Now, a helipad at Talacauvery?

MADIKERI: The Kodagu district convenor of the Cauvery Sene Ravi Chengappa and other members of the sene took out a ‘padayatra’ from here to Talacauvery on Saturday. The padayatra began after a puja at the Sri Kote Maha Ganapathi temple at the Fort here.

The sene would oppose moves by the Department of Tourism to invite tenders to establish a helipad at Talacauvery, Mr. Chengappa said.

The sene had earlier prevented film shoot parties and stopped people from using the pilgrim centres as merry making spots to maintain the sanctity of Bhagamandala and Talacauvery.

An advertisement issued by the Department of Tourism recently had also called for tenders to set up helipad and related tourist facilities at the tourist spots such as Hampi, Talakadu and Jog falls. Talacauvery was a pilgrim centre and not a tourist spot, Mr. Chengappa said.

The sene members will launch a sanitation programme, cleaning up the entire Bhagamandala and Talacauvery pilgrim places on Sunday, January 31. It would send clear messages to the tourists and pilgrims to maintain cleanliness in the pilgrim centres, Mr. Chengappa said.

Madikeri CMC will soon go online

MADIKERI: The Madikeri City Municipal Council (CMC) is set to go online soon. All information relating to the CMC and its functioning will be available through the Internet, and this was an attempt to reach every citizen in a transparent manner, P.D. Ponnappa, president of the CMC, said at the general meeting of the CMC held here on Saturday.

CMC Commissioner Srikanth Rao said that information on water tax payment, house tax, birth and death certificates, progress of a particular work, name of the contractor and the sum involved, date of start and completion of the works, registering complaints, RTC, and Form III (containing details of households) could be downloaded from the website.

A decision was taken to levy commercial charges on water supplied by the CMC to home stay facilities, which use large quantities of water.

Mr. Ponnappa said water would have to be used judiciously during summer and because of heavy inflow of visitors to Madikeri, home stay facilities were likely to use up huge quantity of water. (more)

Jai ho, Kodagu roads rock!

This one is from Kanoor. (Photo source: Shakthi Daily)

Dear Codava National Council, communication is a two-way tool…

…you cut a sorry figure when you don’t respond to emails, but keep bombarding all those sundry press releases. (Photo source: Shakthi Daily)

Dal me kuch kala hai?

MADIKERI: Former national athlete Ashwini Nachappa denied having misused her name to fetch sanction of Rs two crore from the State Government for synthetic astro turf at KALS, a sports academy run by her at Gonicoppal.

Reacting to the protest against the government's decision to allot money to her academy yesterday by various organizations, Ashwini said in a press release the academy was launched way back in 2006 and did not take birth to seek the present benefit as alleged by the protestors.

She clarified the government had put the condition not to commercialize the Synthetic Turf Ground to which she had agreed. This would allow government tournaments and practices to go on in the ground. She said it was a project of Rs 5.6 crore and the government was releasing only Rs two crore in the first phase.

She opined if P T Usha could be given Rs one crore, why should people oppose the move by the government. Ashwini said it was she who had proposed Synthetic Turf Ground to South Kodagu and Speaker K G Bopaiah was aware of it. An action committee was formed here yesterday to oppose the move by the government and get the Synthetic Turf Ground to Ponnampet Junior College Grounds.

(Photo source: India Today)

Kodavas of US form hockey team

PHOENIX (United States): Kodavas of America, under the aegis of newly formed ''Kodava Field Hockey Association of USA'', are participating for the first time in the Cactus Classic Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona on January 30-31.

Spokesperson Appachu Ballachanda said: “'This is just the beginning. We want to use this as a stepping stone to build and promote field hockey amongst Kodavas outside of India who have played before in their lifetime or start new and continue on the tradition of playing hockey outside their motherland. Many of us have played hockey sometime in our school or college years and want to revive the game further so we keep up with our rich hockey playing tradition but also have fun while doing so.”

“To being with we are fielding an all Kodava team lead by Madhu Muruvanda to play at the Cactus Classic tournament that will be competing with teams from Vancouver, Toronto, San Jose, Mexico and Dallas. All the Kodavas of Phoenix have provided overwhelming support for this effort by contributing financially for the hockey gears, travel, stay. Many Kodavas from different parts of USA have signed up to play for the tournament,'' he said.

On their future plans plans, Appachu said: “Going ahead we want to have an all American Kodava team called ”Team Coorg" that can participate in at least 2-3 tournaments in a year around Americas (Canada and USA) as there are several tournaments that are being held by US field hockey Association (USFHA). Selectively East & West Coast players can participate in tournaments under the "Team Coorg" banner drawing willing players from different regions based on the availability and convenience.”

“We have plans to get two players from Kodagu every year for one of the tournament so that it would help us to have a better team in the United States and also will be an incentive for players from Kodagu to get international exposure,” Appachu added.

Players participating in the tournament include:

Madhu Muruvanda - Phoenix, AZ
Appachu Ballachanda - Phoenix, AZ
Dr.Madappa Kundaranda - Phoenix, AZ
Bopanna Malchira - Tuscon, AZ
Gautam Puliyanda - Sanjose, CA
Aiyappa Mandepanda - Sanjose, CA
Sachin Ajjikuttira - Detroit, MI
Nitin Poyyetira - New York, NY
Vikram Mandepanda- Los Angeles, CA
Kiran Alemada- Pittsburgh,PA
Vanuja Kottukathira – Spring, TX
Neeraj Mallengada - Houstan, TX

KG Bopaiah as speaker. Will anything change for Kodagu?

Madikeri: The election of Kombarana Ganapathy Bopaiah as Speaker of the legislative Assembly on Wednesday has come as a rare honour for Kodagu.

Born on October 17, 1955, at the sleepy Kalur village near here, he is the second son of Kombarana Ganapathy and Chinnamma. He was closely associated with the Sangh Parivar since his school days. He had his primary education in the Kalur Government Primary School and went to Chettalli in Somwarpet taluk for high school.

Mr. Bopaiah obtained B.Sc. degree from the then Government Senior College here (now Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College) in 1974. He was as an active ABVP member during his college days. He participated in the movement against the Kambadakada dam project in Kodagu proposed by the government in 1970.

After completing B.Sc., Mr. Bopaiah joined the BMS College in Bangalore for LLB course. He was arrested during the Emergency in Bangalore and jailed for some time. After completing the LLB course as a gold medallist, Mr. Bopaiah returned to Madikeri in 1980 and started practising law.

He was appointed as general secretary of the Kodagu unit of the BJP and elevated as its president in the 90s. He was chosen to contest from the Madikeri Assembly segment in 2004, which he won as the BJP candidate comfortably. In the previous elections, Mr. Bopaiah contested from the Virajpet Assembly constituency. (more)

Air Marshal KC Cariappa is Coorg Person of the Year 2009

Air Marshal K.C. Cariappa (retd), an environmentalist who took on the powerful timber lobby in Kodagu district of Karnataka is the ‘Coorg Person of the Year, 2009’.

Air Marshal Cariappa, son of Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa, topped a poll conducted by www.coorgtourisminfo.com, the first news portal of Kodagu, to select the Coorg Person of the Year.

The others who were in the reckoning for the title, include another hardcore environmentalist and President of the Coorg Wildlife Society, Col C.P. Muthanna (retd) and New York-based novelist Sarita Mandanna, who has been given the largest advance by Penguin India ever paid to a debut novelist for her novel ‘Tiger Hills’, set in Kodagu. (more)

“Hindustan Times’’ write-up quotes Kodagu Community

“If Telangana in Andhra Pradesh can be carved as a new state, why not statehood for Kodagu? It is no secret that successive state governments have ignored our district for 50 years now. Pathetic infrastructure and no vision to develop Kodagu as well (sic). Participate in the discussion … It can be a healthy discussion between people for and those against statehood for Kodagu. We can make our case heard in our own sweet way.”

Read full article.

New book on Kodagu released

MADIKERI: “Rise and Fall of the Coorg State”, a book on Kodagu district, attempting to throw light on the circumstances leading to the “unpopular” merger of the erstwhile Coorg State with the then Mysore State, now Karnataka, in 1956, has hit the stands.

The book deals with the “neglect” of Kodagu by the governments since its amalgamation with Mysore State, a press statement from P.T. Bopanna, who has compiled and edited the book, said here on Thursday.

Mr. Bopanna, a Bangalore-based journalist, says that the book tries to find answers to some of the questions such as why key players, including the then Prime Minister late Jawaharlal Nehru, took such a “short-sighted” decision resulting in the snuffing out of the independent existence of the Coorg by merging it with Mysore State. (more)

The book is available at the following shops in Kodagu:

1. Numbikay Store, Opp. Gandhi Maidan, Madikeri.
2. Komal’s, Madikeri
3. Arun Stores, Madikeri
4. Daily Needs, Gonikoppal
5. Nilgiri Super Market, Gonikoppal
6. Devi Stores, Gonikoppal
7. MSR Mart, Virajpet

Why not statehood for Kodagu?

If Telangana in Andhra Pradesh can be carved as a new state, why not statehood for Kodagu? It is no secret that successive state governments have ignored our district for 50 years now. Pathetic infrastructure and no vision to develop Kodagu as well.

Participate in the discussion with meaningful thoughts. It can be a healthy discussion between people for it and those against statehood for Kodagu. We can make our case heard in our own sweet way.

‘Puthari’ to be celebrated today

MADIKERI: “Puthari”, harvest festival, will be celebrated across Kodagu on Wednesday. The festival marks bringing home the new paddy crop from the fields, symbolic of welcome to Goddess Lakshmi, who is the presiding deity of wealth.

A festival primarily confined to Kodavas in the past, is now being celebrated by other communities also in the district. The festival takes place on the full moon day.

Men, women and children go to the paddy field in the evening and bring home paddy sheaves. Women carry “taliyakki bolakk”, a bronze tray with rice, betel leaves, arecanut and a lamp. Firecrackers are burst to add to the merriment.

In villages, people gather at a particular spot and leave to their respective paddy fields. They return with paddy sheaves, chanting “Poli Poli Deva…..” (prayers seeking wealth, health and prosperity). (more)

Colourful floating festival (Theppotsava) at Omkareshwara Temple in Madikeri today

Invite for coffee

I am in Madikeri/Bangalore for the next few days. If you are from Bangalore, we can have a bloggers or blog readers meet over a cup of coffee in Koramangala/Indiranagar. What say? Buzz me at cariz123 {at} gmail.com if you wanna join. This is just a casual event.

Low accident rate

After struggling for many years, Kodagu police now proudly claim that accident rate has come down drastically along the Madikeri-Kushalnagar route for the last six months. No, police haven’t done anything dramatic to reduce the number of accidents. It is just that the Madikeri-Kushalnagar road is in such bad shape that accidents due to speeding are next to impossible. It is a wonder that vehicles manage to crawl along the stretch which is full of pot holes.