yu-
goslavia had a liberal travel policy permit-
ting foreigners to freely travel through the
country,” explains our local guide.
The House of Flowers, built in 1975,
was designed to serve as Tito’s Winter
Garden and today, contains his marble
mausoleum — the grave of the leader and
his deceased spouse Jovanka is a surpris-
ingly simple memorial of marble with gold
lettering surrounded by water fountains
and ffllowers.
Total recall
In addition to the tomb, the House of
Flowers re-creates his office and salon,
furnished with decorations and other
honours awarded to Tito as well as the per-
sonal effects of the leader from his diaries,
spectacles to his box of cigars. Headless
mannequins model Tito’s famous military
uniforms full of badges. There are signed
photographs of him with world leaders — I
look with interest at one of Nehru and the
other of Indira Gandhi.
Taking centre stage is a model of the
famous custom-built luxury train — the
Blue Train (also called the Peace
Train and Palace on wheels),
which ferried Tito across the
country and Europe — the
famous train ran 6,00,000
km, made 120 peace missions
and travelled across 71 foreign
states.
Tito met celebrities, world
leaders and dignitaries — from
Queen Elizabeth to Yasser
Arafat — on this train, which
had as many as 90 luxury
suites furnished with mahog-
any panels, Persian carpets,
crystal chandeliers, and even
marble bath tubs. One part
of the exhibit has glass cases
with rows of relay batons in
FROM ALL OVER Relay batons and an attire (below) are among the gifts sent to Tito.
wood and metal lining the shelves, every
year from 1945, President Tito’s birthday
in May had been celebrated with a relay
race in his honour. Later,
these batons were sent to
him along with several writ-
ten messages from all over
the country.
In addition to the official
batons that were used in
the race, each year, villag-
es, towns, schools and asso-
ciations sent their batons as a
gift to Tito.
As we walk through the
landscaped grounds with stat-
ues laid out on the lawns, we
see children and adults dressed
in the old Pioneer uniforms;
many believe that his death
marked the beginning of the
breakup of the Yugoslav nation.
True to his world popularity ty, the mu-
seum showcases some of the 2,00,000
items gifted to Tito by foreign dignitaries,
statesmen and visiting delegations from
around the world. Tito’s wardrobe is also
displayed — with his uniforms and acces-
sories — sometimes, he is said to have
renowned writer is the recipient one, who would it be and why?
of Karnataka Sahitya Academy With the leg harmonium player
Award four times, the first one at (in The Company Theatre), be-
the young age of 19, apart from cause I love it, and want to learn it.
several state and national awards.
His latest collection of short A cause dear to your heart...
stories, No Presents Please, trans- Mamate & samate (affection &
lated from Kannada by Tejaswini equality
ty)
Niranjana, has been shortlisted
for the prestigious DSC Prize for How do you unwind?
South Asian Literature 2018, the Listening to Talat Mahmood &
results of which will be Mehdi Hasan.
announced soon.
What keeps you awake at night?
Excerpts from an interv
rview: Dreams.
Awards mean... Something that never goes out of
Wake-up call. fashion...
Enjoying old film songs, and old
When did you discover your fragrant books.
passion for writing?
When my hostel mates in college CHETHANA DINESH
got their proxy
xy love let-
changed three-four outfits in a day! ters written by me.
In these cabinets of curiosities, the gifts
range from homemade socks and llama What about writing
dolls from Peru to embroidered blouses, excites you?
vintage cameras and transistors, mu- Unknown next line.
sical instruments, dolls from various
countries wearing their national cos- What are you most
tumes, a collection of swords from Ja- proud of
pan, masks, and even a fragment of a writing?
temple from Cambodia! I’m happy The best is always yet
to see a tabla and a kathakali doll to come.
from India among the gifts.
Your inspiration for
Like a king your writings?
“Tito was a ffllamboyant Communist Absorbing and absurd
leader — he had expensive tastes, and human world.
loved women, elegant attire, travel
and wine. But he did a lot for the Yu- What’s on your writing
goslavians, and that’s why he is re- desk?
vered even today,” says a local that A couple of dear books that I
I meet in a café in the city
ty. It’s just a small will never read.
part of the puzzle and enigma that Josef
Tito was in his lifetime. And part of what Your all-time favourite
is termed Yugo-nostalgia — the longing read...
for the culture and icons of the erstw twhile Ravindra Katha
state of Yugoslavia, now fractured into six Manjari, Tagore
republics — Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, stories translated
Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia! to Kannada by
In Belgrade, Tito still lives on. Ahobala Shankar.

SOWMYA PRASAD MYSTERIOUS RAKESH RUDIGI

MY TAKE The theme for the next photo feature is

‘THEN & NOW’. Submit your entry
(one per person) with your name, a caption, &
information about where you have taken the photo,
to sundaydh@gmail.com latest by January 28, 2019.

File size should at least be 500 KB. The subject line for the mail is ‘My Take’

NITESH NARASGOUDA

A light mystery Unexplainable eye

Mysuru Ballari

PRAJWAL K
SANVI H KALLOLI

Frosty remains What’s the next move? Whose mega foot?

Uttarakhand Belagavi Lepakshi