Had he lived, illustrious Kannada writer, Gourish Kaikini, the great humanist who influenced a generation of writers, would have turned 100 on October 12.
The Gourish Kaikini Shatabdi Kriya Samithi, in association with Kaikini Pratisthana, Kumta, and Parnakuti Balaga, Gokarna, are preparing to celebrate the centenary in a modest way in his hometown Gokarna with a series of programmes.
The inaugural programme is on September 12 with poet Channaveera Kanavi, literary critic Giraddi Govindaraja, litterateurs V.G. Nayak and M.G. Vedeshar, and Gourish Kaikini's wife Shanta participating.
A procession has been organised in Gokarna town on that day and Katanjana , a commemorative volume on the writer, columnist and teacher, will be released.
Gourish Kaikini was a great thinker who straddled all fields of literature, stressing on human values and modern thinking in his writings. Though he lived in Gokarna all his life — far away from ready access to books and academic journals — his astute mind produced volumes of literary works in Marathi, Konkani as well as Kannada. He graduated from Dharwad and served as a high school teacher at Bankikodla and Gokarna from 1937 to 1976.
By the time he died in November 13, 2002, he had published 62 formidable works in Kannada, besides writing for several newspapers and periodicals, earning him a huge fan following for this dialectic between tradition and modernity.Among his major works are Avamanavathavaada , Nasthika Mathu Devaru , Manovignanada Roopureshegalu and Sathyarthi .
Honours
Several honours came his way: the Sahitya Akademi Award and Rajyotsava Award, Ideal Teacher Award, Diamond Jubilee Award of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Vardhamana Prashasti, Karnatak University's honorary doctorate, Dr. Sham. Ba. Forum award, Sandesh Award and Konkani Sahitya Award (for Meenakshi ).
The generation of litterateurs he influenced opines he did not get his due from Kannadigas during his lifetime. But according to his son, Jayant Kaikini, poet, novelist, short story writer and lyricist, both for him and lovers of literature, his father remains immortal through his works.
