L I T E R a T U R E RK Narayan Museum RK Narayan’S Museum Has a Sign That Says ‘RK Narayan’S House’ and His Photo on the Façade
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L I T E R A T U R E RK Narayan Museum RK Narayan’s museum has a sign that says ‘RK Narayan’s House’ and his photo on the façade. This two-storey house in Yadavagiri, Mysuru where Narayan wrote 29 novels set in the fictional town of Malgudi, was restored and conserved as a memorial museum. The Mysore City Corporation purchased the house which was built in 1952 from RK Narayan’s granddaughter Bhuvaneshwari for Rs 1.93 crore in Dec 2011 and spent Rs 40 lakh on restoring it. Black and white photos (RK Narayan as a child of five, with his family and eminent personalities like Jawaharlal Nehru, during a BBC interview in London with author and mentor Graham Greene...), quotes and information panels, honorary doctorate degrees and awards (Padma Bhushan 1964, Padma Vibhushan 2001) line the shelves and walls. Narayan’s first floor study holds his collection of books. Longest running weekly poetry slam Tuesdays With The Bard (TWTB) @ Urban Solace Cafe in Bengaluru celebrated its 249th edition of Poetry From The Heart with poet Dr Koshy KV at 8.00 pm on June 28, 2016. A book by the poet Allusions to Simplicity was also launched by VP Balakrishnan of Mallya Aditi International School. Urban Solace’s TWTB had poets reading their own creations with or without music every Tuesday. Most couplets published Longest duration of a poem-a-day Dr Mulki Radhakrishna Shetty (b July Anubha Sharma (b Nov 27, 1968) of Indore, MP 10, 1940) from Bengaluru released has been penning an English his sixth book of couplets in poem every single day English titled English Couplets in for the last 26 years, a Million Words Volume VI from Jan 1, 1989, published by Pentagon Press, making it 10,043 Delhi, which contains 33,658 poems as of June 30, couplets. His six volumes contain 2016. Besides 1,37,788 couplets in all. having two books of selected poems published, Anubha has also had poems published in many magazines and journals. Longest monosyllabic poem Dr Paulose VD of Nabin Chandra College, Badarpur, Assam published a book in 2015 with a 1,416-line poem in iambic tetrametre, wherein not a single disyllabic or multi-syllabic word appears. Titled The Lost Home, the 59-page book has another distinction in that the number of syllables (11,328) is less than the number of words (11,450) used in it! LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 1 3 0 literature 2017.pmd 130 23-03-2017, 15:51 L I T E R A T U R E Most visually-challenged poets at one venue/dias During the 3rd Sparshanandan Poetry and Art Festival of the Visually Impaired Poets and Deaf & Dumb Artists, 2015 (SPAF VIP DDA 15), held from Jan 19-22, 2015 at the Poetry Village, Rabindra Sadan - Nandan Campus, Kolkata, 45 visually- challenged poets attended and read their self-composed poems in Bengali. Of these, 19 read their self-composed poems on a single dais named Louis Braille Dais at Paschim Banga Bangla Academy Auditorium, along with poems of reputed Bengali poets in 99 min 52 sec on Jan 21, 2015. For the last 24 years (since 1992) the organisers have held self-composed poem competitions among the schools of visually impaired students and to accustom visually impaired poets with contemporary modern poems they have been publishing a magazine in Bengali Braille named Sparshanandan Drishtihinder Braille Patrika (SDBP) since 1992. Most ‘muktako’ in least time Poet Dr Dilip Modi (b Sept 6, 1952) of Surat, Gujarat, has written 1905 ‘Muktako’ in the Gujarati language in 4 books – He Sakhi! Sandarbh Chhe Taro Ane (1997), He Sakhi! Sogand Chhe Mara Tane (2004), He Sakhi! Chhe Zankhana Tari Mane (2012) and He Sakhi! Tu Raktama Mara Vahe Chhe...( 2014) – all published by Sahitya Sangam, Gujarat. ‘Muktak’ is a poem that consists of only four lines. First acrostic, biographical poetry book (Hindi) Samaydas Awinashi has published an acrostic poetry book in 2016 titled Prem Pravah in Hindi containing poems on 94 illustrious people from around the world. Some of the luminaries who feature in this book are Narendra Modi, Barrack Obama, Rahul Gandhi, Ratan Tata, KK Birla, Lata Mangeshkar etc. Most satirical poems published in newspapers Dr Bhausaheb Abaji Kanase (b June 1, 1949), a First braille poem book paediatrician of Satara, Maharashtra has had Dr Deepak Thomas (b May 15, 1979) a dentist more than 3200 ‘vatratikas’ (satirical poems) in from Puducherry has written a 46-page book of the daily newspaper Aikya since June 23, 2008. poetry in Tamil about the visually-challenged in The vatratikas are a healthy criticism on a variety Braille. Printed at The Braille Press, Indian of topics like political events and everyday life, Association for the Blind (IAB), Madurai, it was using sarcasm and scorn. He has published one released on August 15, 2015 during the book of Vatratikas titled Dhushi in July 2010. Independence Day celebrations at Indian Association for the Blind, Madurai. LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 1 3 1 literature 2017.pmd 131 23-03-2017, 15:51 L I T E R A T U R E First informative poetry book on Mahatma Gandhi Deepak Kumar Pandey of Jaunpur, UP has written a poetry book in Hindi titled Pranam Mahatma which was released in 2015. Published by Manasa Publications, Lucknow, UP, it covers information on every aspect of the Mahatma’s life and philosophy in 194 pages with 135 chapters, priced at Rs 275. The book release marks the 100th year of Gandhiji’s return to India from South Africa. Poetry set with most varieties of poems Diwakar Pokhriyal (29) of Delhi, India has written two books Poetry for Everyone Volumes I and II within the pages of which he has penned 50 different styles of poetry, of which eight styles are by the poet himself. Each volume contains 25 styles each. Some of the styles are ABC poetry, Cadence, Cinquian butterfly, Double Acrostic, Duodora and Echo Verse. The first volume was released in Feb 2015 and the second volume in August 2015. Poems starting and ending with same Priced at Rs 195 and Rs 250 respectively, the books are syllable published by Authorspress India. Manjunath M N of Huvinahadagali, Bellary district, Karnataka has a book of his 45 poems in Kannada using 802 unrepeated words, titled Maimanadi Vrnabhishekha, published by Shree First English transliteration of Bhagvad Gurucharantheshwar Prasaranga (R) on April Gita in rhyme 24, 2016. All the poems (from 1-44) start and Sushrut A Badhe of Puducherry has had his book end with the same syllable rhyme (Aadiprasa). Bhagavad Gita: The Rhythm of Krishna published, And the last poem is written by extracting a which is the first version of the Bhagavad Gita single word of the 44 poems. The collection of transliterated in rhyme in English. Two versions poems use the Kannada language serial alphabet of the book were released on the following from the first letter to the last on the same dates: e-book was released on Amazon on July subject. So every poem is written with 19, 2015 and the paperback edition published alphabets from 51 of the Kannada language, by Sri Aurobindo’s Action was released on July except six alphabets. 27, 2015. The 285 page book is priced at Rs 450. LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 1 3 2 literature 2017.pmd 132 23-03-2017, 15:51 L I T E R A T U R E Third double Indian win at US National Spelling Bee Championship! They’ve done it for the third year in a row! Two competitors tied to win the 89th Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 28, 2015. Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga are co- champions! This was the ninth year in a row that the champion/s has been of Indian-American descent. Largest cryptic crossword contest The CBSE Cryptic Crossword Contest 2015 came to a close Delhi on Dec 13, 2015 after a two-day Finale. The event was inaugurated on Dec 12 at the Most books on crime fiction in shortest Civil Services Officers’ time Institute (CSOI), Delhi, Starting with Deceivers (Pustak Mahal / Cedar by S C Khuntia, Books) which was released in September 2010, Secretary Joygopal Podder of Gurgaon, Haryana has had (Education and 16 crime fiction novels published in 67 months Literacy), (September 2010 to April 2016). The 16th crime Government of India. fiction novel The Anniversary Killer was released The team from La in April 2016. The publisher is Authorspress. Martiniere for Girls, Kolkata, was crowned the National Crossword Champion 2015. Largest spelling bee Ananya G Upadhya from Sri Kumaran Children’s Home (CBSE), Bengaluru is the National Champion of Season 8 of Classmate Spellbee, powered by ITC and Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM. She had an ultimate face off with the grand finale finalist from Season 7, Samyukta Srivatsa. Soha Ali Khan announced her as the winner on March 8, 2016. She won a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh and a trip to Washington DC with one parent to watch the finals of Scripps National Spelling Bee. Most books published with titles starting with ‘P’ Rama Shah (b August 26, 1933) of Mumbai, who started writing poems and short stories in her mother tongue Gujarati, at the age of 65 has published 100 books in Gujarati with all the titles starting with the letter ‘P’, as of June 30, 2016. Parangat, Parigraha, Purankam and Partripti are some examples. Her preference for the letter `P’ is because she believes that the ultimate goal of life is ’sadhana for Param, the Almighty’.