Savarkar’s bulbul anecdote not to glorify him, says author’s son

Mangaluru: The reference in a language textbook for class VIII students in Karnataka, to V D Savarkar’s sitting on a bulbul and flying out to visit the motherland every day, is not glorifying or justifying Savarkar. “It’s a travelogue and a school lesson, not a history lesson. Also, the paragraph from the travelogue may have been printed due to an error or oversight by the author K T Gatti,’’ said Satyajith K T, the son of the author.
Yashodha Ammembala, wife of K T Gatti, has written a clarification letter in regard to the various criticisms and objections that have emerged in the textbook. The paragraph in question is taken from a hapter in author Gatti’s travelogue, ‘Kalavannu Geddavaru,’ from the travel literature book ‘Nisargakanye Andaman,’ published in 1996. A passage included in the class VIII textbook reads, “There was not even a small keyhole in the room where Savarkar was jailed. However, bulbuls would visit the room from somewhere, on whose wings Savarkar would sit and fly out to visit the motherland every day. The book was written after a sponsored trip by the Kannada Sahitya Parishat.”
Satyajith clarified about the passage from the book, saying that his father, K T Gatti,83, is suffering from dementia, and none of the members of the textbook committee took his or family’s consent, before including it in the lesson. “Firstly, the lesson must not be considered a history lesson. It is a travelogue. Apart from Savarkar, the book contains interviews with two prisoners, and details on the relatives of three prisoners, the jailor, and locals. Secondly, my father is not justifying or glorifying Savarkar, and he has no political inclination towards any party. Gatti has written 100-plus books. If he wanted to glorify anyone, he would have done so in his other books, but never did.’’
“Sarvarkar himself has written about bulbuls,” said Satyajith, a physics professor. “We will not contact the government in this regard, since my father is not in the pink of health. We read to him any letter or communication that he receives,” he added.