Media Release
Sharjah, Oct 5: Karnataka Shangha Sharjah (KSS) has felicitated professor Dr B A Vivek Rai on October 3 at the Fortune plaza Hotel, Dubai.
Members of the Committee along with presidents of various organizations were present at the function.
Professor Vivek Rai; president Sathish Poojary; patron Dennis D’souza; Servotham Shetty, president of Abu Dhabi Karnataka Sangha; Ashok Purohit, an astrologer and Vastu consultant from Mumbai; B G Mohandas editor-in-chief of Gulf Kannadiga.com, and Raju Bhandary general secretary of Karnataka Sangha Sharjah attended this occasion.
President Sathish Poojary in his welcome speech briefed that it is the privilege of KSS to honor eminent personalities from the home country especially when they visit UAE on leisure or by invitation and this time KSS has decided to felicitate professor Dr Vivek Rai.
Dr Vivek Rai in his address thanked to Karnataka Sangha Sharjah for honoring him and said although he has received many honors, this one in particular is heart touching and will always be memorable.
Professor Dr B A Vivek Rai, president of Karnataka Tulu Academy, vice chancellor of Kannada University Hampi, vice chancellor of Karnataka State Open University Mysore, professor of Kannada Literature and Folklore, University of Mangalore who is also a guest professor at the department of Indology, University of Wurzburg, Germany is now being appointed as a guest professor under the scheme 'A new passage to India' of the German Academic Exchange Services, Germany.
His major areas of research and publication are classical and modern Kannada literature, modern literary theory, folklore studies with special focus on oral traditions, and Tulu oral literature, especially oral epics. He has been involved in international research collaborations with scholars, mainly in Finland and Germany.
His major publications include "Tulu Janapada Sahitya (Tulu Folk Literature), Bangalore 1985" and "The Siri Epic as performed by Gopala Naika" (co-authored with Lauri Honko, Anneli Honko and Chinnappa Gowda), Helsinki 1998.
Servotham Shetty in his speech appreciated Karnataka Sangha Sharjah for felicitating professor Dr Vivek Rai.
Ganesh Rai compered the function and general secretary Raju Bhandary proposed the vote of thanks.