Seventy-six year-old playwright, artist and researcher Abburi Gopalakrishna is full of zest and life and has a lot to cheer about.
Adding to his cup of joy Sanathana Dharma Charitable Trust has decided to include his name in this year’s honours list of Srirama Navami Pratibha Puraskarams.
The award is scheduled to be given away on Friday in Hyderabad by Justice B. Chandra Kumar of the AP High Court in the presence of Satguru Sivananda Murthy of Anandavanam, Bheemunipatnam.
“I feel honoured to be included in a list which has my gurus and seniors I revere,” he said showing the list of eminent persons who were awarded the puraskaram in the earlier years.
Since 1994 the Trust has been selecting persons of eminence from different fields for their contribution to promoting our culture and tradition and these include people like Ravi Kondala Rao, Palagumi Viswanadham, Akkiraju Ramapathi Rao, Balantrapu Rajnikanta Rao and Jagadish Mittal, among others.
This year 14 persons are being honoured with a medal, a cash purse of Rs. 25,000 and a citation, they include former Vice-Chancellor Avula Manjulata, eminent scholars like Sreebhashyam Vijayasarathi, Kolakaluri Enoch and Anumaandla Bhoomaiah, among others.
However, the eminent artist and researcher is not going to be receiving the award on the festival day as he is wheelchair bound and not in a position to travel the distance. The trust assured him that they would bring the award to his doorstep later.