Maharashtra gave prominence to Sir Visvesvaraya, says his great grand nephew
   Date :20-Jan-2020

Maharashtra gave prominen
 Laxmi and Satish Mokshgundam
 
By Vikas Vaidya :
 
“My heart is filled with emotions. For, I have entered the premises of this institute named after my great grand uncle Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshgundam Visvesvaraya. This is our first visit to Nagpur and people from this institute came to Muddenahalli, the birth place of Sir Visvesvaraya to invite me and my wife Laxmi. I must say Maharashtra has really given prominence to this great personality,” said an overwhelmed Satish Mokshgundam, the great grand nephew of Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshgundam Visvesvaraya while talking to ‘The Hitavada’. Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology has started its diamond jubilee celebrations on Sunday with unveiling of statue of Sir Visvesvaraya at the entrance of administrative building in presence of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
 
Taking opportunity of this function VNIT has invited Satish Mokshgundam and his wife Laxmi. Both came with enthusiasm all the way from Bengaluru. Family of Visvesvaraya was very big and divided in two as far as academic part is concerned. Some did engineering, some opted law or commerce. Sir Visvesvaraya was the great engineer as everybody knows, Satish Mokshgundam opted Commerce. He runs a business at Bengaluru. “We felt very happy to visit Nagpur and see this huge and great institution which is named after him. I am also born in the same house and lived with Sir Visvesvaraya.
 
I was nine years old when he died. Then I did not know how great Sir Visvesvaraya was.” Laxmi Mokshgundam too is related to this family later married to Satish Mokshgundam. Talking about Sir Visvesvaraya effusively, Satish and Laxmi Mokshgundam said, “Later on, everyday we found new Sir Visvesvaraya and till date we are meeting him with his new achievement. We feel proud as Maharashtra has given prominence to Sir Visvesvaraya. College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) has erected his statue in his memory in its premises, World Trade Centre at Mumbai honoured him and they invited both of us there, entire wall by Irrigation Department is named after Sir Visvesvaraya, now VNIT too has conserved his memories. Even I would say the best book written on him is in Marathi.
 
The author studied Sir Visvesvaraya well and penned the book. Secondly, the institutions named after him are completing 100 years, like Century Club, Krishna Raja Sagar Dam, Mysore sandal soap industry etc.” Viswesvarayya National Memorial Trust manages a memorial of Visvesvaraya at his birthplace Muddenahalli. The memorial exhibits his awards, titles and personal belongings, including his living room, spectacles, cups, books and block with which his visiting cards were printed. Models of Krishna Raja Sagar dam, which Visvesvaraya designed and supervised construction of, are exhibited.
 
The memorial is adjacent to the house where Sir Visvesvaraya was born. His house, was refurbished and regarded as a temple by locals. Samadhi of Sir Visvesvaraya is also there. Satish Mokshgundam told with proud feeling how Google Doodle honoured Sir Visvesvaraya on September 15, 2018, to celebrate his 157th birthday anniversary.