Centenarian Kannada lexicographer Prof G Venkatasubbaiah passes away
Bengaluru, Apr 19: Renowned lexicographer, Kannada writer and critic Professor Ganjam Venkatasubbaiah is no more, family sources said here.
He was 107.
Prof Venkatasubbaiah, fondly addressed as GV, was suffering from renal problems for the past few days and was admitted to a hospital for treatment.
He was due for discharge on Monday but suddenly his condition worsened and died on Sunday night, family members said.
Born on August 23, 1913 in Ganjam village of Srirangapatna in Mandya district, Venkatasubbaiah was the second among eight children of Ganjam Thimmannaiah.
He did his schooling in Bannur and Madhugiri and higher education in Mysuru.
The grammarian who had compiled 12 dictionaries had authored around 60 books and brought out four seminal works on dictionary science in Kannada.
His book Kannada Nighantu Shastra Parichaya and Klishtapada Kosha earned much acclaim in the Kannada literary circle.
Recipient of numerous awards including Padma Shri, Kannada Sahitya Akademi and Pampa Award, the centenarian was an eminent academician and a noted orator as well.
He became a household name for his popular column 'Igo Kannada' (This is Kannada) in a Kannada daily detailing the nuances of the language, its idioms and phrases.
Looking at the popularity and demand for the column, 'Igo Kannada' was brought out in the form of a book.
A patriot, Venkatasubbaiah was fascinated by the freedom struggle as well.
He had the opportunity to see Mahatma Gandhi who was on a drive to collect donations to sustain the freedom struggle in 1927.
As a young scout of 14 years, Venkatasubbaiah was assigned to make arrangements for Gandhi's stay in Madhugiri.
Recalling the incident on the 149th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2018, the grammarian said he was enthralled to see the huge turnout of people in Madhugiri to see the Mahatma.
"Mahatma Gandhi had delivered a speech for only ten minutes, that too in Hindi language and in front of Kannada people who did not know Hindi. All of them were villagers.
They were economically weaker and poor. Most of them were women. However, people who understood Gandhi's speech gave donations generously and participated in India's freedom struggle," the professor had recalled.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and his cabinet colleagues joined many others in expressing grief over the demise of Venkatasubbaiah.
"The contribution of Prof G V for the development of Kannada language, its dictionary and literature is unparalleled. He has authored more than 60 books and 'Igo Kannada'. His continuous writing till the end fills one with amazement," the Chief Minister said.
Others such as Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Mines and Geology Minister Murugesh Nirani too condoled the death.
Former chief ministers H D Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah too expressed their sorrow over the death of Venkatasubbaiah.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
