'Govinda Pai memorial works to be over by March next year'

Member of Parliament and Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Memorial Trust Chairman, Veerappa Moily said that all works pertaining to Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai memorial at Manjeshwar will be completed by March 2016.

Speaking at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation for digitisation of books in Govinda Pai’s personal collection, held at World Konkani Centre here on Saturday, Moily said, the memorial complex –‘Gilivindu’ will be made a world-class heritage centre.

“An auditorium ‘Bhavanika’ will be built at a cost of Rs 3 crore, while around Rs 1.5 crore will be spent for acoustics, sound, light and stage setting. Out of three guest houses-Vaishaka, Saketha and Ananda, two are ready and a six-feet brass bust and pedestal has been constructed by the Managing Trustee D K Chowta,” he explained.

Earlier, Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation president Basti Vaman Shenoy and Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Memorial Trust Managing Trustee D K Chowta signed the MoU.

“Around 5,000 books in Govind Pai’s personal collection, including the books written by him will be digitised. A maximum of 200 books will be digitised for every two months and will be kept at the memorial trust in Manjeshwar.

There are books in 35 languages in the collection and a few books date back to 19th and 20th century. The digitisation process will take 30 months. Already 200 books have been brought to the centre,” Moily said adding that the process is first of its kind in the Kannada literary world.

Hampi Kannada University former VC B A Vivek Rai said, Govinda Pai is one of the very few scholars who had known 25 languages and had read more than 5,000 books. His home should be developed as a cultural centre just like Kuvempu’s house at Kuppalli.

“With this digitalization, everyone should be able to read Pai’s works. It should provide an opportunity for comparative study and his house at Manjeshwar should be a research centre. There should be a network between all research centres like World Konkani Centre, Udupi Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Research Centre and his residence at Manjeshwar. More workshops should be conducted to promote research,” he added.

Kasaragod DC P S Mohammed Sagir, Udupi MGM College Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Research Centre Director Heranke Krishna Bhat were present.