Bookstrapping: 101 years too little?

Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was awarded a Bharat Ratna in 1955. His birthday on 15th September is celebrated every day as engineers day, not just in India but also Sri Lanka and Tanzania. He lived a grand 101 years from 1861 to 1962.

Now despite this preamble, the name Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya may still not ring a bell. Heard of the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam? He oversaw its construction. Ever used Mysore Sandal soap? M Visvesvaraya put up this factory. And ever heard of IISC Bengaluru? M Visweswaraya was crucial to setting it up. Author Aparajith Ramnath gives us a comprehensive biography of the legendary M Visvesvaraya in Engineering a Nation: The Life and Career of M Visvesvaraya.

He was one of the early architects of ‘India,’ in multifarious ways. The sheer multi-sectoral relevance of his work is one reason history demands that we know him.

Here are our five BookStrapping insights.

1. The timing of his birth was definitely lucky in terms of the education he received; benefitting from the British system of English education of the 1850s, and not the ancient ‘pyol’ system of learning scriptures. Thus, he had access to western knowledge.

2. He left his home state of Mysore to go to Poona, to become a civil engineer at the College of Science in Poona. Later, he devised an intricate system of irrigation to repay the city, which was installed at the Khadakvasla Dam near Pune. His success led to the installation of similar systems at other dams. This was also the time when Mahratta, a weekly published by Bal Gangadhar Tilak profiled inventors and scientists like Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Louis Pasteur etc; another happy coincidence.

3. Curiosity was his middle name; Visvesvaraya was a well-travelled man. He travelled to Japan in the 1890s, returning thoroughly impressed by its electric tramways and electric lighting, its education system and its modern economy. In the later years, he would also travel to Aden (Yemen), England, United States, Egypt, Milan etc; to study aspects of civil construction in the more developed cities of the time or implement projects therein.

4. His work is alive even today. For instance; when Hyderabad was in the grip of a catastrophic flood in 1908, sir Visvesvaraya’s services were requested by the Nizam’s government in the construction of a flood protection system and a drainage system for the city. The author writes in the book, ‘years before Orson Welles ran through the Viennese sewers in ‘The Third Man’, Visvesvaraya trudged along in drains in the bowels of London, Paris and Dusseldorf.’

5. His imprint on the education landscape is indelible. As the Dewan (chief minister) of Mysore from 1912 to 1918, he played a crucial role in the development of the state. He initiated various projects, including the Mysore Iron & Steel Works, the Bangalore Agricultural University, the Mysore University which also had its own engineering, medical, commerce and arts colleges. The State of Mysore also played a crucial role in helping establish Indian Institute of Science and influenced its research in the years that followed.

There is a reference to how JRD Tata clapped loudly as Visvesvaraya went up to collect his Bharat Ratna at the hands of Dr Rajendra Prasad. The citation he received read ‘ A great engineer, industrialist and statesman and the father of the idea of planned development in India!’ In the twilight of his life, his waning political influence due to divergence in views, did not affect his enthusiasm. He continued to advocate for heavy industry as the engine of growth. His 101 year old life, marked by both happy coincidences and his own energetic vigour, are fundamental to inspiring countless Indians to believe in the possible!

Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta is a columnist and bestselling biographer. She is credited with the internationally acclaimed Red Dot Experiment, a decadal six-nation study on how ‘culture impacts communication.’ A reading coach, you can find her on Instagram @OfficialReetaGupta.

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