Udayabhanu Kalasangha, a premier social service organisation has been active for the last 47 years. It is all set to enter its golden jubilee in 2015. To make the occasion memorable, it has taken up a number of programmes.
One among such programmes is Golden Jubilee Book Series, the publication of 50 small books on achievers who have made the Karnataka proud. The organisation engaged specialists and people who know/knew them very closely for this work. Well known scholar Dr P V Narayana is the Editor-in-Chief of this series. The first part of this Golden Jubilee Book Series, a set of five books, has been already released. The second part of this series, another set of five books (From 6 to 10), has been released recently.
The sixth book of this series Ragi Lakshmanaiah by Dr Sharanabasaveshwara Angadi, describes the life and works of Lakshmanaiah, a rare scientist who developed many new breeds of ragi (Finger Millet), the staple diet of people in South Karnataka, through his innovative methods. The writer has collated a number of details of the late scientist with great interest and has even spoken to his son to come out with this brief and simple biography. This 76 page book is perhaps the book in Kannada on Lakshmanaiah, who was synonymous with ragi, in detail. The book is a good read with various anecdotes related to Lakshmanaiah’s life written in a straightforward prose and has been brought out as a fitting tribute to Lakshmanaiah’s genius.
The seventh book is Dasharathi Dikshit is written by Lokanath Dikshit. The latter is the son of well known writer and theatre person Dasharathi Dikshit. This work is mainly about the life and works of Dikshit. It also chronicles the ups and down of his life mostly from his son’s point of view. The interesting anecdotes include how the famous humour series ‘Gampara Gumpu’ was conceived, staged and his association with the Koravanji magazine. It is interesting to note that Deekshit also acted in some Kannada films Samskara, Muyyi and Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma. The writer should have also focused on the importance of his father’s writings in Kannada literature. It would have enhanced the value of this book.
The eighth book is a short biography on renowned Gamaki B S S Koushik. His son M D Koushik has written this book. This is also like the previous book dealing with the ups and downs of Koushik’s life. The writer also writes about his father’s positive and negative traits and in his own way, narrates the development of Gamaka art in Kannada. It also includes small write-ups on him by those who knew him from a close quarters.The ninth book is Computer Kannada K P Rao. Writer T G Srinidhi, a software professional, has tried to explain the giant efforts of word wizard Kinnikambala Padmanabha (K P) Rao who designed the Kannada fonts and installed into the computer keyboard briefly. Rao has designed Sediyapu, a word processing software, in memory of his teacher Sediyapu Krishnabhat. In a way, one can say he taught Kannada to a computer. This book is a commending effort outlining the development of Kannada software and fonts. The writer could have written something about the significance of Rao’s achievements.The last book of this part is Sha Mam Krishnarayaru written by Dr Varada Srinivas. A writer and an organiser par excellence, Krishnarao popularised Kannada in the neighbouring state of Goa through a number of activities like publication of Kannada books, establishing pro-Kannada organisations and holding programmes to popularise the language for over 40 years there. He also worked for the development of his mother tongue Konkani.
He has published over 80 works including some felicitation volumes, biographies, books for children and plays. The book elaborately deals with his achievements. It reads like a felicitation volume and the writer could have focussed more on the significance of his works and the relevance of such things in today’s scenario. Overall, it is the chronicle of a man who is still striving for the cause of Kannada.