"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal
This book is a compendium of one hundred and eight popular Purandara Dasa Keertanas (songs) which are translated into English and written in a verse form. The transliteration in English of the actual songs is given on the left side while, corresponding translation in poetry form is on the right. This is followed by the significance and author's own interpretation of the song. The reasons for writing this book are multifold, including enhancing the access of the works of Purandara Dasa to the wider section of people. As many readers would know, these kritis, composed in Kannada (a regional language in the state of Karnataka in India) are sung in most concerts given in Carnatic Classical style of music. This book enables the artists to read the lyrics accurately, interpret, and understand their meanings as well. Although there are several people who have interpreted these lyrics, the author has tried to preserve the beauty of the diction as far as possible since she wanted the possibility of singing the transliterations as well, like the original form in the verses.
Vasumathi Venkatadri
Vasumathi was born in Bangalore on 2nd July 1944 to Dr Sethuram and Mahalakshmi and brought up in a conservative environment under good guidance. She became a double graduate in Science and Education at the age of 18. She was a part of the college basketball team at Maharani’s college, Bangalore. A postgraduate in Mathematics from Venkateshwara University in the year 1980, she later became a certificate holder in computer C language and UNIX.
She was a secondary school teacher in Science, Mathematics, and English for 47 years and retired as headmistress of a High School in the year 2011. Her sincerity and dedication were unparalleled. She secured an award from the department of education, for getting one hundred percent result in the SSLC public examination, the pupils hailing from low to middle class families.
She wrote poems and also several dramas for children on almost every occasion like school day, environmental day, National Science Day, ISKCON Competition for playing Mythological Dramas, and so on. The school won many prizes for enacting these plays. Some of these were compiled and published in a book form in 2015, named ‘Golden necklace and other dramas’ (for children). A few skits were written in Kannada also. She is the author of another book titled “Heirloom Iyengar Recipes” that has seen good sales internationally.
She is visually challenged by advanced macular degeneration but continues to write at least for an hour or two per day exploiting several low visual aid gadgets. She enjoys singing, listening to music and spends time solving crosswords on the iPad.
This book is an outcome of her passion for contributing to society.
