Arguably the finest work of 20th century Kannada literature, D V Gundappa's Mankutimmana Kagga is a bouquet of remarkable verses that are meditations on life, creation, destiny, art, culture, history, human nature, and the universe. Insightful, humorous, charming, hard-hitting, and inspiring by turns, the Kagga is a song of life that has something for everyone. Foggy Fool's Farrago is a modern translation in simple English with a detailed introduction and copious additional notes that will build the bridge between this masterpiece and readers across the globe.Devanahalli Venkataramanayya Gundappa (1887-1975) was a great visionary and polymath. He was a journalist, poet, art connoisseur, philosopher, political analyst, institution builder, social commentator, social worker, and activist. He founded/edited many newspapers, wrote extensively in Kannada and English, established social organizations and guilds, and worked tirelessly for people's welfare. He lived like a sage till the last, moving easily with rich and poor, bureaucrat and laborer, scholar and unschooled. He received the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 1967 and the Padma Bhushan in 1974.
About the Author: Malathi Rangaswamy, BA (b. 1931, Mysore) exhibited great talent in music, mathematics, literature, drama, and quizzing even as a child. She completed matriculation in 1947 and intermediate in 1949. In 1948, she married S Rangaswamy, a school teacher. In 1956, as a mother of a ten-month-old she appeared for the exam for a bachelor's degree in arts and became a graduate, which was rare in those days, especially for women. Her quest for knowledge didn't stop there; she pursued her interest in music and writing. She has written poems, stories, essays, and travelogues in Kannada, Tamil, Sanskrit, and English. Some of her early poems were published in Mysore's Sadhvi newspaper. A few of her travelogues from her temple visits were published in Sri Ranganatha Paduka. In 2011, an anthology of her poetry (in five languages) was published. She recently translated a book about the history of the Andavan Ashrama from Tamil to Kannada. Hari Ravikumar, BE (b. 1984, Bangalore) has been a mechanical engineer, software coder, content manager, administrator, teacher, designer, copyeditor, product strategist, community/event manager, pedagogue, and writing facilitator at various points of time in his life. His interests include Eastern wisdom, Carnatic music, math, comics, languages, design, martial arts, literature, education, yoga, and films. He co-wrote The New Bhagavad-Gita, The Easy Bhagavad-Gita, The Complete Bhagavad-Gita, and Srishti (with Koti Sreekrishna) and translated Shatavadhani R. Ganesh's 'Samanyadharma' to English. His articles and essays have appeared in Daily O, IndiaFacts, Swarajya, and The Economic Times. His short stories have appeared in Bhavan's Journal, Indian Short Fiction, Open Road Review, Spark, The Affair, The Criterion, The Four Quarters Magazine, and The New Indian Express.