Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Mangalore
Lens on Kanara
|
A new coffee-table book on Dakshina Kannada encapsulates all the facets of this vibrant district, writes M. RAGHURAM
|
DAKSHINA KANNADA has seen many movements in the past. The educational movement by the missionaries, the imperialist one by the Portuguese and the cultural one by the Tuluva chieftains, Vijayanagara empire and Tipu Sultan. Add another one to the list. This one, in our own time, is by William Pais and Vincent Mendonca — both ace photographers whose work has taken Dakshina Kannada all over the world.
Their Land Called South Kanara is a premium coffee table book that can easily pass for a world standard documentary of the District of Dakshina Kannada.
But this did not come easily. William and Vincent had scaled every inch of the district, dug out historical facts, scanned every corner of the district for valid data and captures it all in pictures and letters. The authors have filled life into every picture of the rundown historical monuments and the angles and composition of the pictures sheds a different light on life in Dakshina Kannada district.
Land Called South Kanara, in many ways, is a celebration. Through its pictographic pages and supporting script, it celebrates an entire culture and its ways of life. On its colourful pages, you will see rich visual delights: the vast vistas of the coastal plains, the fields of paddy and sugarcane, the glorious sunsets in the Arabian Sea.
B.R. Shetty, Medical Director, New Medical Centre, Abu Dhabi, who is the publisher, has said it all in the foreword.
Publishing this book was not a bed of roses, William says. "We did not seek any sponsor to foot the publishing cost, because finding a publisher was a difficult proposition for any book of this nature. We decided to publish the first edition ourselves. Though we sold the copies of the first edition, the financial figures were not positive. I was looking out for a donor who could help us publish the second edition. Mr. B.R. Shetty was gracious enough to volunteer to take up this job."
The book encompasses a range of subjects right from images of the flower market in the city to the dried fish shops; worship to the nagamandalas and the temples; churches, mosques, Jain basadis, Yakshagana, local sports, festivals, people and places and even the grandfather houses that have old world charm in modern Mangalore.
But, why a book on South Kanara? Ripostes William: "Why not a book on it? It has a culture that is as vibrant as its seas and the ethnic values here are as pure as the sparkling waters of its rivers. Its people are resourceful, beautiful, intelligent, and religiously friendly. If this was not reason enough to document the city in pictures and historical facts, I do not know other reasons for documenting anything at all."
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Mangalore
|
