Memories of old Mysore

Star of Mysore columnists K. Vijaya Kumar and Dr. Javeed Nayeem keep the unique culture of the evening daily newspaper vibrant.

Reading K. Vijaya Kumar’s suggestions in SOM recently regarding Kuvempu’s house Udaya Ravi, my thoughts went back to my school days when I used to cycle along Vinoba Road, also known Yelwal Road. Being a student of history, I was keen to know why it was named so. I found out with a lot of thrill that President Dr. Rajendra Prasad addressed the Gramdan Conference at Yelwal (Mysore) on Sept. 23, 1957 and that President Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, members of the Planning Commission, Praja Samajwadi Party President Ganga Sharan, Jaiprakash Narayan, Joint Samajwadi Dal representative Z. Ahmed and Namoodripad were also present along with Gulzarilal Nanda. In memory of this great event, Yelwal Road was re-named Vinoba Road.

I am very sure that many Mysoreans would be equally thrilled to know that Chakravarthi Rajgopalachari visited Mysore after landing in a small aircraft at Mandakalli Airport in 1950s.

Another interesting piece of history is about Sayyaji Rao Road in Mysore and Chamarajendra Road in Baroda. There are many more interesting historical facts about Mysore. Perhaps the venerable Professor A.V. Narasimha Murthy and other columnists will continue to keep the readers of SOM delighted.