It began with a series of Facebook posts exactly a decade ago. Between November 1st and 7th, 2016, to celebrate Karnataka Rajyotsava, Roopa Pai translated and posted poems of various Kannada poets on the social networking platform. “Apart from the translation, I wrote a note about the poet, introducing them to whoever was reading my Facebook page. This became quite popular; people felt touched and happy that Kannada poets were being celebrated like that,” says the Bengaluru-based writer and the co-founder of Bangalore Walks, a history and heritage walks and tours company.One of the poems she translated was by KS Nisar Ahmed, best known for ‘Nityotsava’, a paean to Karnataka, which was later set to music and became a cultural icon of sorts within the state, deeply resonating with its people. “I didn’t know very much about Nisar apart from ‘Nityotsava’. But when I saw this poem called ‘Hakku’, I thought it was cute,” says Roopa, recalling how “satirical, sardonic and tongue-in-cheek” it was. “He was such a well-known poet, but I found it was interesting that he could write like this too. So, I picked it up and translated that poem ”
Roopa Pai with Every Day a Celebration
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