Teacher, humourist, orator and writer A R Mitra was honoured with the Anakru Nirman award at a function organised at JSS Mahavidyapeetha on Sunday.
Accepting the award, he spoke about the humour of writer A N Krishna Rao (popularly addressed as Anakru) and the use of the same in oratory skills. In a tribute to Anakru’s patronage for writers in Kannada and his constant words of encouragement for the young, Mitra recalled on how he and his friends grew up in Anakru's influence.
Professor Mitra stressed on the importance of humour as a looking glass to get different perspectives.
He recalled an instance where he won an essay competition in English duing his college days only to be told by the judges that his English is bad and to use the award as the impetus to learn the language. “I hope to look at the this award in the same manner and hope to do something worthy of this award in the future,” he said.
Doing the honour and presenting the award were Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, Kannada Development Authority chairman Mukhyamantri Chandru, Prof G Venkatasubbaiah , general secretary of Anakru Foundation chairman Lakshminarayana among other eminent dignitaries.