ಯಾರಿಗೆ ಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ ಈ ‘ ಅಕ್ಕ’ ರಾಜಕೀಯ

Dear Editor:

For the past couple of months I have been following all this hoopla about AKKA. I have been living in the US (in Los Angeles) since 1970. When I came here, there were very few Kannada families.. Of these, I got very close to Aithals and I have maintained the same close relationship todate. I still remember we getting together at one of the homes of these Kannada families (of course more often than not, it would be at Aithals!!). We did not have any specific agenda and we enjoyed getting together, being able to converse in Kannada, share things with each other and having a good time. As the number of Kannada speaking population started growing, we thought of formalizing such get togethers by proposing to form an Association. Of course, the rest is history. Kannada Koota of Southern California was formed (to cater to the Kannadigas of this region) is one of the oldest ones in the US. There are a lot of cultural and social activities under the auspices of this association. As similar associations started springing across the US, there seemed like there was a need for a better coordination of these associations. The result of this effort was the Kannada conference held in Phoenix, Arizona, during 1998. It was an extremely enjoyable function, despite the fact that there were some grumblings among the members about the type of food served etc.,

Then in September 2000, a similar conference was held in Houston, Texas. This probably was one of the best organized events, and was even more enjoyable and memorable than the one in Phoenix. I still carry fond memories of that conference. During that conference it was announced that the next conference would be held in New York area in 2002. However, due to the events of 9/11, the venue was changed.

The last conference was held at Detroit, Michigan in September 2002. I did not attend this conference due to short notification I received about this conference. In any case, I gathered (from those who did attend the conference) that the conference was nowhere as organized as the one held in Houston.

It is extremely unfortunate that now there is a faction of AKKA (known as AKKA-B) has been formed. From the excerpts of the news conference that the president of AKKA-B, held at Bangalore, I notice that they want to establish another unit called AMMA..

To me this shows the total immaturity. After all the number of Kannadigas in the US (relatively speaking) is very few compared to other groups (such as Gujarathis). Is the group so large that we cannot handle the needs of all Kannadigas under one Association? It sound so ridiculous even to think of forming these sub groups within a small group such as AKKA.

I know there are a lot of Kannda families who have not joined any association, simply because of this idiotic politics. We have enough to worry about in this foreign land. If this idiotic behavior continues, I can assure you a lot more Kannadigas would prefer to disassociate themselves from the Kannada Associations, whether it be Kannada Koota(s) or AKKA.

Thanks for listening.

Raj Iyengar,

Los Angeles

20 July, 2003

ಮುಖಪುಟ / ಎನ್‌ಆರ್‌ಐ