Mangalore :

If everything goes according to the plan, Dr Shivarama Karantha Balavana  in Puttur will soon have a library-cum-art gallery after writer Kota Shivarama Karanth .

The new building, which will also have a skating rink on its terrace, will be opened at Balavana by March.

The library will have complete works of Karanth and available books and research papers on the writer, and the art gallery attached to the library will have paintings and pictures of Karanth.

Assistant commissioner, Puttur sub-division H Prasanna told TOI that, Balavana, where the revolutionary writer had lived, will be preserved as a historic monument. “The gallery has been designed in such a way that more windows will be placed to make it bright even during power cuts. The full-fledged building will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 80 lakh by the district administration under the chief minister’s special funds,” he said.

“The 15,000 sqft gallery, which is under construction, will have more than 20 tall windows and facilities will be made to display paintings on the wall in between the windows,” he said.

As many as 13 artists from various parts of the state had sketched characters and messages in Karanth’s novels as part of a literary interaction and oil painting camp on works of Karanth at Balavana on Monday. “We have plans to organize two more such camps in the days to come. All paintings created at these camps will be kept at the new gallery,” Prasanna said.

There are also plans to create mural art on two huge walls on either side of the hall of the art gallery, he added. “We have requested the department of Kannada and culture, Kannada Book Authority, Mangalore University and other institutions to contribute books and research papers on Karanth to the library,” he said adding. The terrace of the building will be converted into skating rink for children,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com /Home> City>Mangalore / TNN / January 30th, 2013