Bengaluru: For 37-year-old Nagashetty, who was born visually impaired, the journey to win a doctorate was an uphill one. During the 53rd Annual Convocation on Thursday, he was awarded with Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Arts- Kannada) for his research on ‘Kuvempu Kavyagalli Antherdrusti’ from Bangalore University.
Hailing from a remote village of Shalebeeranahalli near Chincoli Town, Nagashetty currently works as a Kannada teacher in a Government PU College, JC Nagar. To begin with Nagashetty was not even sure of receiving proper education, let alone a doctorate.
Nagashetty completed his schooling from Gulbarga Blind School and owing to the lack of options he stayed at Puttaraj Gawai ashrama in Gadag to complete his under-graduation.
“I somehow used to study for exams with the help of classmates and others,” said Nagashetty, who never gave up on pursuing higher education. He joined Adichunchanagiri College and completed his BA and PG courses.
Remembering the challenges during student days, Nagashetty recollected that many times books were not available in Braille version. “I used to ask people to read it loud for me and listen to the audio scripts,” he added.
He attributed his accomplishments to Dr Siddalingaiah, who encouraged him to study for PhD.
A keen student of Kannada literature, Nagashetty said safeguarding Kannada language was his priority. “I would like to continue as Kannada teacher and encourage people to learn the language,” Nagashetty said.
