Expect just 1 vow this Sahitya Sammelana

But the 77th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana, to be held in Bangalore from February 4  to 7 at the National College Grounds, Basavanagudi, is likely to be a different one.

The Kannada Sahitya Parishat wants to pass only one resolution this time, and it will be for implementing all resolutions passed in the previous Sahitya Sammelanas.

Unlike in the past, the organisers are making elaborate arrangements to ensure that the participants get the best of treatment. The delegates will get to taste some fine delicacies of old Mysore region.

The organisers are expecting 20,000 people for breakfast, 50,000 for lunch and 25,000 for dinner daily. As many as 1,500 cooks have been hired by the Vasudeva Adiga group to prepare quality food. The organisers are spending about Rs 33 for food per person per day.

The menu includes pongal, vangibath, bisibelebath, ambode, Mysore Pak, hesarubele payasa, mixed vegetable sambar, rasam, shavige bath, methi bath, kesri bath, khara bath, badusha, wheat payasa, pakoda and son papdi.

While VVIPs will be dining at Mahila Samaja near the venue, arrangements for others will be at Udayabhanu Grounds and the Fort High School. As many as 2,000 people have been hired to serve the food, according to Harish, BJP corporator, who is in-charge of making food arrangements. The kitchen will be formally opened at the Kempambudhi Primary School on Tuesday.

Lodging arrangements for the delegates are being made at 14 different schools, five kalyana mantaps and 26 different guest houses.

Information on the lodging arrangements will be given through SMS. The total budget for the meet is estimated to be Rs 6 crore. The Kannada and Culture department has already given Rs 1 crore.

Key attraction

One of the major attractions at the Sammelana will be the main stage at the venue. The event will see three different stage arrangements.

On the inaugural day, the backdrop will have the replicas of the Kempe Gowda towers. On the following days, it will depict rural culture and festivals.

The stages, being designed by theatre personality Srinivas G Kappanna with the help of Keshavamurthy, will cost Rs 1.5 lakh. The stage, named after Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, is 80 feet x 40 feet.

Just Re 1

It’s a bumper offer for lovers of Kannada music. Pay just Re 1 for any non-film Kannada hit song, be it a bhavageethe, a vachana, a daasara pada, a folk song or a verse from the ‘Mankuthimmana Kagga’, in the voice of well-known singers.

But these songs will come as part of a package (Kannada Dimdima) of 25 MP3 audio CDs, totally containing 1,000 songs, priced Rs 1,000. Velu of Lahari Recording Company has brought out the package, to be sold at the 77th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana.