Govind Pai's home to be literary centre

The Karnataka government is collaborating with the Central and the Kerala governments to preserve and scale up poet Govinda Pai’s house in Manjeshwar.

The Rs four-crore project called Gilivindu (Gilivindu means a group of parrots; it is also the name of a collection of poems by Govind Pai) will turn the memorial into a national centre for literature, culture and research.

A sprawling complex will host literary and cultural programmes like workshops, seminars, dance, drama, Yakshagana (folk) performances and art exhibitions. Also included in the plan is a modern library - to be named Saraswatha - to be equipped with information facilities and a guesthouse for scholars. A piece of land measuring 1.82 acres, donated by Pai’s family, will be used for the project in memory of the poet.

The idea of converting Pai’s residence into a literary centre, while retaining it as a historical site, took shape on March 23, 2008, on his 125th birth anniversary.
The two guesthouses have already been constructed at a cost of about Rs 28 lakh, one each out of MLA and MP funds. Vaishakhi, the guesthouse constructed with MLA funds was inaugurated on June 6, 2010. Saketha guesthouse, constructed with MP funds, is scheduled to open shortly. The third guesthouse, Ananda, is yet to be constructed.

Modern auditorium

A new modern auditorium, Bhavanika, costing Rs two crore and measuring 12,375 sq ft of plinth area, will also be built. It will seat 500 people. The Karnataka and Kerala governments are supposed to invest Rs one crore each.

The Kerala and Karnataka governments have already sanctioned Rs 20 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, respectively, as a special grant for implementing the Gilivindu project.

 Efforts are on to get the remainder of the grants from the respective governments, said K Tejomaya, one of the members of Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Memorial Trust, which was set up to implement the project. Union Power Minister M Veerappa Moily is the president of the Trust.

In addition, the complex will also have an open-air theatre called Bhodhiranga and an indoor theatre with Bannada Mane as its dressing room. The art gallery will be named Manasollasa and the Yakshagana centre will be called Parthisubba Yakshagana Degula.
Kasargod District Collector Mohammed Sageer told Deccan Herald that although two guesthouses were constructed, work on renovating the house where Pai lived and the museum was yet to begin.

“A meeting with the Kerala chief minister, in which Veerappa Moily will also take part, has been scheduled for Monday in Thiruvananthapuram,” he said, explaining that the meeting is meant to speed up work on the complex.