Daijiworld News Network - Dubai
Dubai: July 1, 2006 is a milestone for B G Mohandas, a diehard Kannadiga, community leader and ever-supportive media man whose dream of bringing Kannadigas living in the Gulf came true this day last year.
There are over half a million Kannadigas living in the Gulf states who basically hail from all part of Karnataka. There was no platform for Kannadigas to express their opinion or spread the information. It was BG or 'Beeji' who first initiated 'Gulf Varthe' section in Udayavani, coastal Karnataka's popular daily, in 1989 which is very popular ever since.
BG is former president of Karnataka Sangha Dubai (1989). Before launching the news portal www.gulfvarthe.com last year, BG has had credit of creating and maintaining the official site for Karnataka Sangha (www.karnatakasangha.com) which is five years old now.
As mentioned already, Mohandas as a community man has always worked for community, an example for which is his www.devadiga.com, a website fully dedicated to the Devadiga community worldwide. A great devotee of Kollur, he also designed the website www.kollur.com.
When asked about the vision behind the site Gulfvarthe.com, he said, "This site is dedicated to the numerous volunteers who over the years have selflessly and relentlessly contributed to the development of Karnataka cultural activities in this part of the world without bothering about any gain & publicity."
"My son is my first inspiration. He helped me in designing and teaching the techniques of the Web," he says beamingly when asked about the technical details. BG's son Akhil Mohandas is currently studying in MIT Manipal.
For 55-year-old BG Mohandas, the web is a pastime and he works on it only during afterhours.
The team behind gulfvarthe.com is - in India Laxmikanth Beskoor, Jayaprakash Kini, Gururaj Achar and Praveen Prabhakar, in the UAE, Sujay Bendore, Gopika Mayya, Akhil Mohandas, BG Mohandas, in Oman Clarence Pinto, in Qatar Iqbal Manna and Veni Maroly and in Kuwait Kuwait Manjeshwar Mohandas Kamath.
"I am very emotionally and possessively attached to journalistic and shrewd coup by the editor and the top management of Udayavani. Hence the passionate decision to launch a website as a platform for the NRKa's activities of the Gulf with the co-operation of a team of volunteer friends." says BG.
At the end of it all, Gulfvarthe place on record their thanks to 'Udayavani' (http://www.udayavani.com) and also to the most popular website http://www.dajiworld.com for being a source of inspiration and source of news.
Gulfvarthe.com brings news from native Karntaka and other places and also from around the Gulf with the help of its correspondents around, with great speed and accuracy.
Personally, BG conveys his gratitude for the support of Dr.BR.Shetty, Walter Nandalike, Sarvotahm Shetty and Sujay Bendore for their encouragement and support.
Website: http://www.gulfvarthe.com
Also read: