Though of an age as tender as 14, yet this prodigy is all set to prove that she is matchless when it comes to creative talent. Having preferred to accomplish in a tough art like Harikathe that hardly impresses the present generation, little girl Srilalitha Uliyaaru has already left masses spellbound by her enchanting performances.
Hailing from a simple family residing at N.R. Mohalla in city, she is the lucky daughter of G. Vasudeva Uliyaaru and Veena, who are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that their child turns out to be a great achiever one day. Says Vasudev, an artist by profession, “Lalitha started learning and practicing Harikathe when she was a little girl of six. Impressed by the Harikatha’s of Harikatha Pitamaha of Karnataka, Gururajulu Naidu, she began showing immense interest in the art of story telling,”
Besides, Shrilalitha is not being formally trained by any and all she has in the form of her Harikatha teacher is a little tape recorder and loads of Harikatha cassettes. “She is not being trained by anyone. Whatever she has learnt so far is by listening to the cassettes, apart from me training her a little. I’m planning to get her trained by city based Harikatha exponent Beluru Vasantha Lakshmi shortly,” says her father. Harikatha by Gururajulu Naidu that she heard two years back became her first inspiration. The prodigy is gifted with such abilities that a one-and-a-half hour long Harikatha ‘Aadisuvaathana Aata’ that she once presented at a progamme was also practiced by listening to a cassette itself.
She has given several performances at various places across the State like Bangalore, Udupi, K.R. Nagar, Mandya and Mysore. The little one is a fearless and enchanting entertainer who not just excels in story telling but is also a good, singer, dancer, performer and orator. Ask her what she likes best and she says, “I love presenting Harikatha as it involves many stories, sub-stories and humour. I also love presenting speeches.” And unlike many others who wish to be doctors, engineers and scientists one day, this little one says she wants to be a famous ‘Harikatha dasa.’ She is also good at presenting Harikathas on the modern day life, which she makes interesting for listeners by interspersing with several humorous stories. The little one embraced the Haridasa Deekshe from Bhadragiri Achyutadas in city when she was of 8 years of age and a souvenir ‘Dasana Madiko Enna’ on Srilalitha’s achievements was also released on the occasion.
Says her proud father, “She is God’s gift to us. I thank him immensely for having blessed us with a daughter like her, for though interested, none in my family could achieve something that she has done. She started her stage performances in other disciplines when she was just a little child of three years. Hence, I want to encourage and help her to the best of my abilities.” “I feel happy to say that people even in this generation show great interest in an art from like Harikatha and come in hoards to listen to her. We have received great response from people so far,” he adds.
Till date, Srilaitha has given over 250 Harikatha performances at places in and outside the State including places like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. She has also been extensively appreciated for her talent by heads of various religious institutions such as the Seer of Mantralaya, Pejawar Seer of Udupi, Veerendra Hegde of Dharmasthala, Shavaratri Deshikedra Swami of Suttur Mutt and Ravishankar Guruji of Art of Living, to name a few. Also, the child has presented shows in various televisions channels of both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
However, currently, the girl has reduced her stage performances a bit to concentrate on her studies since she would be in class X next. Meanwhile, her four-year-old little brother Srihari V. Uliyaaru is following his sister’s foots.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / June 23rd, 2014
