At Mysuru Children’s Literature festival, Sudha Murty introduces dog 'Gopi' - character from her book

Mysuru: From four-year-old LKG student Ishaani to Anushri Angadi of class 9, more than 1,000 children, accompanied by their parents, grand parents and teachers participated in the eighth edition of Mysuru Children’s Literature festival on Thursday evening.

The fest was hosted by Mysuru Literary Forum and Charitable Trust (MLFCT) and Mysuru Book Clubs (MBC)-2015 for children at hotel Southern Star in Mysuru.

“My philanthropy helped me to learn about the problems of people and my country. I help, as I just have one life to do it,” said former chairperson of Infosys Foundation Sudha Murty.

She was seen sitting on the stage along with her dog ‘Gopi’, the character from her book- ‘The Gopi diaries’.

Giving a piece of advice to the parents, she said, “Reading stories helped me draw strength from the ‘characters’ by the way they faced problems, and ‘phrases’ in them like ‘this too shall pass’ - be it happiness or difficulties.”

She told parents to read books and explained how parents and teachers serve as the best role models to kids as they imbibe values and habits from them.

Sudha Murty also asked parents to spend quality time with kids and urged them to talk to children in Kannada at home and celebrate festivals meaningfully, so that the culture and language is preserved. She said, “Loving animals teaches compassion.” She told parents to teach their wards to feed a street dog or animals at animal shelters at least during their birthdays.

Sudha Murty advised kids to listen to parents, reduce screen time and also urged them to play tennis or other outdoor games.

Introducing Gopi, Sudha Murty said that it was her son Rohan Murthy’s dog who asked her to take care of it for eight days, until he returns from London. Since he got stuck in London for nine months due to Covid-19, Gopi became her dog. She also revealed that the fourth book of ‘the Gopi diaries’ series will come out this year.

At the fest, children shopped books signed by Sudha Murty and Channapatna toys including, wooden model of the solar system and board games.

The kids were thrilled by the magic show by Suma Rajkumar and were enthralled by the live performance of musician, singer, lyricist Suraj Rao Pawar, besides enjoying cup cakes at food stalls.

Curator, director and chairperson of MLFCT and MBC-2015, Shubha Sanjay Urs, and others led the show.