Anant Nag shares his memories of Girish Karnad

Anant Nag considers himself fortunate to have known and worked closely with Girish Karnad for a large part of his life. He fondly recalls his memories of working with the thespian. Excerpts...
We have lost a great playwright. I had the great fortune of meeting and working with Girish right from my theatre days. I knew that he wasn’t keeping well. He had called me six months ago. He told me that his latest play, Rakshasa Tangadi, was out and wanted to send me a copy for feedback. He was a closer to my brother Shankar (Nag) than me.
Girish was, undoubtedly, one of the greatest playwrights of our times, in the 20th and 21st century. His last play was very beautifully written. I have known his mind, as a theatreperson, closely, as one my earliest plays,

Yayati

, was written by him. I also got to work with him in films like Manthan and Nishant with Shyam Benegal. My brother worked in his film

Ondanondu Kaladalli

, which was when we resumed interacting. He was also part of the making process for Minchina Ota. At 81, he still had a lot more to give.