Alva’s Nudisiri-2012, the ninth edition of the three-day annual literary fest organised by Alva’s Education Foundation got off to a rich and colourful start on Friday
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Prior to the formal inauguration, thousands of literary enthusiasts from various parts of the State who thronged at the sprawling Alva’s campus at Vidyagiri in Moodbidri and the traditionally decorated Ratnakaravarni stage, witnessed the first few glimpses of what literary and cultural activities were in store for the next two-days.    

Nudisiri, which runs under the theme of ‘Kannada Manassu: Janapara Chaluvaligalu’ (Kannada mind: Pro-people movements) this year, got off to a start with the colourful cultural procession that was accompanied by folklore artistes performing to the tunes. President of the literary fest Prof K S Nisar Ahmed was carried to the venue on a palanquin in a procession.

Inaugurating Nudisri, well-known litterateur and Gulbarga Central University Chancellor Dr U R Ananthamurthy stressed on the need to provide education to the suppressed classes in the language that is most familiar to them. Forcing people to gain knowledge only through English is not acceptable. Knowledge has no boundaries, it can be gained regardless of the language hindrance, he said.

Citing the example of scientist Michael Faraday who was born in a poor family but emerged as a great scientist, Dr Ananthamurthy said that people from the so called ‘lower classes’ too imbibe great knowledge which most often goes unnoticed because of the language barrier.

“The institutes in our nation should promote hardware technologies on the similar lines of software technologies in order to promote the growth of the people from working class,” he said.

Emphasising on the need to form a communion of the Kannada litterateurs, he said Kannada encompasses three types of writers which includes writers from coastal districts with a rich Kannada language to back with, writers from Mysore and surrounding districts who have the influence of English literature and the litterateurs from North Karnataka with folk influence.

“We need writers who are not afraid of present and think about eternal. There is a need to teach the children the grammars of Kannada as Kannada might lose its usability in the next 10 years,” feared the litterateur.

In his introductory remarks, Alva’s Education Foundation Chairman Dr M Mohan Alva, said that the ninth edition of Nudisiri was a precursor to the decennial celebrations.

“We have plans to organise Vishwa Nudisiri by co-ordinating the Kannada enthusiasts across the world. We have already opened Nudisri units in several districts and our representatives will travel to Dubai, Mascut and other places to co-ordinate with the Kannadigas settled abroad. We expect at least 250 to 300 representatives from each district to participate in the event,” Dr Alva said. 

The inaugural programme was followed by felicitation to scholar Prof G Venkatsubbaiah. Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade felicitated the scholar. A session on ‘Kannada Sahityaka Chaluvaligalu’ (Kannada literary movements) was held on day one of the event. Kannada Sahitya Parsihat President Pundalik Halambi, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, former minister K Amarnath Shetty, MLA Abhaychandara Jain and MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik were present.