Kuvempu’s Kuppali

The journey on the Bangalore-Shimoga intercity train on the way to Theerthahalli was indeed a splendid, chugging past the sleepy, hibernating cities on the way. Glimmering chai and snacks shops near the platform of every station enticed us to come out of our berths but the piercing cold winds forced our lethargic bodies to huddle comfortably inside the sleeping bags. As we reached the Shimoga city, contradictory to the media reports, the rustling hawkers, busy commuters swaggering all through the platform and packed pavements reminded us that we are not far from the noisy Bangalore. But the serene and enchanting ambience of Theerthahalli and its surrounding still lingered in our minds and propelled us in the same direction without dousing the adventurous spirit. Boarding on the Theerthahalli bus, en route to Kuppali-the birth place of the celebrated poet Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa (Kuvempu)- the journey meandered through ghats, the lush evergreen forests of Shettyhalli reserve forest area which offered us an insight into the Malnad region, which was hitherto known only through the text for all of us!
Emerald fields of paddy, Gulmohar trees with blooming flowers that were lending colour and life to the green canopy of the thick forest. Well groomed areca and coconut grooves kept us awake throughout the journey. The winding Tunga river flowing with less water was indeed a testimony to the sad saga of gambling monsoon even in the rain rich land. But the sylvan beauty of the Theerthalli,which was evident in every frame of the sudeep enacted My Autograph, has eclipsed all odds which could however take away the interest of any visitor.
A quick 15 minutes drive from theertha halli, traversing into higher climes of Sahyadri pug marked with steep hairpin curves and thick forest lead us to Kuppali. The moment we got down from the bus, we experienced the warmth of nature that has been a hidden secret behind all the works of Kuvempu. Kuppali is relatively calm, verdant and seemed to be untapped far from the swarming tourists despite a luxurious Rajahamsa bus facility from the capital. Green glades, aromatic coffee plantations down the slopes, gushing stream and swaying areca groves welcomed us to the birth place of Kuvempu.
As it was planned, the team of seven journos landed up in Kuppali to attend the Biodiversity nature camp which incidentally marked the 102 birth anniversary of Rashtrakavi Kuvempu. It was a rare occasion for all of us to be a part of his birthday celebration along with his son, daughter and grandchildren coupled with pleasant stay at the birth place of the poet and could become a long cherishable experience in our lives. The nature camp planned over three days offered us a detailed picture about the life, culture and tradition of Malnad region. Exploring the diverse flora and fauna of the Kuvempu’s Kuppali, reading his works at his own house was like dream come true for anybody.
Away from the mind boggling crowd and noisy situations of the city life, the thought provoking lectures on the works of Kuvempu and a botanical trekking, identifying the unique local plant species was entirely new to us who are until used only to the flowers and trees of Lalbagh and Cubbon park. The dark, silent and cool atmosphere inside the deep forest was no less than a AC room in Bangalore. The narrow vallies occupied with the naturally grown tall trees interspersed with rows of ubiquitous local trees and call of the wild and chirping birds from the unknown part of the forest was a nail biting feel and thrilling to the core. All of us felt the oneness with nature which could bring in magical changes in anybody’s life.
Many times being the urban dwellers, we all know about the writings of the colossus but the inspiration and resource behind all of Kuvempu’s works get unnoticed. Fortunately this did not happen in our lives as we familiarised ourselves with all the places that makes their presence in his works. Efforts are on at his birth place to perpetuate his memories for posterity by the Kuvempu Prathishtana(R). Kavimane is today a memorial that houses rare collection of things and articles which were part of the poet’s life. Some of the many interesting things are the kalbi (a wooden store box for grains), dandige (palanquin), and Kuvempu’s wedding invitation and the mantapa in which he married Hemavathi on the midnight of April 30, 1937. As one goes round the house, renovated at a cost of Rs. 75 lakh, it reveals more about the poet and his life through rare pictures of his childhood, grandchildren, his days at Udayaravi in Mysore, etc.
The house is typical of the Malnad area, complete with a separate room for pregnant women and small wooden cradle suspended from the ceiling beside the bed. A small columned ventilator above the kitchen, which allowed free flow of smoke all over the attic is today a rare sight. Kavimane is open to visitors all through the year from 9.30 a.m.to 6.30 p.m. Besides house hold things, a separate section of the house on the attic houses the rare manuscripts of Kuvempu, including that of Sri Ramayana Darshanam for the public display.

Apart from the Kavimane, Kavishaila atop a small hillock next to his house where Kuvempu derived inspiration for the poetic muse was worth seeing. The real importance of Kavishaila in Kuvempu’s life hits you when you climb it. The silent rockey terrain surrounded with thick forests is one among the best places of Kuppali. Sunset scene from the Kavishaila is exceptionally refreshing to the urban denizens like us. The impulsive architecture comprising stone beams over another modelled on the stonehenge in Southern England takes us to the period of megalithic age. But still more important atop kavishaila is the palpable prescense of the towering personality of Kannada literature, the late Kuvempu. His samadhi at the centre of it decorated with natural leaves and flowers unnoticengly catches up our attention.

A few metres away from his samadhi is the rock on which Kuvempu and his friends would sit and talk about life and literature. The beauty of Kavishaila and Navilukallu, another place that provided the poet with resource for his poems, the changing colours of the dusk are virtually a visual treat for visitors. The rock has the autographs of Kuvempu, T S Venkannayya, B M Srikanthaiah (B M Sri) and Poornachandra Tejaswi etched on it but today marked with paint!
It would be great for anybody planning a visit to the place to read some of his works before getting to Kuppali. Otherwise the essence of these places would definitely miss out from one’s itinerary. Please do not spoil the nature in and around Kuppali with heavy traffic and plastic. Alow it to be like Kuvempu’s Kuppali and honour the wishes of poet.

P.S.:Kuppalli is 350 km from Bangalore, 80 km from Shimoga and 18km from Thirthahalli. KSRTC operates a regular Rajahamsa bus service to Kuppali from Bangalore. Important places to cover are the Kavimane, Kavishaila, Kuvempu Study Centre, Navilukallu and Chibbalugudde (both near Kuppali)

Being Rich doesn’t mean Wealthy: Roger Hamilton

Roger Hamilton, creator and presenter of the wealth Dynamics Weekend, is Asia’s leading wealth cnsultant, conducting private coaching sessions for succesful entrepreneurs across Asia. He was born in HongKong and educated at Trinity College , Cambridge University. He became entrepreneur soon after getting his degree. He is also the Chairman of XL Results Foundation, consitsting of the largest entrrepreneur network in Asia Pacific and Publisher of XL magazine, the world’s first magazine dedicated to social enterprise. Roger now owns and runs businesses in Publishing, property, event management, training and franchising. In an interview with Shishunal, Roger  shares his success story.

1) Roger could you tell me about the formative days of your career?
I was 12years old then. I use to visit my neighbourers garden to sketch and paint the scenes from their garden and earn money by selling those sketches. Later when I moved on to Cambridge there too I was on the street sketching the gothic buildings and trees on the sides of the roads. You know different people create different things in different ways. In the same way I would like to create things. So by the age of 20 I was running three business such as cartography, internet business and Newspaper business. Unfortunately all of them ended up in failure.

2) When did you decide to work on your own instead of working for someone else?
I learn’t lot of lessons out of my earlier three ventures. Adding to these chaos the bank manager who invested $12million in my newspaper business had turned down the further monitary assistance. Mean time i was very much inspired by the fact that we need to figure it out for ourselves. i was moved by the desire to get achieve success as early as i could. Hence i started with the publishing company.

3) Why do you think Wealth Creation is so important?
Creation of Wealth is more important from the charity purpose. You can’t help the poor being poor. So one must make money in order to give away.

4) What kind of personal philosophy are you advocating?
I would promote the use of word advice instead of philosophy to express my views. My views can be summed up in following four terms. Chose, Be Responsible, Be Hard Working and Be Duty Conscious and look for possible applications in your chosen
job.

5) How would you like to change the quality of living in which our people are living today?
There is no question of changing but instead we must provide them enough to buy the necessary things. People must have everything to live happily. Quality of life can’t be generated automatically, it is around us and we must inculcate it. Entrepreneurs can change the Economy as it has happened in China.

6) How do people become rich! through traditional idealogies or by market potentialities?
Rich and Being Wealthy are always 2 entities for me. They have lot of differences within themselves. It is quite simple to become both. Start doing something with values that attract people. If you chose the field in which you are capable then it’s a non-stop journey towards sucess and you will fall on your flow and it is more easier to drift further. To achieve fame you dont’t have to go to people, let people come to you and in making so you must have good resources. These resources are no consequences within themselves. Finally at the end what is more important is what you give to the people but not what you get from them.

7) Is it worth teaching values?
Some values does need teaching and some do not because these are within us. When one finds it difficult to identify these values then another’s help is more affirmative in getting good results.

8) You have been regarded as the creator of ‘Wealth Dynamics’. Could you be more elaborate on the term.
There is nothing much with the word. It is all about profiling system. Each one has their own path suppose to follow. I’ve identified such Eight different paths. Creator, Star, Supporter, Deal Maker, Trader, Accumulator, Lord (Real Esate), and Mechanic. The word Wealth Dynamics summarize all these.

9) What is the nature of XL Result Foundation? How does it function and future plans?
XL foundation is a kind of Socio-Enterprise and World Wide Wealth: Making Money to contribute. As Winston Churchill said “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” We are striving hard to formulate a network of Entrepreneurs running business on any part of the world not to make profit or gain something but to offer that to the people. Through the foundation we are providing entrepreneur training programmes in many Asian Countries, Australia and in New Zealand.

10) Could you tell me some of your own values in doing business and what do you want to pass on to others?
Try getting a good and successful mentor- someone who has already done whatever it is you want to do and has done it successfully. Try asking them about their mistakes and how they resolved those. Learn from their experience. Not finding a mentor will be the greatest mistake you can make- as you will lose both time and money.

11) How does one’s educational pursuit help or hinder Entrepreneurship?
In School we grow up intelectually and create rational thinking capablities. In Entrepreneurship the stress is on physical learning and emerging as strong as anybody. Here your instincts, passion and experience counts than your intellect. Hence if you understand the difference between them you will realise what it is exactly. In Enterprising world if you think you are special then you lose your assets. Here customers are more important than the investor.

12) What qualities do you consider as the secrets of running a successful business?
Measure what you can give to your society. Analyse yourself by the worth you offer to yourself. Control your finance. Make it a point to make mistake atleast every weak and learn from those mistakes. Don’t ever do anything for money. Concentrate on your liabilites. Build good network and get right people. Always step out and find smarter men than you to do the business and monitor over them. Remember the more you sow the more you reap.

13) Any memorable day in your business or the  proudest achievement to this date.
My best day or the the proudest moment came in through my eight year old daughter Cathelene. She paints and sketches a lot. One day all of a sudden she asked me,” Dad how can I make money?”. I answered ” You sell whatever you Create.” From very next day she started painting on the canvasses and wrote prices($10, $50, $100) on them. One fine day her grandpa, my father who had advised me once not make money, visited her and received one of her paintings priced $100 as gift. He was puzzlled and asked her,” you said it is gift but why did you mention the price?”. My daughter replied,” Pa, if i have given this as gift to you it doesn’t mean that it has no value. It has value and I have mentioned that on it”.

Happy New Year-2007

I am new to blogging at wordpress.com. Even though I knew it a year back, I could not register myself as a blogger due to unavoidable circumstances at the work place. Important transition, new responsibility and added expectation compelled me to involve more meticulously than our previous endeavours. As a result, I had no time for blogging.

A New Year 2007 is before us, unfolding wide range of challenges to be achieved. Regardless of obstacles both intentional and natural, nepotism, constant ‘bucketing’ by your competitors, I hope the genuine spirit within us would help in trailing the path of success.
Taking cue from my seniors at work, I have added regular blogging irrespective of the hurdles to the list of to be achieved resolutions. That implies adieu to procrastination. Hoping you all render good support in endorsing a cause and entertaining the fair traits of this humble boy.

Happy New Year 2007

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