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LEOMEL is a voluntary organization of Belagavi committed to the welfare of dying, destitute and abandoned people serving the society and running Karunalaya home for almost two decades. The interesting part, it functions all on its own through generous donations from family and friends of Anita Rodricks, the noble soul behind this organization dedicated to the welfare of the less privileged brethren of our society. Karunalaya is based at Navage village, about 14 kilometres from Belagavi on Jamboti and VTU road. It is run and managed by members of the LEOMEL Society. Fr Victor D'cruz is the honorary President of the LEOMEL society shouldering multiple responsibilities in running the organization. He is also a Priest serving in the Belgavi Diocese. In an interaction, Anita Rodricks found time to trace the history of LEOMEL society and Karunalaya, odds on the way and the smooth ride later and so far. Excerpts from the interview: Q: What made you start Karunalaya in Belagavi? Anita Rodr

Vijay P Moogi is a Belagavi-based consulting Engineer with a penchant for designing churches, clergy houses, convents, schools, colleges, presbyteries, chapels and hostel buildings since the early eighties. A son of the late District Health Surgeon, he has been designing them in Belagavi and neighbourhood towns and states including Goa. Like many of you, me too was wondering whether he is a Christian going by the innumerable church-related works he has been handling all along and proved myself wrong. A fatherly personality: He has nothing to do with Christianity. If so, how come he has almost turned out to be a fatherly figure to the missionary community? Strange it may appear and that too in the given circumstances and on goings wherein people of the same faith are finding faults with one another. Honesty, Integrity and Commitment were the only characteristics which can be termed as solely responsible for the skyrocketing of his career graph to unimaginable heights. Alumnus of BVB Col

Virupakshayya Chennabasavayya Hiremath is basically a retired English Professor who has served at Methodist Church College of Kalaburagi. Later, after serving 12 years he was transferred to Beynon Smith Methodist Degree College of Arts, Belagavi where he retired from teaching English. He served for 21 years in Belagavi and retired in May 2013. Soon after his retirement he has taken over as a pontiff of the Mutt in his native Narasapur village of the historic Badami Taluk in Bagalkot district. Seer later but punishing the body earlier: Maybe, VC Hiremath now fondly revered as Hiremath Swamiji or Narasapur Mutt Swamiji has become the pontiff after his formal retirement. But he has started punishing his body much earlier. Shivayogi V. Geernavar, his erstwhile colleague in the Beynon Smith Methodist Degree College of Arts recalls-“His sacrificing nature much before adoring the saffron clothes can be termed as a rare phenomenon in the saga of Veerashiva-Lingayat culture. For record sake, he

Sripati Patil was too humble a farmer and a native of Mutaga on the outskirts of Belagavi district headquarters in Karnataka with a couple of acres of farmland. Had he remained to continue so restricting his activities to the meagre land holdings and home, he would have gone into oblivion as another traditional land tiller struggling to make both ends meet. But, no he wasn’t into the run-of-the-mill mindset and believed in trying, upgrading and innovating and all these efforts paid him rich dividends in a very big way. The Alepakh recipe he developed is now 47 years old and has become a mouth-watering delicacy to quench the taste buds of Belagavi residents and all those who keep visiting the city. Own crops become products: Initially, Sripati Patil ventured into business in a small way by selling Sugarcane juice with the cane grown in his own fields. Gradually and over a period of time he started making puffed rice and flattened rice from the Paddy grown in his own fields. Then, by add

Several people from the state and different parts of the country have paid tributes to Ashok Deshpande and have recalled his services and their association with him. Septuagenarian Gandhian and retired Administrative Officer Krishna V Itnal, now settled in Pune spoke very highly of late Ashok Deshpande’s contribution to the society in general and the region where he opted to serve all along his lifetime. Five Lakh saplings planted: Krishna V Itnal reminisces-“Late Ashok Deshpande was a safai karyakarta like Gandhi in Sarvodaya field. His entire efforts concentrated in rural areas based on the Gandhian concept of Economy of permanence. He had taken me to Guramatti village where his team planted 5 lakh saplings! Thanks to the accomplishment of such a Herculean task, the net result, even now, is that a kilometre away from that village, that is in Maharashtra all the wells in adjoining villages, are filled with water throughout the year… …Not even one person migrated: Thanks to the effort

In the passing away of Umesh Vishwanath Katti(61), the state and more so the border Belagavi district has lost a heavy weight well known for his sway, maneuvering and manipulative politics in the district. Umesh Katti Lost only once with Congress: An eight times MLA from the same Hukkeri Assembly constituency from Janata Party(JP), Janata Dal(JD), Janata Dal United(JD(U)), Janata Dal Secular(JD-S) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he only failed to make it by a margin of 800 votes on behalf of the Indian National Congress (INC)! A chameleon of sorts: He changed parties not once or twice but for a record number of six times and proved to the onlookers that parties didn’t really matter to him for succeeding in electoral politics. And irrespective of the party he belonged, was successful enough in managing a berth in the state cabinet. Day dreamer of becoming a CM: However, whenever he was left out of the ministry for whatsoever reasons he fondly floated the utopian idea of carving