D A I J I W O R L D

August 27, 2005

Many VIPs have visited Mangalore, some of them leaving imprints on memory. This is a sweeping review of such visitors, starting with Annie Besant, second International President of Theosophical Society in 1909. The Mangalore Chapter of the Society had been started in 1901. Her visit gave a boost to the activities of the Mangalore Society.

Mahatma Gandhi visited Mangalore thrice – in 1920, 1927 and 1934. It is interesting to note the Mahatma’s brush with Canara High School. In 1927, he unveiled a large portrait of Lokamanya Tilak in the school’s Bhuvanendra Hall, constructed in 1895.. He again visited the school in 1934 and laid the foundation of Sarvajanic ( Krishna ) Temple. The third brush of the Mahatma with the school ( in absentia ) concerns the school museum started in 1916. In 1939, the school wrote to the Mahatma for permission to name the museum after him. In a letter dated June 20, 1939 his secretary, Mahadev Desai, replied:" Gandhiji has your letter of 11th instant. He has no objection to your naming the Canara High School Museum after him, though he does not know its value or usefulness".

The founder president of Corporation Bank lived like a prince - his house, part of which is shown here, had floors of tiles and windows of glasses that were a novelty at the turn of the century

Yet another incident connected with Gandhiji’s visit concerns the public meeting he addressed on Central Maidan ( now Nehru Maidan ). So close were Hindu-Muslim ties in those days that when he visited Mangalore on August 19, 1920 and addressed a meeting in the city, it was presided over by Khan Bahadur Haji Abdulla Haji Kasim Saheb Bahadur, Founder - President of
today’s Corporation Bank, then named the Canara Banking Corporation Udipi Ltd. The meeting had to be temporarily adjourned, and Gandhiji’s speech interrupted, because it happened to be prayer time for Muslims. A. Wahab Doddamane, in his book Muslims in Dakshina Kannada notes: " Thousands of Muslims who had attended the meeting gathered together to offer prayers.
The meeting was resumed only after the prayers were over. It was an instance of the communal harmony and respect for other religions which existed in those days".

Khan Bahadur Haji Abdulla Haji Kasim Saheb Bahadur

Rabindranath Tagore visited Mangalore in 1922, mainly because of his friendship with the Principal of Government College ( now University College) , Govinda Krishna Chettur. Tagore and Chettur had Oxford University in common. Tagore contributed to Government College Miscellany Journal, started by Chettur. The Academy Hall of the college is now named after him.

Sarojini Naidu came to Mangalore in 1922 to take part in the second Karnataka Regional Conference organised by Karnad Sadashiva Rao. She described Mangalore as Garden of Eden hidden under coconut trees. Lal Bahadur Shastri came to Mangalore to lay the foundation of New Mangalore Port on May 18, 1964, accompanied by K. Kamaraj.

Jawaharlal Nehu visited Mangalore twice – first in 1949 and then in 1952, for the opening of Bajpe Airport. Nehru stayed in the Shivbaug Bungalow of Benegal Rao family. Indira Gandhi visited Mangalore in 1983.

Two Presidents, N. Sanjeeva Reddy in 1980 and Abdul Kalam in 2004 visited Mangalore to do the honours at the Centenary and Post-centenary Silver Jubilee celebrations, respectively, of St. Aloysius College. President R. Venkatraman came to Mangalore on March 4, 1992 for the celebration of 85 years of Corporation Bank and Diamond Jubilee of its Tamil Nadu operations.

Another VIP who came to Mangalore to do the honours at the Centenary celebrations of the Fr . Muller Hospital was Mother Teresa. She gave a crisp and passionate oration , starting with a prayer: " Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellowmen throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread and by our understanding love, give peace and joy". She gave a clarion call: " … In Mangalore where we have this beautiful institution, ( Fr
Muller Hospital) let us resolve not to allow anybody to die alone, unwanted, unloved, forgotten".

Another VIP who came to Mangalore was Pope John Paul II; but he did not enter the city for logistic and security reasons. He addressed a massive gathering near Bajpe Airport where he arrived in a special plane on February 6, 1986 and returned the same day.

Lal Bahadur Shastri was not yet Prime Minister when he visited Mangalore. So was Manmohan Singh when he came to Mangalore in 1990s when he was Finance Minister. He opened Corporation Bank House at Pandeshwar on June 2, 1992. On a second visit to Mangalore, now as ex-Finance Minister, Justice K. S. Hegde Charitable Trust presented him an award, including Rs.2 lakhs in cash. At the suggestion of the Trustee of Nitte Education Trust Foundation, Vinaya Hegde, Manmohan Singh donated Rs. I lakh to St. Joseph’s Prashanth Nivas, Jeppu, run by Sisters of Charity, to look after the orphans, handicapped and old. These are the current Prime Minister’s footprints in Mangalore.

John Monteiro Column: Archives

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