Mangaluru: He is ‘auto uncle’ for some school children who regularly ply in his autorickshaw to their respective schools and for some other kids, he is ‘Yakshagana uncle’ as he also engages himself as a Yakshagana teacher during his leisure time.
The 57-year-old B N Ashok Boloor, a resident of Maladi near Kottara-Chowki performs double roles as autorickshaw driver and Yakshagana teacher to lead his life. He also performs as ‘Yakshgana Bhavavatha’ ( Yakshgana playback singer) in various Yakshgana programmes. Though he knows to handle all sections of playback music in Yakshagana, he still engages himself as an autorickshaw driver and expresses that it is inevitable for him to wear the dual mantles to lead a happy life.
Ashok was attracted to Yakshagana because his father Narnappa Karkera was also passionate about Yakshagana. Ashok performed the lead role in `Bhakta Prahlada` Yakshangana, while he was studying in eighth standard which boosted his interest in Yakshagana. He was forced to discontinue his education after completing SSLC due to many reasons including financial.
However, thanks to his passion, he could not desert Yakshagana. Though he opted autorickshaw driving as a profession, he studied the Yakshagana dance from Mundappa Kummanje and Mohan Bangera. Later, he studied Yakshagana Bhagavatha from Patla Mahabala Shetty, father of Patla Sathish Shetty, a leading Yakshgana Bhagavatha in Thenkutittu form. He learnt some classical tips in Yakshagana Bhagavatha from `Mandara Ramayana` fame Late Mandara Keshava Bhat. He also studied `Maddale` from Kasargod Parameshwar Achar. Thus he gained enough knowledge to perform any role in Yakshagana both Mummela (dance and act) and Himmela (background music).
After studying all the steps in Yakshagana, he started impart his knowledge to the budding talents in this art form at various places. Many women organisations in the city staged Yakshagana shows under the direction of Ashok. He taught Yakshagana steps to over 1000 students of various schools over the years. He also wrote Yakshagana prasangas (tales) for school programmes, like `Prathyakshe Mruthyu`, Mailara Lingeshwara Mahathme` `Cauvery Mahathme`, `Dharma Jyothi` among others.
Ashok has performed as a Bhagavatha in Bappanadu, Talakala, Sunkadakatte, Malla, Iruvailu, Ullal and other famous professional troupes of Yakshagana over the years. He has been using the opportunity to perform in Yakshagana as an amateur artiste. Rest of the time, he works as an autorickshaw driver in the city. Ashok is leading a peaceful life along with his wife Rekha and children Suprabha and Vignesh. His son Vignesh is also passionate about Yakshagana and has already been performing some roles.
‘People’s mindset on autorickshaw drivers must change’
Speaking to Newskarnataka.com, Ashok said that though he has been contributing his little towards Yakshgana by teaching and performing as Bhagavatha, some people were against his profession of autorickshaw driving. “I had some bitter experiences when I was open about my profession as an autorickshaw driver. I have lost several opportunities of performing as Yakshagana Bhagavatha in several places because of my livelihood source. The mindset of the people must change in this direction as my profession and passion are entirely different. My passion cannot earn sufficient income to lead my life but my profession can”, he says.
