How I met T.S.Satyan once

~~Above pictures by T.S.Satyan are from the 'net.~~
(Bottom picture, R.K.Narayan is keeping wickets in his backyard)

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Read this in the link.

Sunaad Raghuram writes about him in Churumuri.

Another link.

I am one of the many admirers of T.S.Satyan’s works. We lose a great person with his untimely demise. Untimely, even at 86, because he had been quite normal till the end. He was as good with the camera as with the pen - simple, fluent and effective. I had the good fortune of just one purposeful meeting with him, not about photography but about writing. Having written a longish write-up (to be sent to Star of Mysore, a local eveninger) in 2004, I had got some doubts to be cleared before finalization. To make them clear, I had gone to his house following an appointment, which he kindly gave me at a small vegetable market where he and Mr.Bapu Sathyanarayana used to also frequent. That is the place where we had acquainted ourselves with each other through Mr.Bapu and smiling nods were exchanged on subsequent visits. He always came with a cloth bag in hand to take ‘veggies’.

Patiently, he read those 2-3 pages I gave him as I waited anxiously looking at him. He said the content was okay but if you use difficult words, (there was just one) common readers may find it hard to understand. I realized what he observed and promptly changed it.

He emphasized on simplicity (all of him was personified with it) of language which I had observed from his different writings. Before I left, he gave me his latest Kannada book ‘kaalakke kannadi’ at a well discounted rate after learning my interests. He signed the book in Kannada and handed it over to me. In fact, after all these years, I had picked up from the shelf only last week to browse through it!

In the 1970s, his name circulated more for some reason I am unable to remember. At the same time, there was a house in Krishnamurthypuram with the name board ‘T.S.Satyan’. Each time I passed it, I used to wonder if that was the same Satyan, which was not. My late father used to often mention that HY Sharada Prasad was his classmate in school and I vaguely remember him mentioning the name of Satyan also. My father’s reference to Satyan did not ring any bell in him.

He had said once "They say luck happens when preparation meets with opportunity."

I clearly remember Satyan having said in an interview about young photo-journalists “They are too easily satisfied, overestimating themselves at the first taste of success.” This reflects the high standards he had set for himself. He had gone on to remind an old saying “the art should speak, not the artist.” Indeed, his art will keep speaking for ever. May his soul RIP.