Making of the Encyclopaedia | Prof. George Menachery | Part 8

     Saturday Evening Post

Making of the Encyclopaedia

From the Horse’s own Mouth

George Menachery

Eight

Returning from Vadavathoor I felt excited and exhilarated and I began to move faster with the work – because I had promised to publish the Encyclopaedia by December 1972. I thought that it was time to take good photographs of some of the objects of art and architecture I had come across during my wanderings. Very few photographs had appeared in the books on the Thomas Church or its churches until that time, not more two dozen photographs at the most perhaps in all the books put together.  I went to Krishnan Nair’s studio in Ernakulam and came to the conclusion that Mr. Shankar, the son in law of the famous owner, would be the right person to shoot some quality photographs for the Encyclopaedia. Engaging a Taxi car I went to Ernakulam, picked up the photographer and went to two or three locations to take pictures. Ruins of the great Vaipincotta Seminary were photographed. Also some other objects on the Chennamangalam hill and the synagogue there. I had taken with me two learned friends thinking that they would be able to provide some guidelines and point out some significant items to be photographed. But they were totally ignorant of the artistic and architectural wealth of the Church, and what was worse they somewhat looked down upon the art works we came across during the trip. Finally we dropped the photographer at his studio and returned home. Most other scholars I contacted were equally unaware of the fact that the churches and Christians of Kerala possessed some remarkable objects of artistic, architectural, and archaeological significance. Hence I decided not to take anybody else with us during later photography expeditions.

Two days later I went to Ernakulam and collected the prints. The photos were of the highest quality. Hence I arranged with the photographer to travel to all Christian monuments I had seen and take photographs. I engaged a Taxi for three days and started on a most memorable voyage of discovery. The hundreds of photographs we took on this occasion won great appreciation when they were printed in the Encyclopaedia. In fact the art plates in the Encyclopaedia were much highlighted by the reviewers both in India and abroad.

In the meanwhile articles were beginning to trickle in. 

It was time to find a printing press that would measure up to the high standards envisaged. There was no press in Kerala to do the type of high quality printing I wanted. In fact there was no press in Kerala doing colour printing. There was the S. T. Reddiar press, the best of the lot. Though it boasted ‘tricolor’ printing, that was nothing more than printing some letters in one colour and then other letters in a different colour, and so on. Photographs in colour were not printed. So I spread my search to other South Indian States. There were two good presses in Madras, the Associated Printers and the BNK-Chandamama press.  The cover for the Souvenir of the All Kerala Educational Conference, Trivandrum conducted by the University of Kerala (1963), edited by me with Professor N. S. Vengusamy was printed at The Associated Printers through the good offices of my uncle James Menachery  and that cover had won much praise. So I went there first. But they were unwilling to take up the printing of a book. They were mainly interested in quick job works which were highly lucrative.

Now the only hope was the B. N. K. press owned by Dadasaheb Phalke award winner B. Nagi Reddy, also owner of Vijaya Vauhini Film Studio and Vijaya Gardens Film Studio and of Vijaya Hospital. He was the founder and editor of Chandamama published in a dozen Indian languages plus in English and Sinhalese from his mammoth Vadapalani press. The Soviet Land was being printed there in five languages. Before I describe my visit to the B. N. K. press let me tell something by way of a backstory.

In the late sixties and early seventies I used to visit Madras quite often in connection with procuring books for our book shop. Also to rope in publishers and books distributors for our biennial World of Books exhibitions, because many prominent books people like the India Book House, B. I. Publications, Chand & Co…..Macmillan and Oxford had their main south Indian office at Madras, mostly in and around the Anna Salai (Mount Road). Generally I used to go to Madras by a Friday evening train from Trichur (Thrissur) and return from Madras (Chennai) by a Sunday evening train so that I will not miss my college classes. As I was usually travelling on the spur of the moment often it was very difficult to procure reservation in the trains. But returning from Madras I was assured of a berth because my uncle’s close friend Dr. Govinda Menon (Konthu to friends) of the Puzhankara family was the Chief Medical Officer of the Southern Railway and hence enjoyed a quota of berths and seats in all trains. One Sunday morning when I came to his office he was about to drive to Vadapalani where he was often summoned by B. Nagi Reddy to obtain expert advice on his health problems. This day he was going to visit Nagi Reddy at his Vadapalani Office. He told me, “Why don’t you jump in if you don’t have any other engagement”. “I will show you some wood carvings and Tamil metal works,” he promised. I accompanied him to Vadapalani. After giving us coffee and laddu Mr. Reddy took us to his Pooja Room which was being renovated. Two or three carpenters were making the “altar” for the statues. I suggested some changes in the carvings and a niche being put up. The carpenters liked my suggestions and Mr. Reddy also beamed appreciation. After this we returned to the city. That was in 1969.

In January 1971 I went to the Vadapalani Press since the Associated Printers were not able to undertake the printing of the Encyclopaedia. It was to the B. N. K. Letter Press department that I went. There the manager Mr. Nayak said that he would be happy to do the B & W and colour art plates, but he was reluctant to undertake the printing of the text pages. And no wonder, because I wanted the text pages to be printed exactly like the pages of the 24 Volume Britannica. Each A4 size page will have more than 1000 words using 8 pt. Times Roman font.  Of course the composing will be done in Monotype but then pages after proof reading will have to be manually corrected. To correct one page after the first proof-reading will take one compositor a full day. And I wanted the pages to be four times proofread in addition to the final machine proof reading. So the manager said that printing the text pages at the B. N. K. was out of the question.

This was a big disappointment as there was no other press then with facilities to do a good job of printing. It must also be remembered that the B. N. K. and Chandamama presses together was the largest printing establishment in the whole of Asia then. I sadly got up and exited the press. I was walking towards the gate of the compound when a khaki-uniformed peon came up to me and said that the proprietor Nagi Reddy wanted to see me. Reddy had a mini office in a sort of glass house in the vast compound. Sitting there he had noticed me departing in a dejected sorrowful manner. When I met him he vividly recalled my earlier visit long back with Dr. Govinda Menon. He took me to the Pooja Room where I found some of my suggestions accepted and executed. When we returned to the glass house he enquired why I was looking so forlorn. I told him what had happened at the manager’s office and that if my book could not be printed by B. N. K. I did not know where else I could go. Directly he took the telephone and told the manager to print my book at the B. N. K. Another miracle, if one does not believe that the days of miracles are over.

Once the work was undertaken by B. N. K. they spared no pains or expense to produce a top of the class product in keeping with their reputation. For me this was most fortunate. B. N. K. also won the national award for best colour printing for the Encyclopaedia. Reviewers and librarians both in India and abroad always had a word of praise for the proofreading, printing, paper, art plates, binding….of the volumes.