The very memory of Dr. Dinkar Desai reminds one of the following lines from Tagore’s Geetanjali –
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy
I awoke and saw that life was service
I acted and beheld that service was joy”
Service was a joy for Dr. Dinkar Desai. Kanara Welfare Trust was a candid expression of his selfless service. Mahatma Gandhi once said that education is most powerful weapon which you can to change the world.
As an educationist, social reformer, political activist, Member of Parliament and writer, Dr. Dinkar Desai helped change the face of the district. In 1967, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kanara Constituency. He is more famous as a poet, for introducing the four-liner limerick, called ‘chutaka’ in Kannada. The readers of the land proudly called him Chutaka-Brahma & Chutuka Sarvabhawma. On the occasion of the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award, he was described as “Abhinava Sarvajna”.
To quote Mahatma Gandhi, “Education is an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man – body, mind and spirit”. Dr. Desai too had belief in this dictum. He was of the firm view that education was the foundation on which architecture of social reforms could be built. Thus, spreading education became the primary goal of the Trust. It penetrated into remote villages of Uttar Kannada District, some of them rooted in the deep forest region, where even the Government did not ponder to venture, to open High Schools, Dr Dinakar Desai opened Gokhale Centenary College at Ankola.
We salute his valuable service to our district.
