Page 183 - Demo

PVG Raju went on as an adolescent living a life of luxury for a few years %u2013 with access to unfathomable wealth with no real responsibilities, enjoying all the good things life had to offer %u2013 owning race horses, playing cricket, golf, and moving in high society. Yet somewhere, there was a discomfort with all of these trappings %u2013 an inkling that there must be a higher purpose in life. He found some kind of answer with the socialists %u2013 it is remarkable that he was coronated in 1945 and almost immediately joined the Socialist Party formally in 1946. This meant renouncing his luxuries and living a simple life - he loved to %u2018walk the talk%u2019 and flung himself headlong into public life, getting arrested on multiple occasions. Very few people burn their bridges but he took his politics to the people of his principality. While yet a zamindar, he denounced zamindari as archaic. Finally, he made the momentous decision to give the bulk of his inheritance to a trust for public causes. PVG Raju knew the joys of family life and yet had to suffer the pain of separation and divorce. Protracted legal wranglings with family cut him deeply. For someone who was born in a fort and had a number of palatial residences, he himself came from a broken home and that probably stayed with him through life. At the peak of his political career, he faced a life-threatening accident which left him incapacitated. He struggled to retain a semblance of his former self. There was then a gradual withdrawal into his shell, taking a fatalistic view of events and fading away. Yet through all of this, his personality shines through %u2013 his unfailing gentleness and courtesy, his concern for his fellow-men, his willingness to go the extra mile, and above all his unwavering love for Vizianagaram, its people and the unique culture of north 169