Jnanpith winner ONV arrives to rousing welcome

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Noted Malayalam poet and lyricist O.N.V. Kurup, who has been named for the Jnanpith Award, arrived to a rousing welcome at the airport here Saturday on his return from Dubai. He was received by ministers, close friends, students and hundreds of children.

Emerging from the arrival lounge, ONV, as he is popularly called, was flanked by state Culture Minister M.A. Baby and State PWD Minister M. Vijaykumar.

ONV was in Dubai to attend a function organised by Malayalis there. He is the fifth Malayali to get the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in the country.

Hundreds of his well-wishers greeted him with flowers and shawls. An emotional ONV said he was truly moved by the reception accorded to him.

“I am really touched by all the love and affection you have shown me…my only promise to you is that if my hands have the strength, I will return this love you have shown through a work of mine,” the 79-year-old said.

The other four Jnanpith award winners from Kerala are G. Sankara Kurup (1965), S.K. Pottekad (1980), Thakazhi Siva Sankara Pillai (1984) and M.T. Vasudevan Nair (1995).

ONV is the second Malayali to get the prestigious award for poetry after G. Sankara Kurup.

Also a known lyricist, ONV won the National Award in 1989 for best lyricist for the film “Vaishali”.

Born May 27, 1931 at Chavara, Kollam in Kerala, he graduated in economics from S.N. College, Kollam and completed his post-graduate degree in Malayalam literature.

His first published poem was “Munnottu” (Forward), which appeared in a local weekly in 1946 and since then, he has not looked back.