Influx of Visitors Continues on Second Day of World Tulu Convention
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network—Ujire (RS/CN)
Beltangady, Dec 11: The second day of the World Tulu Convention on Friday December 11 saw more than one lac people in attendance at the venue in Ujire, near here.
The visitors expressed their awe at the efficiency and splendour with which the event has been organized.
There has been a steady influx of visitors from the morning of the second day. According to the organizers, people are arriving from all over the state and almost all Tuluvas will visit the convention stadium as a mark of respect to their mother tongue.
Members and office-bearers of various Tulu organizations from within the state and outside are participating and supporting the convention. Most of them have decided to stay in Ujire during the event.
According to auto rickshaw and car drivers in Ujire, this convention is going to feature in history as a mammoth people’s gathering. They observed that no other convention or a festival in a temple or in any religious place had attracted visitors in such huge numbers.
Tulu grama and the cultural activities are attracting visitors with the colourful decoration of the entrance, the ‘pandal’, and welcome arches, making it worth at least one visit.
Inaugural of Sessions
On Friday, Prof B A Viveka Rai inaugurated all the sessions related to origin and development of Tulu.
He said that the people in Tulunadu can only speak Tulu language at home as they cannot use it everywhere such as in the Panchayat or at any government office as there are so many employees from various regions of the state.
“So, a villager of Tulunadu has to use Kannada language. For the growth of Tulu, the official language in Tulunadu area must be Tulu”, he said adding that everyone is inspired by Tulu but sometimes they use other languages to communicate.
“Often, after a Tuluva who moves to a field which is different from his language or distant from his region, he also adapts accordingly”, said Prof Rai adding that culture will not go out of him and it is essential to make him think of the culture.
At the first session, Dr U P Upadyaya, chief editor of the Tulu dictionary, spoke on ‘Present Scenario of Tulu Language’, and Dr Ganesh Amin Sankamar spoke on ‘Heritage of Tulu Language’.
In session two on ‘Tulu Literature: Origin and Present Scenario’, Prof A V Navada, retired professor of Kannada University at Hampi, Dr Vamana Nandavara, former president of Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy, and Dr Purushottama Bilinele, director of American Institute of Indian Studies in New Delhi, spoke on the past, present, and future of Tulu literature, respectively.
At the Tulu poetry session, inaugurated by literatteur K T Gatti, Tulu poets Kodu Boja Shetty, Vasantha Kumar Perla, Muddu Moodubelle, Shekara Ajekaru, and Mallika Shetty presented their Tulu poems.
At the third session on the rich Yakshagana tradition, renowned Yakshagana artistes Kumble Sundara Rao and Siddakatte Vishwanath Shetty, spoke of the greatness of Yakshagana and Tulu expression, respectively, while Yakshagana and art critic Dr M Prabhakar Joshi spoke on ‘Present and Future of Yakshagana’.