Roots inspire this LITNAMA

Bengaluru techie Vinaykumar Sajjanar has always been proud of his roots. His venture Kahale pretty much draws its inspiration from the same — with an intent to revive and celebrate Kannada, its literature and the beauty of some long forgotten classic verses. “Kahale is a Kannada writers’ community with a mission of bringing together all Kannada literature followers around the world by organising ‘creative’ literary events,” elaborates Vinaykumar, who decides to transport rich Kannada literature to every possible home. And, the team is well on its way for  achieving just that.

“We have been conducting open mics for more than 17-18 months. We have successfully completed 17 open mics/poetry reading sessions in Bengaluru with average footfalls of 40-50. And for the people from other locations than Bengaluru, we have been asking them to send their selfie videos reciting their poems. We received more than 250 videos across five countries!” he adds.

The IT guy is thrilled at the response, and adds, “Kahale intends to bridge the gap between writers, readers and publishers. It will act as a common platform for each one of these to collaborate and support each other. Kahale aims to leverage today’s technology and social media platforms to bring back the glory of literature, notably among the youth.”

With a full-time nine to five job to juggle with, Vinaykumar’s multi-tasking capabilities might give us all the much-needed inspiration to venture out on our own. but, Vinay advises against it, unless one’s resolve is steely. “Well, it takes a lot of effort to balance my work and Kahale. Most of the weekends I spend only for Kahale. I must thank Facebook as that is where most of my networking happens. I find many creative people who support Kahale initiatives and it has also been easier thanks to my wonderful team. We have seven people in total, and everyone takes care of one department. Starting-up might seem like a cool thing to do, but it takes a lot more than just brainstorming to make it work.”

On the days he likes to take a breather from work and his fledgling venture, it’s all about catching up on some good reading. “I read books during my free time. I follow football and cricket, and I play badminton,” Vinaykumar says.

With a magazine on the cards, it clearly looks like Vinay harbours lofty dreams to make Kahale work. “A literary magazine by Kahale is on the cards, immediately. It will be launched soon to help all the poets and writers to publish their first book by partnering with leading publishers. That aside, I plan on hosting open mic cultural events in tier 1 and tier 2 cities in Karnataka,” he signs off.