Goruru Ramaswamy Iyengar (1904–1991), popularly known as Goruru, was an Indian writer who wrote in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

. He was well known for his humour and satire.

Early life

Goruru Ramaswami Iyengar was born at "Goruru" in

Hassan district Hassan is one of the districts of Karnataka, 31 districts of Karnataka, India. The district headquarter is Hassan, Karnataka, Hassan. It was part of ''Manjarabad Faujdari'' between 1832-81 (Mysore Commission, Commissioner's Rule of Mysore). In ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

on 4 July 1904 to a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

family. His father was Srinivas and his mother Lakshamma.

Career

Goruru Ramaswami Iyengar was influenced by

Indian Independence Movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

and became a staunch follower of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

. He was jailed by the British administration in 1942 for 2 months for his participation in the Quit India Movement. His son Ramachandra became a martyr for the same cause in 1947. After Independence in 1947, Goruru worked in the industries. He began writing early in life with the celebrated books ''Halliya Chitragalu'' (1930) and ''Namma Oorina Rasikaru'' (1932). His "Amerikadalli Goruru" 1979, is a satirical travelogue of a true Indian in United States. It fetched him the

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1981. His short story "

Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu ''Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu'' ( ) is 1974 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed by Siddalingaiah, who co-wrote the screenplay with Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar, based on Iyengar's short story of the same name from his novel, ''Vayyari.'' The film ...

" (based on true events) was made into a

movie of the same name by noted director S. Siddalingaiah in 1975 with leading actors as

Vishnuvardhan (actor) Sampath Kumar (18 September 1950 – 30 December 2009), known by his stage name Vishnuvardhan, was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Kannada cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil language, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu lang ...

Lokesh Lokesh (; 19 May 1947 – 14 October 2004) was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada cinema. Lokesh made his film debut in the 1958 film '' Bhakta Prahlada''. He had thrice won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor during his care ...

. Novels ''Hemavathi'' and ''Urvashi'' were also made into movies. His travelogue was made into a television series. His other works include ''Rasaphala'', ''Namma Oorina Rasikaru'', ''Putta mallige'', ''Hemavathi'' and ''Garudagambada Dasayya'', ''Meravanige''. His ''Rajanartaki'' was a translation of the Gujarathi novel ''Amrapali'' by Ramachandra Thakore. He was nominated to

Karnataka Legislative Council The Karnataka Legislative Council (formerly the Mysore Legislative Council) is the upper house of the state legislature of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of six Indian states with a bicameral legislature; the Legislative Assembly is the lower ho ...

in 1952 in recognition of his literary contributions. In 1971 he was a recipient of an Honorary doctorate from the

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and the premiership of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The university is recognised by t ...

. A road in

Rajajinagar Rajajinagara (formerly Rajajinagar) is a luxury neighborhood and business hub in the west of Bangalore. It is one of the zones of BBMP. It is bordered by Basaveshwaranagara, Malleshwara, Mahalakshmipura alias West of Chord road second stage ...

, Bangalore is named after him.

Death

Goruru Ramaswamy Iyengar died 28 September 1991 at the age of 87. His birth centenary was celebrated in 2005. His memoirs of his childhood days, ''Goruru Avara Balyada Atma Kathe'' was published posthumously.

References

External links

1904 births 1991 deaths Novelists from Karnataka Kannada-language writers People from Hassan district Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Kannada Indian satirists Indian independence activists from Karnataka Indian travel writers Indian male novelists 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian essayists 20th-century Indian male writers {{India-writer-stub