Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

A hobby most honourable

Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

PRICELESS: I.Venkata Sayi shows the autograph of Mahatma Gandhi taken in 1942.

HYDERABAD: ‘Truth at any cost’ reads the message on the yellowish-brown paper followed by the author’s signature: M. K. Gandhi. And then the date, ‘29.7.1942.’ For more than sixty years I. Venkata Sayi, a former assistant entomologist at the Agricultural University, has held on to this memorabilia, which is now part of a collection of 52 signatures of famous and ‘not-so’ famous people.

A small green book carries these personalised autographs, the pages yellowed with age but spotless as ever, thanks to the protective layer of lamination.

The Mahatma’s autograph is most valuable to the collector who is a Gandhian himself.

“He was going from Delhi to Bombay and I heard that the train would stop at Tenali” recalls Mr. Sayi adding, “I was waiting on the platform with the book in one hand and a five rupee note in another because he used to collect money for Harijans. He took the money and then signed. It was Monday, the day of silence so he didn’t speak.”

The litany of famous names includes M. N. Roy, Syama Prasad Mukherji, C. Rajagopalachari, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. C.V. Raman, Madan Mohan Malaviya among others, while closer home it has T. Prakasam Panthulu, Kasi Krishnacharya, Vishwanatha Satyanarayana and C. Narayan Reddy.

As he leafs through the pages, he reels off their hometowns, last names and the positions they held without faltering even for a second.

Most of the autographs date back to the 1940s when he was studying at the Presidency College in Madras (Chennai). “I used to travel a lot then and it was much easier to approach people those days.”

Even now, he attends public meetings with the little green book in hand and that is how he found one of his more recent autographs – that of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao whom he had met at a public meeting in 2004. “Rest of the time, the book is under lock and key” says his daughter.

Given the rarity of the collection one cannot blame Mr. Venkata Sayi for being extra careful.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu