Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod (SP)
Kasargod, Jan 20: 'Gilivindu' cultural centre built as a memorial to the first ever Rashtrakavi from Karnataka, Manjeshwar Govinda Pai, at his native place, Manjeshwar, was inaugurated on Thursday January 29.
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday January 20 inaugurated 'Bhavanika' theatre which forms a part of the complex. 'Gilivindu' has come up in 1.10 acre at Manjeshwar for which Karnataka government has pledged a grant of two crore rupees.
Siddaramaiah, in his address, said that his government has already released one crore rupees for the memorial and that the balance would be released soon. He said his government is prepared to extend helping hand for further development of this centre. The memorial has been built out of grants from Karnataka, Kerala, central governments as well as other donors. Foundation for 'Gilivindu' had been laid on march 23, 2008, which was the 125th birth anniversary of Manjeshwar Govinda Pai.
Siddaramaiah paid rich tributes to Govinda Pai for enriching the literary field of Kannada with his deep knowledge, mastery over language and with his detailed study about the past history and heritage of Kannada language. He said that the research undertaken by Pai had helped Kannada to get the status of classical language. "Govinda Pai being a creative writer backed by secular mindset, it is in fitness things that two states have come together to build a memorial for him," he added.
President of Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Memorial Trust, M Veerappa Moily, compared the life of Govinda Pai to a great epic. He felt that with the construction of this memorial, the absence of a memorial for this great soul that was being felt all through, has been addressed.
Kerala chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, inaugurated Govinda Pai Cultural Centre. He compared Govinda Pai to great poet from Kerala, Vellathol, as both were guided by secular ideals and both were decorated with 'Rahstrakavi' titles. He noted that Govinda Pai had thorough knowledge in 23 languages and his ideology was like that of Max Muller. He pledged his government's support for 'Gilivindu' in future also.
Karnataka minister for Kannada and culture, Umashree, unveiled the statue of Govinda Pai at the venue. Kerala minister, E Chandrasekharan, who is in charge of this district, inaugurated the renovated residence of Govinda Pai. Karnataka forest minister, B Ramanath Rai, inaugurated 'Parti Subba dais'. MLA, P B Abdurrazack, presided over the function.
MP, P Karunakaran, MLAs, Abhay Chandra Jain, M Rajagopalan, J R Lobo, B A Mohiuddin Bava, MLC, Ivan D'Souza, retired vice chancellor, Dr Vivek Rai, D K Saraf of ONGC, district collector, Jeevan Babu, and several others were present.
Journalist, Manohar Prasad, presented the programme, Students of Govinda Pai College rendered prayer. Chandrashekhar Navada and team presented welcome dance drama.
Crow creates flutter
At the inaugural function, droppings from a crow perched atop a tree directly fell on Karnataka chief minister (CM), Siddaramaiah.
Security personnel immediately cleaned up the mess, and the programme progressed smoothly thereafter.
This incident led people down memory lane to an incident that had occurred a few months back at Bengaluru when a crow that had firmly seated on his official car had refused to budge for sometime. As the CM began using a new car thereafter, rumour mills had said that the decision had something to do with the crow, but the CM had denied it.