‘Deshi’ poet Bendre goes global!

‘Deshi’ poet Bendre goes global!
Deccan Herald

From Raju S Vijapur DH News Service

Hubli:Dr Da Ra Bendre National Memorial Trust, formed by the government to promote Bendre’s literature has come out with a website on the life and works of Bendre, who successfully used colloquial language to explore new possibilities in literature during Navodaya period, an important phase in Kannada literature that followed Hosagannada in 1950s.

With this the long felt dream of taking ‘Deshi poet’ global has come true. This is the first full-fledged website on a Kannada poet, who penned some of the best songs Kannadigas ever heard.

Talking to Deccan Herald, President of the Trust Dr M M Kalburgi, former vice-chancellor of Hampi Kannada University said that the site, www.darabendre.org, had been designed and developed by SDM College of Engineering, Dharwad. Dr D Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Shri Kshetra Dharmasthal had donated Rs 1 lakh for the project. “Main objective of the site is to introduce complete life and works of Bendre in their original form to Kannadigas worldwide.”


The site, to be formally launched on January 31, has some of the rarest photographs of Bendre’s childhood and his moments with pioneers in the music and literature fields.

A photo of Bendre, in typical farmer attire of North Karnataka, sitting with the Jnan Peeth Award certainly mesmerises viewers when they logon to the first page of the site.

The site has three sections-- Bendre Books, Life and Literature and Bendre News. While the first section houses important and unpublished books of the poet, the second corner shows rare photos, including Bendre conversing with Jawaharlal Nehru, sharing lighter movements with Masti and Mallikarjun Mansur.

The last section deals with news related to Bendre’s works. Another important feature of the website is a column, I and Bendre. Writers and people, who came in contact with the Varakavi, share their experiences with the viewers. The first column has been written by well-known critic G S Amur and the second column will be written by Dr Kalburgi himself.

A video clipping in which Bendre is reading his own poem definitely make netizens feel worth visiting the site, for which famous writers and critics like Chennaveer Kanavi, Giraddi Govindraj and Balanna Shigihalli have also contributed their mite.

Dr Kalburgi and team deserve kudos for taking our very own ‘native poet’ global!