Chapter 01

Roots in Siddapura

Born on 29 August 1926 in Siddapura, Uttara Kannada, to Mahabaleshwar and Saraswati Hegde, into a Havyaka Brahmin family whose roots lay in the forested, rain-fed hills of the Malnad. He grew up in the slower, grounded world of an agricultural household rather than privilege or dynasty — an upbringing that instilled a lifelong ethic of thrift, scholarship and public probity. As a boy, when there was no money to spare even for a haircut, he let his hair grow for a year rather than ask again; the one thing he refused to go without was an education, which an uncle eventually helped him pursue far from home.