Jill Biden's policy director Mala Adiga has roots in Udupi
Mangaluru: The appointment of Mala Adiga as policy director of Jill Biden, the first lady of US president-elect Joe Biden, has brought joy to Kakkunje village in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district.
She belongs to the family of K Suryanarayana Adiga, founder of the erstwhile undivided Dakshina Kannada districts private sector Karnataka Bank Limited, and Aravind Adiga, who won theMan Booker prize in 2008.
Mala Adiga is the niece of Nirmala Upadhya who is her fathers elder sister. She told reporters in Kundapur that Mala is an affectionate and lovely girl. She treasures relationships and has her roots firmly in India, Nirmala said.
Nirmala, 87, said Mala had called her up on Saturday to share the news of being made a senior staffer at White House when Biden takes office as President of the USA in January. She had congratulated on the new responsibility.
Malas father Dr Ramesh Adiga (84) is the second among three siblings. He had left for the US when he was 25 to hone his skills as a vascular surgeon. Malas mother Jaya Adiga had studied medicine in Vellore.
Nirmala recalled meeting Mala at a family get-together in Bengaluru in 2019. Nirmala had then travelled with her daughter Sujatha Nakkatthaya and family to Bengaluru in November 2019.
Mala had come to Bengaluru with husband Charles and daughter Asha to attend the event with her parents. They had come to Kundapur seven years ago and had fallen in love with the beaches there.
She had offered puja at the Kakkunje temple and they visited their ancestral house in Babbarianakatte.
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Sculptor Ram Sutar, designer of Statue of Unity, passes away
New Delhi (PTI): Noted sculptor Ram Sutar, known for designing the world's tallest statue — Statue of Unity — in Gujarat, passed away late on Wednesday night at his Noida residence, his son said.
He was 100 and ailing with age-related illnesses.
"It is with profound grief that we inform you of the passing of my father Shri Ram Vanji Sutar on 17th December midnight at our residence," his son Anil Sutar said in a note shared with the press on Thursday.
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Born in a humble family in Gondur village under the Dhule district of present-day Maharashtra on February 19, 1925, Sutar is known to have been drawn to sculpting from his childhood.
A gold medallist from JJ School of Art and Architecture, Mumbai, Sutar, has to his credit a long list of achievements.
The iconic statues of Mahatma Gandhi seated in a meditating pose and of Chhatrapati Shivaji riding a horse on the Parliament premises rank among his finest creations.
The Statue of Unity honours Sardar Patel, country's first deputy prime minister and home minister.
Sutar was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016.
Recently, Sutar was conferred with the Maharashtra Bhushan Puraskar, the state's highest award.
