India, July 26 -- On Sunday, the 13th (of July), my father and the Founder-Editor of Star of Mysore and Mysuru Mithra, K.B. Ganapathy, passed away.

Knowing him, I think he would have got a kick out of it if he had kicked the bucket on Friday the 13th, popularly considered an unlucky day.

It feels odd to write about my father, but I feel I owe it to the readers of Star of Mysore, who have made this small newspaper from this small city into one of India's most successful evening newspapers.

To not write about him would feel wrong. Especially because his life was not only well lived, but it was also wildly interesting.

KBG, as he was popularly known, never really spoke much of his early life with me until a few years ago, when I became a...