Karnataka Cultural Association - Southern California

It was late 1972 when Drs. K.A. Ranganath, Kolar Murthy and Krishnamurthy (now in Portland , Oregon ) started Kannada Koota in Southern California. All three of them were recently married and their wives also joined in this pesky task. Through UCLA directory and telephone books they were able to gather about 30 Kannadiga sounding names with their telephone numbers (in those days most were listed!). They arranged for a meeting on the last Saturday of April, 1973 at Ranganath’s apartment in Pasadena . 60 to 70 people showed up around 1:00 PM . After lunch, prepared by the three couples, the meeting started without any specific Agenda. Some of the assembled were opposed to starting an organization dedicated to Kannada people on the premise that Indians should not divide it between different States or Languages. The objection was very soon over-ruled and Kannada Koota was born installing Dr Nagaraja Rao (now deceased)as first President. Annual dues were set at $3.00. The message of the pioneers and founding fathers was very simple - Bring the Kannada families together by celebrating some major festivals, which are unique to Karnataka. Thus the idea of celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi, Deepavali, Sankaranti and Ugadi every year was agreed upon. To this was added the annual picnic to mark the beginning of every year.