Golden South - Technocrats v/s Film Stars

107

Sir M Vishweshvaraya is like an elderly member in the family for the people in old Mysore region in Karnataka. He died decades before I was born. But I knew so much about him when I was just 6 or 7 years old. Because my mother, father, grandmother and other seniors in the family used to tell us colorful stories about Sir MV's life, brilliance, brutal honesty, great public works he has done to the state and so many other real and ' fictional ' things related to his life. He was a folk hero and a cult figure. He was loved and respected by the old and young, literate and illiterate, rich and poor alike. Even the illiterate labourers in our estates knew so much about him... They would discuss about Sir MV with a lot of reverence and innocence.... For them he was a....

Bangalore to Bengalooru – A Big Bang or a Whimper?

222

" The Kannada cosmos is so rich, varied and plural that no intelligent, sensitive, Kannada speaking individual would ever feel maimed or incomplete for being a part of it. This should be reason enough to celebrate Kannada Rajyotsava with confidence, pride and a sense of belonging " Strange things are happening to our cities in the last two decades. Our cities are booming. Making a great leap towards a 'great ' future. Or at least our media reports say so. Ironically our cities are going back to their original ' Indian ' or ' local 'names from their ' Anglicized ' names. Bombay said good-bye to its stylish name and went back to its local name Mumbai, more than a decade back. Calcutta became Kolkata and Madras became Chennai. It is now the turn of Bangalore. It is officially Bengalooru from November, 1. (this....