BENGALURU: The city’s who’s who lauded the 10 women achievers honoured by Express on Thursday. They were particularly impressed with the choice of awardees, many of whom are not recognised in the media despite their stupendous achievements.
Jnanpith laureate Chandrashekhar Kambar said he was pleased that Express was taking the achievements Kannada women to the world. “I congratulate you on the excellent nominations,” he said.
Artist M S Murthy, film maker Nagathihalli Chandrashekar, and writer Nataraj Huliyar gathered around Kambar, and discussed how the awards were correcting misplaced media priorities.
Prince Yaduveer and Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, wife of the late Maharaja Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, were a big draw, with many in the audience posing with them for pictures.
“Women hardly get recognised for what they do. They do so much multi-tasking. I am happy to hear the multi-tasking aspect being mentioned by Prabhu Chawla. Glad that the spirit of women has been recognised here,” Pramoda Devi said.
Yaduveer said Devi symbolised power, grace and respect. “I am really pleased to be a part of this heritage,” he said.
The audience found the evening uplifting. “Very inspiring. You got the feeling that real women were being honoured,” said Sunitha Kondur, architect. Her friend Sujatha Raju said, “Yes, there was something very real about it all.”
Rajagopal, textile magnate, said, “I like the idea that you covered women in different fields.”
Gangadhar, who runs Vijayalakshmi Silk Emporium, said, “It is good that women not in the limelight are being honoured.”
Grammy winner Ricky Kej said he was particularly happy about the nomination of Nemichandra, the engineer-writer who had once worked meticulously on an anthem.