Monday, April 5, 2010

Tribute to Kannada Legend - Dr. Srinivasa Havanur

Dr. Srinivasa Havanur, noted Kannada researcher and historian as also library doyen, was a research associate at the Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore for the better part of the first decade of this century, passed away in Bangalore on April 5, 2010 morning. Here is a short recall of this literary achiever noted for his humility

Computer-Aided Scholar-Librarian
In the early 1960s, the University of Bombay had its only campus in Fort, downtown Bombay, dominated by Rajabai Tower over its library building. The ground floor of this building had about 40 research tables, which were allotted to senior academics and research scholars. Having registered for a PhD degree, and living in this area, I had a table for myself where you can call for books and keep them there for reference. One of the others who had a table there was Srinivas Havanur, a serious researcher. I strayed into writing a book on a subject unrelated to my research and ended up with ‘Corruption – Control of Maladministration’, while others earned a ‘Dr.’ as a prefix to their names. Thus, Havanur became a front-ranking scholar and I a mere pen pusher. Recently, I ran into Havanur in the library of the Karnataka Theological College on Balmatta Hill, and renewed the memories of old table-holders – not friends. He has come a long way and is now considered a respected and versatile scholar in Kannada. But we should start at the beginning.

Full report here Daijiworld

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