BANGALORE: Girish Karnad‘s autobiography in Kannada ‘Aadaadtha Ayushya‘ (Life moves on while playing) was recently released in Bangalore at Reliance Timeout.
The book was released by the Kannada daily newspaper Prajavani‘s editor KN Shanth Kumar. Prajavani is a sister publication of the daily English newspaper Deccan Herald. The publisher of the book is Dharwad-based Manohara Grantha Mala.
Karnad -- a writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director -- read out portions of the book during the release function, which also saw three other Kannada books - ‘Antarangada Mrudanga‘, a compilation of essays written by Narahalli Balasubramanya; ‘Hole Makkalu‘, a novel by Bidarahalli Narasimhamurthy and ‘Na Badukalikke Ollepa‘, a collection of short plays with only two characters by Lohit Naikar.
The memoirs of the first half of Karnad‘s life are covered in ‘Aadaadtha Ayushya‘. The book run into 350 pages and has been divided into 11 chapters that have been named after places where he spent his life. The first part of the autobiography deals with his early schooling and college days including his education at Oxford, while the second part deals with his career at Chennai where he acted in many English plays under Madras Players, while working at the Oxford University Press there.
Karnad‘s rise as a prominent playwright in 1960s marked the coming of age of Modern Indian playwriting in Kannada. He is a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award for Kannada, the highest literary honour conferred in India. He is also active in the world of Indian cinema - both in Hindi and Kannada films. He was conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.
