Report: Deepa Kadri, Atlanta USA
Atlanta, Oct 13: All America Tulu Association (AATA) concluded its ‘Bale Tulu Lipi Kalpuga - Class of 2023’ online Tulu lipi learning classes with a graduation ceremony.
From Singapore to Los Angeles, it attracted close to one hundred students from seven countries. The certificates have been awarded to the successful students on completion of the ten weeks course requirements. Like every year, the Tulu Lipi class turned out to be extremely successful with a good bunch of enthusiastic students, a knowledgeable teacher, and supportive staff. The combination of weekly sessions and daily homework was very effective and helped the students to learn and practice the script. Having a diverse group of students, from elementary school kids to grandparents, adds richness to the learning experience.
The chief guest of the award ceremony Dr Moodambail Ravi Shetty – the managing director of ATS Group of Companies Qatar, with a motivational speech illustrated the importance of Tulunadu and the beauty of the native language. He said that Tuluvas have travelled across the globe and excelled in many different tasks; the main credit to this is the roots that come from such a strong background. He expressed this gratitude to all the Tulu lipi teachers and all the people who helped make this a grand success. “This is a very noble intention, and we should now spread it across the next generation to come. Our culture and knowledge should go on for generations to come,” he said.
Another chief guest of the event, AATA advisory council member Dr Bheem Bhat from Pennsylvania, appreciated the initiatives taken by AATA and said the idea of a regular journal is excellent. “Such a journal can serve as a valuable platform for sharing information, stories, research, and updates related to Tulu language and culture,” he said.
AATA president Shreevalli Rai was the energetic, dynamic Tulu lipi teacher. Her teaching approach was very effective, motivating, making complex alphabets simple to understand and remember. The class had a batch of amazing students, she has played a crucial role in inspiring students to learn the scripts of Tulu language. The team of students inspired each other by posting all their daily homework and the teacher very promptly made the required corrections to help the students improve their writing. In her presidential address she mentioned that the goal was to spread the knowledge to everyone who is interested to learn this language anywhere across the globe. She urged everyone to continue this noble effort of spreading the knowledge of the wondrous language. She outlined the AATA future plans of Tulu spoken classes, AATA BEE International Youth Quiz Competition, Bal-Vikas Classes and having AATA matrimonial site etc.
Having a supportive and dedicated person like AATA founder president Bhaskar Sherigar, was very vital for the success of the programme, as he provided essential support to the teacher and students throughout all the sessions. He also expressed how they had taken the steps to review the program structures, the procedure to teach and finalize the syllabus. Putting together the theory with an effective practical approach was a challenge. The main goal of the course was to teach the lipi, and make the students write it, read it, practice it, then complete a project work by writing in Tulu lipi and present it based on what they learnt.
The class students expressed that this class was like reliving kindergarten in childhood. The whole syllabus was very well organized. The teacher was like a second mom, who would guide her child at every step. The classmates were extremely motivated to do the daily homework that really helped everyone to get better and remember the scripts. Hats off to the teacher, who reviewed each and every single paper and gave feedback every single day with all of her students. Her ability to simplify the syllabus and motivate students to learn Tulu lipi was clearly appreciated by the class.
The award ceremony was compered by AATA ambassador of California Dr Jagadeesh Kumar. He was an amazing anchor who made the entire event go seamlessly. He explained in detail the importance of Tulu lipi, how it originated from ‘thale gari’ etc, in detail. Reshma Srinivas from Canada rendered a warm and motivating welcome speech. Niyathi U Shetty’s devotional invocation set the good start for the event. At the end AATA board of directors’ chairperson Dr Mohanchandra K P extended a heartfelt vote of thanks.