BENGALURU/SHIVAMOGGA: “Bhala ollevru nam missu, en helidru yes yessu... schooligella famussu”, this song considered to be one of the best odes to teachers, is loved by children and teachers alike. The poet who penned this children’s poem, NS Lakshminarayana Bhatta (84), was a professor himself, who served at Bangalore University.
This well-known Kannada poet, critic and translator, known as ‘NSL’ in the Kannada literary world, passed away in Bengaluru early on Saturday morning. The 1980s especially reverberated with his Bhavageethe (lyrical poems). Almost every Kannada household boasted of having cassettes of his songs. Many of his lyrical poems were set to tune by some of the renowned composers like C Ashwath. Some of his other poems ---”Thaye ninna madilali”, “Hinde hege chimmutittu kanna tumba preethi”, “Baare nanna Deepika” etc – are among the popular music albums of that decade.
As a translator too, he had won name and fame. He had translated about 50 sonnets of William Shakespeare, the poetry of T S Elliot and the works of Irish poet William Butler Yeats into Kannada. He had also translated several plays. His compilation of works of the saint-poet Shishunala Sharif was much appreciated. He was recognized for his contribution to modern Kannada poetry with numerous awards and honours. Among them were the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award, Masti Prashasti and Kannada Rajyotsava Award.
The literary giants of his time influenced him and his writings greatly. While studying in Sahyadri College, he came in contact with Dr G S Shivarudrappa, another noted poet, and was attracted by the latter’s presentation style, which inspired him to write. Later, he was greatly influenced by poets and writers like Ti Nam Sri, S V Ranganna, D L Narasimhachar, Dr Bendre, S V Parameshwara Bhatt and Gopalakrishna Adiga.
Prof Bhatta who was born in 1936 in Shivamogga district, naturally had great love for the place, and his poem -- Shivamoggeyalli Male-1946’ -- explained the problems faced by the people due to heavy rains.
He suffered due to age-old ailments, said family sources. He is survived by wife and two children. While the entire Kannada literary and poet community paid tribute, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in his condolence message said the Kannada literary world lost one of its stars. Condoling Bhatta’s death, JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy remembered his poetry for children.