Journalist and author P T Bopanna has launched his new book ‘Coorg Role Models’, which profiles the winners of the ‘Coorg Person of the Year’ title from 2005 to 2020.
Bopanna has authored eight books so far, including the Gourmand award-winning book ‘The Romance of Indian Coffee’ and the bestselling books – ‘Are Kodavas (Coorg) Hindus?’ and ‘Rise and Fall of the Coorg State’.
About his latest book, Bopanna said, “Kodavas, a microscopic minority community hailing from Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnataka, were once known for their leadership qualities. This Kodava trait of being natural leaders was very much evident in the Defence Services, and Kodagu came to be known as the ‘Land of the Generals’.”
“However, in the last few decades, the community has not produced many truly outstanding men and women, except in the arena of sports. As a chronicler of Kodagu, I felt that one of the reasons for their inability to play a leadership role was the absence of enough role models in the community,” he said.
“With a view to reigniting the famed leadership qualities in the community, I promoted the concept of ‘Coorg Person of the Year’ in 2005. The selection of the Coorg person was made on the basis of a poll I conducted through my portal www.coorgtourisminfo.com,” he added.
The selection was not confined to the Kodava community but included all residents of Coorg. For instance, one of the joint winners of the title in 2018 was industrialist Ashok Kumar Shetty, who donated part of his land to the government for building a road that was damaged by the floods and landslides of 2018. Another winner is Dr S V Narasimhan, the birdman of Coorg, he said.
The book features the achievements of the winners of the Coorg Person title. It is published by Rolling Stone Publications. The foreword for the book is written by Preeth Ganapathy, who is an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS). She is currently posted as Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Bangalore.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by P T Bopanna / DHNS, Madikeri / July 06th, 2021
