Engineer to be feted with Thathaiah Award by Anathalaya

S Murali.

An engineer will be feted with Thathaiah Award by Mysuru-based Anathalaya, to mark the 178th birth anniversary of M Venkatakrishnaiah, popularly known as Thathaiah, on Saturday at 4 pm.

S Murali is an educationist and a computer engineer, who already has titles like ‘Software Ratnakara’. He will be presented with the award on the Anathalaya premises.

Venkatakrishnaiah, also described as Vruddhapitamaha, Grand Old Man of Mysuru and Daya Sagara is the founder of Anathalaya, which is serving poor students by providing them with hostel facilities, since 1896, said C V Gopinath, president of Anathalaya and former additional secretary to Union government.

Gopinath said that the Anathalaya, on Narayana Shastri Road in the city, confers the award, which carries a purse of Rs 25,000, every year to mark Founder’s Day. The award is conferred on persons of high achievement in education, journalism, social reforms and service to society.

He said that Murali, with a PhD degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Mysore, has a teaching experience of 33 years. He has more than 250 research papers at national and international levels to his credit. Murali has conducted several workshops on Computer Vision and Image processing technology and has guided 16 PhD scholars. At present he is serving as chairman of two technical colleges, 20-degree colleges, two MBA institutes, one Ayurvedic college and one nursing college, Gopinath said.

Besides, Murali is on the governing council of many corporate bodies. He has served the Board of National Standard Organisation, as a special officer, and other institutions, he said.

Murali has received national and international awards like Best IEEE Researcher, Software Ratnakara, Dakshina Kesari Award, Ramanujam Award, Mandya District Sahitya Parishat Honour and Devaraja Urs Award, Gopinath said.

Thathaiah

Venkatakrishnaiah from Magge village under Anatarasanthe hobli of H D Kote taluk of Mysuru district, belonged to a poor family, who migrated to Mysuru for a livelihood. Like-minded people such as Ambale Annaiah Pandit and C Narasimhaiah joined hands to serve the poor students, by providing free food and shelter.

Initially, Anathalaya was established by Swami Nanjunda Saraswati at Niranjana Mutt on Krishna Vilas Road, where Vivekanand Memorial is coming up. Later the land was allotted on the banks of Subbarayana Kere. At this stage, Thathaiah was asked to take charge. In the initial stages, Thathaiah himself went around with a begging bowl to feed the students.

Later, advocate K Chandrashekharaiah, Chartered Accountant P R Hariharan, Mirle Najundaiah, S V Ranganna and Thathaiah’s grandson M S Srinivasa Rao made major contributions to develop the Anathalaya.

Visitors to the Anathalaya include Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Sringeri seer Narasimha Bharati Swami, Chandrashekhar Bharati Swami and the late President V V Giri.

The list of illustrious alumni of Anathalaya includes C Narasimhamurthy, IAS; Keshavamurthy, economist; S L N Simha, actor; S R Rao, space scientist; Dr G Ramakrishna, S L Bhyrappa, writer; N Krishnappa and C V Gopinath.

Till 1975, the Anathalaya used to get revenue from Mirle, Holenarsipur and other places, through cultivable lands owned by it, which was in turn donated by donors and alumnus. Under the Land Reforms Act, all lands were lost for a meagre compensation. Presently, the Anathalaya manages a separate hostel for girl students. Its building is offered by P Hariharan Charitable Trust.