The Man Booker and Madras Corporation

CHENNAI: When Arvind Adiga won the Man Booker Prize for his novel The White Tiger in 2008, there was a buzz around the fact that he was the great-grandson of U Rama Rau, a multi-faceted personality from the city who was the first president of the Music Academy, apart from being one of the founders of Indian Medical Association and a noted leader of the Congress party from Madras presidency in the pre-Independence times.Interestingly, the Man Booker Prize winner has a strong Chennai Corporation connection. U Krishna Rau, the son of Rama Rau and brother of Adiga’s maternal grandfather U Mohan Rau, was the first mayor of Madras post-Independence. He occupied the post between 1947 and 1948.Though overshadowed by the achievements of his father, Krishna Rau was an outstanding figure in his own right. Born in 1900, he completed his medical degree from the Madras Medical College in 1923 and established a highly successful practice at 323, Thambu Chetty Street, following in the footsteps of his father.According to his grandson Dr Ram Mohan Rau — he recently returned from the UK — Krishna Rau was a freethinking personality who encouraged a “healthy dissent” and practised his views as a politician.Krishna Rau also took over the editorial of the highly regarded medical journal The Antiseptic from his father. The journal was even listed in the Index Medicus.Though not a music buff like his father, Krishna Rau’s interests did not stop with his profession. A great sports fan, he was a qualified football and hockey referee and represented Madras State in Bridge in the Nationals along with his brother-in-law K L Narayana Rau.“He was also the doctor of the Madras Cricket Association,” says Ram Mohan.The family’s house on Dr Alagappa Road, a landmark in those times, was spread over an area of 14 grounds but has since been reconstructed into six different houses. Krishna Rau also had a special relationship with C Rajagopalachari, who inducted him into his cabinet in 1952 as the minister for labour and industries after he was elected from the Harbour constituency. Later, following his re-election in 1957, when Kamaraj became the chief minister, Krishna Rau was appointed as the Assembly Speaker.