Eminent novelist, playwright and poet K.T. Gatti passed away in Mangaluru on February 19. He was 85.
The mortal remains of Mr. Gatti would be kept at Annabelle II, Bejai-KMC Road, next to KMC, Bejai, Mangaluru from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to allow people to pay their respects. Later, the body would be donated to Kasturba Medical College, as per the writer’s last wish, according to family sources.
Born on July 22, 1938 at Koodlu in Kasargod district of Kerala, Mr. Gatti was a voracious reader from his school days. He was a lecturer at the T.M.A. Pai College of Education, Udupi. He later went to Ethiopia as a lecturer on a government of India scheme. He went to the United Kingdom to obtain a diploma in English from Trinity College.
After his return from abroad, he quit teaching and took up farming at Ujire in Dakshina Kannada district.
Mr. Gatti’s first novel in Kannada, Shabdagalu, was a compendium of serials published in a Kannada weekly magazine. It was published in 1976. The magazine, Sudha, has published 14 novels of Mr. Gatti. Some of of the prominent novels authored by him are Soumya, Mane, Raja Yajna, Niranthara, Abrahmana, Amuktha, Avibhaktaru, Karmanye Vadhikarasthe, Koopa, Bisilugudure, Mruthyorma Amurathamgamaya, Yuganthara, Shila Tapasvi, Swarna Mruta, and Aragina Mane.
In all, he had written over 50 novels, essays, poems and over 50 plays. Nearly 30 plays written for children were translated to different languages and were broadcast on All India Radio. Mr. Gatti presided over the 10th Dakshina Kannada District Sahitya Sammelana, and the second Kasargod Kannada Sahitya Sammelana. He was a recipient of Karnataka Sahitya Academy award and Karnataka Rajyotsava award.
