AN INTERESTING BOOK RELEASE FUNCTION!!

You are wondering on seeing the heading, whether the book release function was interesting or the book? But in reality, both were interesting. The day was the save frogs day ie., 28 Apr 2012. Location: Patanjali Yoga hall, Gubbi. Book: The Pictorial guide to the frogs and toads of western ghats. Author: Dr Guru raja KV. I was invited to the function and was looking forward to it from 7am as that was the time to board the taxi to gubbi with dr NA Aravind. Since all three of us (Manju the saarathi, me and aravind didn't want to miss the adrak chai) shared and sipped the hot chai, the ever present delay raised its head right there. After picking the author and preeti, we headed towards gubbi on a pretty uncluttered highway. Whatever size pins, the passengers used, manju refused going beyond 70kmph on that stretch. Other reason was we were all feeling the hollow sounds in the tummy! So, with gr8 fanfare, kvg announced that the alpahar will be at kamat just before tumkur. One common feature of all the eateries around bangalore is most of them are crowded beyond normal capacity on holidays by the 5day week crowds!! The angry looks, hungry waits, and sambar abhishek to appease manju was worth in the end. Idli, wada were worth the wait. Coffee was also good. It was 9-15 and we were still an hour from destination. KVG received the anxious call from gubbi labs director, and i think he assured that we will not break the tradition of maintaining the schedule (ie., if the event is at 10, presenting oneself at 1030 at the earliest!!)Post breakfast, manju flew us into gubbi by 1015. On getting the directions from Dr Sudhira, we arrived at the venue. Hurriedly, the kids who were in quite a large number enjoying their outdoor activities, assembled into the hall in  remarkably neat rows. Official photographers of the function, Mrs Ramya and Preethi, set their equipment unobtrusively in the corner for capturing the event. At 1030 sharp, Shri Satyanarayan along with two eager kids released the book in the presence of our future generation. I believe the release was exemplary because of the utter disregard for the fanfare and hoopla. It was a fitting celebration of the save the frogs day 2012. Immediately after the book release, we broke off for a cup of tea and snacks. This was handled with elan by Sudhir's mother along with a few volunteers.
Best part of the book release function was in store. KVG spoke at length about the frogs, why they are called amphibians, what are their role in ecology and what is happening to them and how we can help save them. This was an enlightening talk on the role of frogs. Kids participated in gusto with cross checking the small photos they had of frogs with actual id. This, I felt would go a long way in making them open to identifying, recording the frogs. Murali, of namma cycle fame had some interesting folk tales about frogs, which prompted sri satyanarayan to recollect some from his memory. I will give the links to the event subsequently.
Click here for the flier made for the event. And here are some more photos of the event.here you will find aravind, guru, sri satyanarayan along with curious kids who released the book.
At the end, we all went to sudhir's house for a sumptuous, gregarious meal topped with mysore pak. 
Post lunch, a drive around the field lab of gubbi and lots of photo graphing later, we had a surprise coffee. Special mention must be made of this coffee, because very rarely you get wonderful coffee which lingers on your taste bud. Thanx to Sudhir's mother and attige and ramya we had the coffee to die for. Return journey was mostly eventfree as sonia had already left tumkur and roads were free!!
All in all, a memorable day and the maiden publication from gubbi labs could not have asked for more!!!