Blogs

POLI POLI DEVA GOES VIRAL

By P.T. Bopanna

My post on Puthari (Kodagu harvest festival), featuring the photo of Areyada Shruthi Ponanna (in picture) has generated 2,400 ‘likes’.

I had shared the post on my Facebook page Coorg-Kodagu News which has over 16,000 followers.

I am sure the virality has nothing to do with the content on Puthari festival. It is more to do with the photo of Shruthi, a businesswoman.

This is not the first time I have used the photo of Shruthi. Besides having a photogenic face, she also looks beautiful in person.

She was on cover of my bestselling book ‘Are Kodavas (Coorgs) Hindus?’ which got sold out in one month of the book’s release.

I decided to feature her on the cover of the book as there was opposition to the title of the book. On a lighter note, I thought her face on the cover would soften the ire of the saffron brigade.

Lot of thought goes into the cover of my books. The covers of my earlier books were designed by my young friend Franz Mendonsa, who has a Master’s in Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon University in the United States.

In recent years, I decided to use ‘in-house’ talent and the covers have been designed by Bhakti Saraswat-Devaiah. The covers of my latest book Nanjamma Chinnappa – Chronicler of Coorg Culture – which is due for launch next week and another book ‘Kodava Religion at Crossroads’ slated to be launched in January, 2025, have been designed by Bhakti.