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Dr. A. N. Krishna Rao (1908-1971)popularly known as Anakru, was one of Karnataka's famous novelist. He was popularly known as Kadambari Sarvabhouma (Emperor of Novels).
Anakru was born in Arakalagudu in Hassan District of Karnataka, India. His father was Narasingaraya and mother Annapurnamma.The period Anakru entered the literary world, was one when there was not Kannada readership, nor sale of books. From such shackles of literary traditionalism, Anakru liberated the Kannada reader. Through his first novel was Jeevana Yatre.Subsequently, he wrote Udayaraaga, Sandhyaaraagaa, Mangalasutra, Natasarvabhouma, Sahithyarathna, Taayiya Karulu, Grihalakshmi, Taayi Makkalu, Aasheervada and Anugraha which won him great popular name Kadambari Sarvabhouma.His literary output exceeded 80,000 pages.Then came the social reform when he wrote Nagna Sathya, Shani Santaana and Sanje Gaththalu, that threw light on the issues of prostitution, the traditionalists and protagonists of religion were shaken and called him a "vulgar writer" for writing on such a subject. "if telling the truth is vulgar, then I am a vulgar writer; if the act of covering with a cloth, a downtrodden, helpless, naked woman on the street is vulgar, then I am a vulgar writer" was Anakru's reply. It is an irony that the very same people who criticized Anakru, wrote on the same subject later.
Anakru’s contributed significantly to the growth of Kannada culture. He inspired an entire generation of Kannadigas and was the pioneer who instilled the Kannada reading habit and a value for Kannada. He also worked towards Integration of Karnataka. Once introducing him to an audience, one of Kannada's other major writer Maasti Venkatesh Iyengar said “I am a Tamil Kannadiga, Sir Mirza Ismail is a Muslim Kannadiga, and Anakru is a pure Kannadiga”. This tribute from a literary like Maasti mirrors of Kannada fervor Anakru was known for.
A. N. Krishna Rao acted as the president of the 43rd Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held in Manipal. Anakru was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Karnataka State award. Mysore University awarded Anakru a honorary doctorate in literature.
Based on Anakru's fiction Sadhyaraga, the Kannada movie Sandhyaraga released in 1966 was a hit movie.
The house, in Visvesvarapuram Bangalore of the first Kannada chaluvaligar, which had been a meeting place for writers during Anakru's lifetime is now being used as a footwear godown. Lot of people had urged the Government to convert this house into a memorial. But from almost 10 years this is still pending. Government said that the ownership of the building had to be ascertained before converting it into a memorial.
Some of his writings are ,
Sahitya and Kamprachodane
Sahitya mattu jeevan
Porake (Harate)
Kaman Billu
Nannannu nanekande
Maduveyo Manehalu
Raj Nartaki
Bannad Bisanike
Rasikagrani
Samra Sundari
Ran Vikram
Anna Tangi
Sandhyaraga
ಅ.ನ.ಕೃಷ್ಣರಾಯ - Dr. A. N. Krishna Rao
BeeChi, (1913-1980) was a well-known humorist in the Kannada language. His real name was Rayasam Bheemasena Rao. He preferred to write his pen name bilingually as ಬೀchi. He was also known as Karnataka's George Bernard Shaw..
Beechi was born in the year 1913 in Harapanahalli in the Davanagere district of Karnataka state, India. His father was Srinivas Rao and mother was Bharatamma. He discontinued studies after SSLC and joined a Government office as an attender.Having no formal exposure to Kannada or its literature, Beechi was motivated towards Kannada literature after reading A. N. Krishna Rao's novel Sandhyaraga on a long train journey. He considered A. N. Krishna Rao as his guru.
Beechi's writings were humour-based, and his first novel was Dasakoota, published when he was 32.His primary character was timma (ತಿಂಮ) (Used in Kannada to denote a man who is considered silly/crazy). Beechi released a lot of books with timma in the title. Churning out novels at a prolific rate, he wrote around 60 books in his lifetime.
His autobiography, entitled Nanna bhayagraphy, met with some controversy upon its release. References within the book to Omar Khayyam's 'Rubaiyyat' and how the great Kannada poet G. P. Rajaratnam seemed to have been inspired by it greatly sparked much anger in Rajaratnam and Rajaratnam is said to have written his 'Nirbhayagraphy' in protest.
His famous quotes...
ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬ ಗಂಡಸಿಗೂ ಮನೆ ಮತ್ತು ಹೆಂಡತಿ ಇರಲೇ ಬೇಕು...ಸ್ವನ್ಥದಾದಷ್ಟು ಒಳ್ಳೇದು...
Every guy needs a house and a wife - the more they are his own, the better...
ನಮಗೆ ಬೇಕಾದಾಗಲೆಲ್ಲ ದೇವರು ಪ್ರತ್ಯಕ್ಷವಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಧಿಡೀರೆಂದು ದೇವರು ಪ್ರತ್ಯಕ್ಷವಾಗುವುದು ಕೇವಲ ತಮಿಳು ಸಿನಿಮಾ ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತ್ರ.
God does not appear before us whenever we want. He appears unexpectedly only in Tamil movies.
ನೀವು ಓದಿ ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರ್ ಆಗಿ, ಡಾಕ್ಟರ್ ಆಗಿ, ಲಾಯರ್ ಆಗಿ ಅಥವ ಯಾವ ಕೆಲ್ಸನು ಸಿಗ್ಲಿಲ್ಲ ಅಂದ್ರೆ, ಟೀಚರ್ ಆಗಿ. ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ರಾಜಕಾರಣಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ಆಗಬೇಡಿ. ಯಾಕೆಂದರೆ: ಪಾಲಿಟಿಕ್ಸ್ ಇಸ್ ದಿ ಲಾಸ್ಟ್ ರೆಸಾರ್ಟ್ ಆಫ್ ದಿ ವೊರ್ಸ್ಟ್ ಸ್ಕೌಂದ್ರೆಲ್!
You study and become an engineer, doctor or a lawyer or else at least become a teacher; but never become a politician. Because: Politics is the last resort of the worst scoundrel!
ಜೀವನದ ದುರಂತವಿದು, ಎಂದೋ ಬಯಸಿದುದು ಇಂದು ಸಿಗುತ್ತದೆ, ಅದು ಅವನಿಗೆ ಬೇಡವಾಗಿ ಪರರಿಗೆ ಉಪಯೋಗವಾಗುವಾಗ,
ಉದಾರಹಣೆಗೆ : ಮುಪ್ಪಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕಿರಿಯ ಹೆಂಡತಿ.
It's the irony of life. The wishes of yesteryears are fulfilled only today; only when they are no longer useful to oneself but useful only to others.
As an example: A young wife at an old age.
One of them who got inspired was B Pranesh also called as Gangavati Beechi..He is a person who knows something about BeeChi(original) and people say that he talks the way "Beechi" used to talk. So he is called Gangavati Beechi.
Yakshagana is a dance drama popular in the state of Karnataka. It is believed to have evolved from pre classical music form and theatrical arts. Yakshagana is popular in the districts of Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Kasaragod district of Kerala. This would be considered to be a form of opera in western eyes. Actors wear costumes and enact the various roles. Traditionally, Yakshaganas would go on all night. It is sometimes simply called as Aataa in both Kannada and Tulu.
Yakshagana consists of a Himmela (background musicians) and a Mummela (dance and dialog group) which together perform a Yakshaga Prasanga. Himmela consisting of Bhagawata who is also the singer, Maddale, Hormonium for drone and loud drums. The music is based on pre-Karnataka Sangeetha Ragas characterised by melodic patterns called Mattu and Yakshagana Talas. Yakshagana performance begins at the twilight hours with the beating of several fixed compositions on drums called Peetike, for up to an hour before the 'actors' get on the stage. The actors wear resplendent costumes, head-dresses, and painted faces which they paint themselves. A performance usually depicts a story from the Hindu epics and puranas. It consists of a narrator(Baghawatha) who either narrates the story by singing or sings precomposed dialogs of a character, backed by musicians playing on traditional musical instruments as the actors dance to the music, with actions that portray the story as it is being narrated. It is not uncommon for actors to get into philosophical debates or arguments without going out of the framework of the character being enacted.
There are two variants of Yakshagana. The two styles differentiate from one another through the instruments played & costumes displayed.
The Tenkutittu style, is prevalent in Southern areas of South Canara, that is, from Mulki to Kasargod. One notable practitioner of Tenkutittu style Yakshagana was the late Sheni Gopalakrishna Bhat.
The second variation, the Badagutittu style is prevalent in Northern parts of South Canara, from Padubidri to Byndoor and North Kanara District. The Badagutittu style was popularized by Shivram Karanth's Yakshagana Mandira at Saligrama village in Dakshina Kannada. Keremane Shivarama Heggade, the founder of the Yakshagana troupe, Idagunji Mahaganapathi Yakshagana Mandali is an exponent of this style of Yakshagana. He is also the first Yakshagana artist to receive the Rashtrapati Award.
Keremane Shivarama Hegde was born in Keremane, Honnavar taluk of the Uttara Kannada district on 21 June, 1908. He could not complete his primary education because of poverty and to earn a living he had to do odd jobs like driving a bus and booking tickets. He started performing Yakshagana from a young age of age of 14 and in the year 1934, he started his own troupe called as Idagunji Mahaganapathi Yakshagana Mandali. A famous temple of the God is located in the village of Idagunji in the Uttara Kannada district. He toured around the state of Karnataka with his troupe and started earning various awards for his efforts. He won the state award in 1965, Central Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1970 and a Rajyotsava Award in 1985. The highest award won by him was the Rashtrapati Award. His autobiography called as Nenapina Rangasthala was recorded on cassette by G S Bhat in 1981 and published as a book by the Akshara Prakashana, Heggodu in the year 1996.
Kermane Shambhu Hegde, son of Shivarama Hegde also entered the field of Yakshagana like his father and also earned various awards including the Sangeet Natak Akademi award. He brought in changes to the Yakshagana tradition by introducing truncated versions of the art form to make it more acceptable to people outside its traditional base. He went on to become the chairman of the Karnataka Janapada and Yakshagana Academy. He has also acted in films and won the Karnataka State Film award for his supporting role in the Kannada film, Parva in the year 2001-2002. He is a member of the Governing body of the South Zone Cultural Centre and also a member of Rangasamaja which looks after the working of the repertory Rangayana.
Keremane Shivananda Hegde, son of Shambhu Hegde and is another exponent of Yakshagana. He has toured abroad with the troupe and was also invited to participate in the Asia-Pacific Performance Exchange (APPEX) workshop held in the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also learnt Kathak and choreography under the guidance of Kathak artist Maya Rao.
Idagunji Mahaganapathi Yakshagana Mandali has given performances all over India and overseas as well. Under the sponsorship of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, the troupe undertook a tour of South East Asia in August 2000, where they gave performances in Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos and Philippines. The troupe has also given performance in Vasantahabba 2002.They have also given performances in New York and Atlanta.
Update : Keremanmanmane Shambhu Hegde, a renowned Yakshagana artiste and former president of state Yakshagana and Janapada Academy, died of cardiac arrest at Idagunji, his native place at 4.30 am on 02/03/2009 . He was 71. He complained of chest pain after playing the role of Rama in a Ramayana episode, Lava-Kusha Kalaga (war) at Idagunji.
He was still wearing the costume.
Aravind Adiga , born 23 October 1974 is a journalist and author, who holds dual Indian and Australian citizenship. His debut novel, The White Tiger, won the 2008 Man Booker Prize.
Aravind Adiga was born in Madras (now Chennai) K. Madhava and Usha Adiga, Kannadiga parents hailing from Mangalore, Karnataka. He grew up in Mangalore and studied at Canara High School, then at St. Aloysius High School, where he completed his SSLC in 1990. He secured first rank in the state in SSLC. After emigrating to Sydney, Australia, with his family, he studied at James Ruse Agricultural High School. He studied English literature at Columbia College, Columbia University in New York, where he studied with Simon Schama and graduated as salutatorian in 1997.[6] He also studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, where one of his tutors was Hermione Lee.
Adiga began his journalistic career as a financial journalist, interning at the Financial Times. With pieces published in the Financial Times, Money and the Wall Street Journal, he covered the stock market and investment, interviewing, among others, Donald Trump. His review of previous Booker Prize winner Peter Carey's book, Oscar and Lucinda, appeared in The Second Circle, an online literary review. He was subsequently hired by TIME, where he remained a South Asia correspondent for three years before going freelance. During his freelance period, he wrote The White Tiger. He currently lives in Mumbai, India.
Aravind Adiga's debut novel, The White Tiger, won the 2008 Booker Prize. He is the fourth Indian-born author to win the prize, after Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai.
The Novel is about Balram Halwai , homicidal chauffer, is from the Darkness, born where India's downtrodden and unlucky are destined to rot. Balram manages to escape his village and move to Delhi after being hired as a driver for a rich landlord. Telling his story in retrospect, the novel is a piecemeal correspondence from Balram to the premier of China, who is expected to visit India and whom Balram believes could learn a lesson or two about India's entrepreneurial underbelly. Adiga's existential and crude prose animates the battle between India's wealthy and poor as Balram suffers degrading treatment at the hands of his employers (or, more appropriately, masters). His personal fortunes and luck improve dramatically after he kills his boss and decamps for Bangalore. Balram is a clever and resourceful narrator with a witty and sarcastic edge that endears him to readers, even as he rails about corruption, allows himself to be defiled by his bosses, spews coarse invective and eventually profits from moral ambiguity and outright criminality.