A mini-Karnataka at Vidyagiri

Vidyagiri in Moodbidri is a nondescript town in the map of India. It comes alive with Alva’s Nudisiri— a literary convention, which was kicked off with colourful note on Friday.

Vidyagiri which houses Alva’s Colleges is decked up with lamps and banners welcoming the delegates for the Alva’s Nudisiri. The entrance to the college has a huge statue of Yakshagana character and Bhoothakola welcoming the delegates.

Intellectual discourses, ‘Kavi samaya—Kavi namana,’ and ‘Katha samaya,’ in between the discourses and the cultural programmes in the evening give a new look to the Alva’s campus.

The main stage has been named after Rathnkaravarni Vedike and the hall is named after Pandit Bheemsen Joshi. The main stage is decked up with colourful umbrellas, Ganapathy, Saraswathi statues, lamps and Yakshagana headgear. The venue also highlights the traditional paddy cultivtion.

Procession

The President of the Sammelan—M M Kaluburgi was brought in a procession comprising folk teams including traditional Tiger dance, Lion dance, musical instruments, Dwaja kunitha, dollu kunitha, yakshagana veshas, Navlikunitha, Kalladka dolls, Patada kunitha, Kodava dance, kombu, chende. Kids in traditional dress were part of the procession with Kannada flags and placards highlighting the Kannada thoughts.

The books were carried to the venue in a palanquin along with the procession.

Book stalls

According to the organisers, a total of 100 parties have registered and occupied the stalls, and many more are on their way to the venue. From Ankita Pustaka to Navakarnataka Publications, from Sahitya Prakashana to Sahitya Bhandara, various prominent booksellers have opened their outlets. The prasararanga of various universities have also set up their stalls while most of the universities in the State have set up their stalls with their publications.

It showcases not only books on a large number of subjects but also handicrafts, sculptures, paintings, and ‘desi’ products.

One can also find small troupes of traditional singers from northern part of the State reciting ‘bhajans’ and ‘keertans’ with the soothing tunes of harmonium at different corners.

In fact, the Nudisiri has created a miniature of Karnataka atop Vidyagiri. A stall put up by Ankanatheshwara Swamy prasanna, Bangalore, had range of books for kids, on various topics and novels for just Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20. The school kids had thronged in large number to the stall to purchase the books, comics and so on. There were more than 10,000 books on display at the stall.

The stall by ISKCON had chanting, Thulasi, Spatika chains, Rudraksha for sale. There were Channapattana toys, bangles, chains, bags and others at the venue.

In fact, Moodabidri had become a miniature of Karnataka than an educational and cultural hub, considering the kind of people visiting Nudisiri, their native places, background, tastes and occupation. There were students, teachers, writers, engineers, doctors, journalists, housewives, farmers and so on; there were people from different parts of the State, who have thronged only to witness Nudisiri.

Terracotta expo

Alva’s College student Sathish Poojary has displayed his artifact in terracotta at the venue. The embossed terracotta artifact was another centre of attraction. He had created Ganapthy, flower, horse, face of woman, Buddha meditating and deer head in terracotta.

Another student Shubhakara Acharya had displayed his paintings at the venue. The paintings of scenary, woman, Mohan ALva, Titanic tragedy, Bhootha kola were other centres of attraction.

Painting expo

The exhibition of paitings which were creted during Chitrasiri, a State-level art camp held  from November 7 to 9 at Sundari Anand Alva campus at Vidyagiri was also displayed at the venue. The camp was attended by 21 artists from all over Karnataka. They were Abhishek—Bangalore, Akram Pasha F M—Tumkur, Geetha—Bangalore, Girish B K—Gulbarga, K K Makali—Bellary, Kasim Kanasavi—Bagalkot, Mahesh G—Mysore, Manjunatha N Vali—Bijapur, Manoranjini Rao—Dakshina Kannada, Muralidhara Achar—Dakshina Kannada, Ramesh Ambady—Udupi, Ravindra Aralaguppi—Davangere, S Rajesh—Bangalore, S V Gunjal—Gadag, Savitha P Patil—Dharwad, Shekhar Alevoor—Udupi, Shivakumar Kesaramadu—Mysore, Sindhu Kamath—Udupi, Suresh D H —Davangere, Suresh K—Kodagu and Wilson J P D’Souza—Kasargod. Most of the medium used for painting by the artists was acrylic and oil painting on canvas.