Latest news with #Venkatappa
The Hindu
17-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Doctor donates ₹14 crore, transforms government school in Karnataka's Bengaluru South district
Those who believe that government schools are inferior to private ones in terms of infrastructure and teaching facilities will change their opinion if they come across this Karnataka Public School (KPS) located in Honganuru village of Channapatna taluk in Bengaluru South district. This government school is on a par with any international school in Bengaluru, as the 50-room school has about 40 computers, maths and science labs, digital teaching boards, a well-equipped library, and sports facilities among others. Earlier, this school was no different from any other government school of rural areas. But the transformation was possible due to the initiative of medical entrepreneur H.M. Venkatappa, a doctor and alumnus of this school, who contributed ₹14 crore to construct a new building and set up the required infrastructure. A befitting tribute 'I studied in this school from from the first to the eighth standard between 1949 and 1957. The teachers of this school were instrumental in shaping the foundation for my educational career. I went on to complete MBBS and MD, although I hailed from an ordinary family, associated with agriculture. The then head master of the school, a Gandhian, inspired me a lot. I decided to rebuild and modernise this school to mark my association with it and also to ensure that poor students from rural areas get access to high quality education free of cost,' said the 79-year-old doctor, who has set up the Kanva Diagnostics Services Private Limited after retiring from government service. The old building on four-and-a-half acres of land was fully demolished in June 2022, and two new buildings were built in the next two-and-a-half years. The school has been turned into a KPS comprising LKG/UKG to II PU, offering both Kannada and English medium. The school, named after Dr. Venkatappa's parents Chennamma and Manche Gowda, has already commenced its operations from this academic year. The new school has already become so popular that the student strength has increased by 150 to 200 this year, taking the total number of students to around 800 at a time when government schools in general are reporting a massive drop in enrolment. In addition to the one-time contribution of ₹14 crore, Dr. Venkatappa has also decided to make an annual contribution of around ₹10 lakh to take care of the maintenance of the school. As the school would have to hire guest teachers, he has decided to pay an additional ₹5,000 per head, apart from the monthly honorarium of ₹12,500 to be given by the government. Inauguration today The new school will be inaugurated formally by Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday at a programme being organised by the State government. Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa said his department would try to get more such contributions through the involvement of School Development Monitoring Committees to improve other government schools as well.
Hindustan Times
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Art and the Man: In memory of K Venkatappa
On Kasturba Road, abutting Cubbon Park, is a set of three adjacent buildings that feature in every 'Things To Do In Bengaluru' list. The first, if you are heading down from Queens Road, is a nondescript rectangular structure, with an actual Marut – the first Indian-developed jet fighter, conceived and manufactured at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in the 1960s – in its front lawn, which houses the exciting, interactive Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM). The second, whose name and purpose elude many Bangaloreans, is the magnificent neoclassical structure designed by Col Richard Sankey in 1877 and painted an eye-catching Pompeiian red (psst, that is the Government Museum, which contains many priceless historical artefacts, and is currently under renovation). The third, a plain modernist building set back from the road and originally designed to stand in the middle of an artificial island, is the Venkatappa Art Gallery (VAG), established in 1975 primarily to house the works of one of the most celebrated artists of the erstwhile Mysore state. Many Bangaloreans believe that the red building is in fact the VAG, but that kind of mix-up is less likely to happen going forward; last week, as part of its golden jubilee celebrations, a swank, state-of-the-art VAG, renovated by the Brigade Foundation, reopened to the public in the same location. His artistic talent – he came from a long lineage of Chitrakaras, court painters patronised by the Mysore kings – was spotted early, by the Maharaja of Mysore, Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, who urged the lad to hone his skills at the Government School of Art in Calcutta. Arriving in Calcutta at 23, Venkatappa spent the next seven years studying under Tagore, alongside peers like Nandalal Bose, the pioneer of modern Indian art, and Asit Kumar Haldar, one of the major artists of the Bengal Renaissance. Like other artists of his generation who grew up in the ferment of nationalism, Venkatappa strove to create a new paradigm of art that was resolutely 'Indian'. But his reluctance to align himself with any artistic school, his rejection of important commissions that did not, in his estimation, compensate him adequately, or interfered with his artistic style (he preferred working in watercolours, when oils, inspired by Raja Ravi Varma, were all the rage in Mysore), and his habit of frequently neglecting his art for his music saw him produce far less work than his contemporaries. He may have faded into obscurity were it not for the Irish poet and theosophist James Cousins (famously responsible for nudging Kannada poet laureate Kuvempu into writing in his mother tongue after the latter solicited Cousins' feedback on his collection of poems in English), who, taken by Venkatappa's talent, recommended him to Nalvadi's brother, the Yuvaraja, in 1924. A royal commission followed soon after – a series of bas reliefs for the Mysore Palace, with a studio in the palace thrown in as a bonus. Venkatappa accepted, but he was by then so deep into his 'Ooty watercolours' phase (during which he produced some of his finest work) that delivery of the reliefs was inordinately delayed. With the death of Nalvadi in 1940, Venkatappa lost his most loyal patron. The new king, Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, summarily dismissed the artist and evicted him from the palace. Furious, Venkatappa sued the Palace, but in vain. He produced no more new work until his death in 1965. That the state government should have, despite everything, set up a gallery for his work 50 years ago, is clearly a testament to K Venkatappa's relevance and impact as an artist. But go visit the VAG, and judge for yourself! (Roopa Pai is a writer who has carried on a longtime love affair with her hometown Bengaluru)
