Kannada, Marathi weld at the Belgaum Kannada Meet

This is what spirit of India is all about. Shedding linguistic chauvinism and braving boycott threats from Marathi groups, over 300 children from Marathi schools are participating in the cultural show at the opening of the World Kannada Meet at Nehru Stadium in Belgaum on Friday.

The inaugural show itself will be a multilingual effort, and the masters of ceremony at the event will communicate with the 1,200-strong contingent of children in Kannada, Marathi, Hindi and English to ensure that the participants who come from various linguistic backgrounds put up a show in perfect harmony.

Of the 1,200 students, 700 are from Belgaum and 250 each from Dharwad and Hubli. The Belgaum students have been selected from various government and private schools, including two Marathi medium schools. These students will dance to the tune of two Kannada songs, DS Karki’s Hachchevu Kannadada Deepa and Rashtrakavi Kuvempu’s Uluva Yogiya Nodalli. The Hubli students will be performing for Da Ra Bendre’s Karnataka Onde, while the Dharwad students will perform for KS Nisar Ahmed’s Jogadasiri Belakinalli.

Rekha Hegde, a student of eminent Kathak danseuse Maya Rao, and who runs Shantala Natya Shale, is training the students since a month. “The dances have been conceived by Maya Rao. The mother tongue of over 300 children is Marathi. Art though has no language,” she said. Ravindra Sharma, who is assisting Rekha, said, “We have to interact with them in Kannada, Marathi, Hindi and English. But at the end of the day we are happy to train them.”