Clad in simple clothes and riding an old bicycle, this 85-year-old is a familiar figure not only on the streets of Dharwad but at almost all literary and cultural events this city has witnessed in the last few decades, though it is hard to imagine there’s a poet beneath his simple demeanour. V.C. Airasang is a popular man on the local radio station and the name is familiar to listeners here, but most would have trouble matching his name to the person. It is perhaps this modesty that has deprived him of recognition all these years, although he was chosen to preside over the Dharwad Taluk Sahitya Sammelan in 2012. Now, Mr. Airasang is being awarded an honorary doctoral degree by the Karnatak University, Dharwad. Interestingly, among the nine persons shortlisted for the honorary degree, the chancellor and governor of the university, Vajubhai Vala, has approved only Airasang’s name. A man of few words outside of verse, he says of his belated recognition, “I am happy.”
According to All India Radio’s programme executive Anil Desai, no one enjoys as large an audience as Mr. Airasang, a specialist in rhythmic poems and devotional songs. “He is the common man’s poet, free from the influence of any kind of ideology. His poems touch the listener’s heart. But critics have not taken him seriously,” Mr. Desai says. Mr. Airasang has 36 collections and over 2,000 poems to his credit, including poems for children. His sells his self-published collections of poems from his bicycle and gives the books free of cost to children learning music.
A man with diverse interests, the octogenarian is also an agile mallakambha enthusiast, who teaches young boys this traditional form of gymnastics at a time when many hesitate to learn it.
