Udupi, Dec 30: Senior journalist and critic of music and photography A Eswaraiah on Sunday passed away at his residence at Lakshmindra Nagar in the city. He was 78. He is survived by wife, son and two daughters.  

He had worked as editor of literary magazine ‘Tushara’ for more than two decades and he introduced hundreds of young and talented writers and litterateurs through his magazine. He has first introduced novels, short stories and poems of various writers through ‘Tushara’ and ‘Karvalo’ of Poornachandra Tejaswi was the best example.

Through his magazine, he has started a new column ‘photo article’ in order to give importance to best photos. This has encouraged writer Poornachandra Tejaswi in exposing the photography talent. He has special knowledge about photography and he was writing column about photography. But he was not happy about the excess usage of digital camera and mobile phone cameras as it has ‘killed’ creativity.

He was born to landlord and Patel of Ananthapura, Ananthapura Narayanaiah on August 12, 1940. After being graduated from MGM College of Udupi in English language, he entered journalism and worked till his retirement as the editor.

During his primary education, he had studied music and could able to play flute and other instruments. He was a multifaceted personality. Besides being a good journalist and giving priority to music, yakshagana and fine art forms, he was also a good photographer. Not only as a writer and short story writer, but Eswaraiah also talented in criticism. His column ‘Sarasa’, being written in ‘Tushara’ got much popularity and it came out in the form of book.

As a music lover, he established ‘Ragadhwani’ organization in Udupi and became the editor of a monthly magazine on music. He has got Karnataka State Media Academy award, State-level Sandesha award, Polya Yakshagana award, Vyasa Sahitya award, Moodabidri Nudisiri award and others. Sources said that his cremation would be held on Monday morning.

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Kota (Rajasthan) (PTI): The sighting of MT-8 or ‘Kankati’, a tigress linked to two fatal attacks on humans in neighbouring Ranthambore that escaped from its designated 82-sq km enclosure in the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve here, triggered brief panic and halted traffic in the area.

However, the radio-collared tigress, which escaped on Tuesday morning, returned to its place in the forest later in the day, Muthu S, Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF), Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR), told PTI. Kankati gained notoriety for two human kills in the Ranthambore forest range earlier this year, after which she was relocated to the MHTR on June 19.

After spending around two months in a 21-hectare enclosure, Kankati was reintroduced into the wild on August 15 when she was released into the 82-sq km enclosure in the Dara forest area of MHTR.

At around 11 am on Tuesday, the tigress escaped from its designated enclosure and crossed the road, creating panic and halting traffic on both sides briefly.

Sensing the presence of the big cat, a few cattle hurriedly escaped from the spot, while some passersby, including a few cops, were seen filming the animal crossing the road with their mobile phones.

Muthu said the tigress crossed the Batwada road, which is a part of MHTR, before returning to her enclosure in the Dara forest range later in the day.

The tigress is radio-collared and tracked by three forest teams round the clock, the DCF said, adding that since the animal was under watch, the areas around the road were already cordoned off.

Forest teams remain particularly alert in the area after a tigress was run over by a train when it wandered from the Ranthambore forest range 20 years ago, the DCF said.

Wildlife enthusiast Brijesh Vijayvergiya, however, termed the movement of the tigress a result of “careless” monitoring and “inadequate” safety measures in the MHTR for which he held the forest department responsible.

“Taking a lesson from the accidental death of a tigress 20 years ago, the forest department should have erected fencing to prevent wild animals from crossing the road or the railway track. In the absence of fencing, the tigress Kankati ventured out and crossed the road, thus risking her life,” Vijayvergiya told PTI.