The Hindu : Karnataka News : Rustic and poetic

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Rustic and poetic

Much is lost in translation. A journalist with an English language publication learns this every day. A seminar held last week in which organic farmers from all parts of Karnataka participated had this correspondent in rapt attention. It was fascinating to watch the participants use language, which was unpretentious, rustic and so full of poetry. Mukappa Poojar, a farmer from Chinnikatti village near Byadagi in north Karnataka, spoke about a native variety called “unde ragi”. In a presentation that lasted less than 15 minutes, he quoted no less than 15 proverbs which described various health benefits of ragi. All, of course, untranslatable because they were so full of puns and alliterations. He concluded his presentation with an appeal to preserve soil quality. “Manushya sattare mannige, manne sattare ellige? (A man dies and goes into earth, where do we go if the earth dies?)” he asked.

What a fine table!

The Bangalore City Police hosted a lavish lunch party for all police inspectors and higher officials at the Palace Grounds “to thank them for the work they did” during the recent general elections. Around 250 officials, including City Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari and Additional Commissioner (Law and Order) M.R. Pujar, partook of the splendid feast to celebrate that the electoral exercise went without a hitch. After the party, the lawmen took a stroll on the spacious grounds and found themselves at a Furniture Mela organised by a private company. Clearly the goodwill was infectious because most of them bought some pieces on their way back. “Thanks to Mr. Bidari we sold good number of furniture items and several officials have placed orders with us,” said a stall owner.

Cup of woe

What was a casual reporting duty on Sunday night turned out to be a watery dilemma for these two reporters who covered the mood in the numerous pubs in the city during the Indian Premier League final. Many exuberant pub owners welcomed the duo and offered drinks on the house on the special occasion. The pair staggered out of many a pub clutching their stomachs from laughing so much. No doubt passers-by would have smiled indulgently at the two “tipsy” young men drowning their sorrows over cricket.

Bageshree S.,

M.T. Shiva Kumar

and Allan Moses R.

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