Journos Celebrate ‘Press Club Day’ with Family Members & Friends
Mangaluru: It was a day when the journos set aside their pens, notebooks and files and indulged in some fun-n-frolic at the “Press Club Day” celebrated on Saturday, 6 January 2018 at Urwa Church Hall-Mangaluru. The chief guest for the day was DC Sasikanth Senthil S, who was joined on the dais by other dignitaries namely- Rajendra Kumar-Chairman of SCDCC Bank; Pradeep Kalkura- Former President of DK Kannada Sahitya Parishat; Manohar Prasad- the Chief of News Bureau of Udayavani Chief; Anand Shetty- President of Press Club Trust; Dr Ronald Fernandes- President of Press Club; and Jagannath Shetty Bala-president of Dakshina Kannada working journalists’ union.
Prior to the formal stage programme, a few journos demonstrated their talents by performing classical music, and enthralled audience with a Yakshagana Play, which received loud applause from the audience. Like every year, Press Club honors a person for his achievement with a Mangaluru Press Club Award, and this award was bestowed on the man who converted his physical disability to his advantage. He was none other than Ganesh Kamath from Moodbidri, who lost both the arms due to an electric shock in 2001 while doing a floodlight arrangement at Karkala, has now become a successful entrepreneur running G.K. Decorators.
From catering to small functions and marriages, Kamath has now grown to make arrangements for mega-events like the recently concluded Dharma Samsad at Udupi. A committee selected Kamath for the award, being given for the third year. The award carried Rs 10,001 purse, citation and memento. The award was given to Kamath by Chief Guest Sasikanth Senthil, along with other dignitaries on the dais. Receiving the award, Kamath extended his gratefulness to everyone who had played an important role in his life, after he became disabled.
Life was not a cakewalk for 41-year-old Kamath who grew up in poverty and had to discontinue studies after the 7th standard. He began working for pandal entrepreneurs at the age of 12 and lost his arms in 2001 at Karkala, which also took away his job. He began renting out music system for marriage and other programmes, which has now grown in size and offers job to about 45 persons. For his achievement, he did deserve this prestigious Press Club Award. Congrats Kamath!
Also during the occasion, seventeen journos were also felicitated for their achievements during last year, they were- Manohar Prasad; Dr U P Shivanand Puttur; U K Kumarnath; Dr Anil Ronald Fernandes; Jaganath Shetty Bala; Keshava Kunder; P B Hariprasad Rai; Mohammed Arif; Taranath Kapikad; Dr Seethalakshmi Kakrikodi; Naresh Kumar Sasihithlu; Deviprasad; Apul Alva Ira; KP Manjunath; Gopal Anchan; Maunesh Vishwakarma and Kishore Peraje.
Like every child wants to follow in their parents footsteps, here are a few children of the journos who were also felicitated during the occasion for their achievements-they were, Sindhu Rai P; Ankitha N; Ruth Ann Fernandes; and Sathwik K Kunder. Prizes were also distributed to the winners in the Press Club Sports Day held recently at Nehru Maidan-Mangaluru.
Addressing the audience DC Sasikanth Senthil said, “The media plays an important role in society. What is its role and to what extent is it independent and why is it important to maintain freedom of speech? Media is a service which communicates entertainment and/or a message, or opinion to a large audience. Media covers a wide range of uses. The Media covers a wide variety of people’s interests. Media is a huge consortium of people working together that has an impact on every aspect of our lives. I feel that we need the media specifically to find out news for us, they can find out information much easier than us and often information that we cannot get hold of due to their influential power or large amounts of money.”
“It is quite evident to all of us that the mass media has become an essential part of everyone’s life. Rather, the media plays a constructive role in today’s society – from increasing public awareness to collecting views, information, and also the attitude of the people towards a certain issue. It is one of the most powerful tools of communication -it can aid in promoting the right things at a right point in time. Media helps to provide a strong message to the world about what is right or wrong. The world is making a steady progress towards a better future every day. But still, people are bound by the social problems and issues directly or indirectly are “affected by the people, of the people and for the people. I compliment the media personnel of Mangaluru/DK for doing a yeomen service in the field of journalism, and congratulate them for their achievements,” added DC.
Couple other dignitaries on the dais also spoke and appreciated the role played by the media people in the day to day life of the community. The vote of thanks was proposed by Ibrahim A, and programme was compered by B Ravindra Shetty and Naresh Sashihitlu. Following a cultural programme, the Press Club Day ended with a sumptuous lunch.
