Remembering Girish Karnad: From senior to peer, lessons the thespian taught me in theatre — and life

Theatre stalwart Girish Karnad’s son journalist Raghu Karnad paints the picture of his “appa” as a man who was “gently bubbling with bits of history, legend, song, folktale and philosophy”.

“That was the man I loved,” Raghu said in a moving Instagram post on Thursday, three days after Karnad’s death at the age of 81.

Raghu said both he and his sister Shalmali Radha were at home in Bengaluru when Karnad passed away.

“As many friends have pointed out, he had an immaculate sense of timing. This past weekend, my sister and I were both at home for a friend’s wedding. On Saturday evening, he completed a set of audio interviews with (translator-author) Arshia Sattar.