This man of few words loves talking

BANGALORE: At work, he is a man of few words, soft-spoken, but never hesitates to take harsh decisions. However, his family members do not know how he functions as a police officer. For, additional director general of police Kuchanna Srinivas, who heads prisons in the state, does not carry home a single file.
Once home, he is a complete family man: he talks a lot to his family members, especially his two children and loves taking them to movies on Sundays.The children, too, wait for their father to come home, so they can discuss what happened during the day.
"People say as children grow, they get closer to their mother. Here, they are very close to their father. They may not discuss certain things with me, but don't hesitate to share it with their father. Every night, father and children spend at least two hours together," says his wife Saraswathi.
Beyond work, Kuchanna Srinivas has varied interests. He has fulfilled a childhood dream of making a movie, written scripts for movies, is a voracious reader and film buff, plays tennis, loves Hindustani music, Odissi dance, is a photographer and trekker.
Born near Sidlaghatta, Kuchanna studied in the local school till SSLC. As there was no scope for higher education, he came to Bangalore and joined National College. This came as a culture shock for him. "Every one spoke English and I did not understand a word. For the first time, I was wearing trousers and slippers. With great difficulty, I passed PU and managed to scrape through in Physics. Though I got an engineering seat, I did not want to leave college and joined BSc. H Narasimhaiah was a great inspiration and I decided to learn Physics under his guidance," he recalls.
After BSc, he got a seat for MSc in Physics at Lord Venkateshwara University, which had a P-G centre at Ananthpur. He started teaching at a college in Malavalli and later joined the Karnataka Dairy Development Corporation, before taking up civil service.
"I was not particular about becoming a police officer. All I was looking for was a secure job. If the college had paid me a good salary in time, I would have settled there, teaching Physics," he smiles.
Saraswathi was only 19 when she got the proposal. Her father was working with L&T. She did not think twice before saying yes. "I didn't have great expectations in life, but I wanted to complete BSc which I did after coming to Bangalore. I wanted to do medicine, but got engrossed in family affairs," she says. She speaks impeccable Kannada and no one can say she was born and brought up in Hyderabad.
Saraswathi turned out to be the perfect homemaker, with two children, Sameer and Sandhya. Interestingly, it was Sameer, who had just started school, who insisted that his sister be named Sandhya.
"At home, he is strict. He does not allow us to talk about his office or work. He leaves home by 9 am and returns only by 9 pm, after playing tennis and meeting friends. Then he spends two hours with the kids before retiring," she says.
Both children say their father is more than a friend. Sameer, who completed his engineering, worked with Volvo for a year and quit to prepare for the civil services. Sandhya is studying journalism and psychology in Christ College.
Sameer feels his best moments in life were spent in the Himalayas, where he went trekking with his father when he was just 14. "I'll carry the memory for a lifetime. With my father's camera, I took up photography also. He has always supported me," he adds.
Kuchanna Srinivas was against admitting his children in hostels. "We grew up in a joint family and I did not want my children to grow up elsewhere. Sameer studied wherever I worked and one year, I was transferred thrice and he had to change school as many times. But Sandhya has studied in Bangalore throughout," he adds.
Interestingly, Kuchanna made Sandhya study in Kannada medium till middle school. When he was DIG in Mangalore, Sandhya went to the neighbourhood Anganawadi and was comfortable in Kannada. When they returned to Bangalore, he admitted her to Stella Mary's Convent, but Kannada medium. "She may not have a great accent in English, but she is good in studies and in communicating with people," he says.
DREAMS AND INTERESTS
Kuchanna grew up in a multi-lingual society. In his village, while one halfspoke Urdu, the other majority, including his family, spoke Telugu. The remaining people spoke Kannada.
In high school, Srinivas took an oath that he would not watch any movie other than Kannada. "I think I was influenced by Kannada literature. My friend Narayanaswamy and I would climb a tree near the IB and dream about making a Kannada movie," he reminisces.
The friendship continued even after Kuchanna Srinivas became an officer. They revived this dream and in 1988, and made a movie called Madhumasa. "It ran for 50 days, but the producer incurred a loss," he smiles. Later, he wrote scripts for movies whenever he was free. Posted as vigilance officer at HMT, he got a lot of time and wrote a script for Samagama, a television serial. He gave up when it got strenuous.
Kuchanna is a self-professed connoisseur of art movies. "Earlier, they used to make art movies out of passion, now it has become a fashion," he quips. In the 70s, he watched movies of giants like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, B V Karanth and others. "Language was no barrier. I wanted to watch good movies," he says. Today, he likes light stuff, with an inclination for Aamir Khan's flicks.
When in National College, he was a regular to Fort High School music festivals. There he developed a liking for music and today, has a great fascination for Hindustani strains. Interestingly, his house does not have a music system.
A voracious reader, language or subject has never been a barrier for him. Be it light, short stories or non-fiction science, he reads all. "I can't say which book is best. Each is different in its own way. Recently, I was reading `Phantoms in the Brain' by V S Ramachandran."
FAVE THINGS
Food: Ragi mudde, non-veg, prefers homemade food
Music: Hindustani
Books: Kannada literature, English books
Movies: Kannada, art films, Aamir Khan flicks
WHAT DOES HE DO?
He is chief custodian of all prisons in the state. It involves supervision of administration in all prisons, their maintenance and welfare activities.