Madhu Mailankody: Setting Standards for Sports Presentation

By Abhishek N Bhat | coastaldigest.com
May 3, 2019

The advent of Star Sports into Kannada - a language which is already replete with nearly three dozen state-level television channels - has brought forth an accomplished anchorwoman, who can steal the hearts of television audience in Karnataka in general and sports enthusiasts in particular through her astute presentation amidst the hullaballoo of a bunch of sanctimonious and strident anchors cutting across the news and the entertainment channels.

Flashing a million dollar smile Madhu Mailankody was the first anchor to go live on air after the Walt Disney owned Star India recently launched the Star Sports 1 Kannada, said to be the country’s first and only dedicated Kannada sports channel.

The all-round ‘Sport Presenter’ is one of the very few female specialists in all forms of sports and games including cricket, football, badminton, kabaddi and volleyball in Karnataka. She is now often seen hosting various sports shows and programmes and interviewing sports legends on the channel. In spite of her acumen and insightfulness, the gorgeous girl’s humility and not so ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude has set new standards for anchoring and sports presentation in Kannada.

“How do you feel?” I drag her into a conversation on WhatsApp after watching her live on the television. “Working with legends of various sport and sharing work space with them... A good opportunity to interact with sports giants from across the world like Brian Lara, Brett Lee, Scott Styris, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Virendra Sehwag, Venkatesh Prasad…,” Madhu candidly responds before heading back to studio for shoot.

Madhu is a Mangalurean. Nay, a young Kasaragod Kannadiga woman, who even before entering the Star Sports had carved a niche in the hearts of Mangalureans through anchoring and hosting various events for past several years. Knowing that she is an out-spoken but publicity-shy woman who exudes genuine passion and commitment for her work, I obliquely pester her to tell me more about herself. She strikes me as a self-made woman, unburdened by all her God-gifted talents and achievements.

The desi girl’s lucid English, immaculate Kannada, chaste Hindi, friendly Malayalam and cordial Tulu coupled with an affable body language always make her stand out from the rest. Madhu’s multilingual and multicultural mastery makes her “an anchor sans borders” who can easily engage with diverse audience in almost all Indian states and beyond. She has won the applause of NRI audiences in Middle Eastern countries like United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman.

Madhu shares a close bond with the word ‘League’. She entered Star Sports in 2017 as an anchor for Indian Super League (ISL), the most premium football league of the country. In 2018-2019 she was an anchor for the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL). In 2018-2019 she was a host for the entire Premiere Badminton League (PBL). She has been the ground MC for Karnataka Premiere League (KPL) since 2015. She was the solo host for three seasons of Mangalore Premier League (MPL) and then went on to become the voice of Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium for over 35,000 spectators during Indian Premier League (IPL). She also played the role of an anchor during several international cricket tournaments. Earlier this year she was part of the Asia Federation Cup.

The secret behind the magnanimous Madhu’s lively personality lies at ‘Mailankody’ in the pristine village of Perdala off Badiyadka town in Kasaragod district, where she was born as the second and last daughter of Savithri G Bhat and M Ganapathi Bhat, who opted agriculture after completing his post-graduation at a juncture when millions of rural Indians quit agriculture and migrated to towns and cities. She was brought up in the same village before shifting to Namma Kudla for college education. An alumnus of St Agnes and St Aloysius, two of Mangaluru’s prestigious colleges, Madhu is a passionate traveler, who prefers to spend time with the nature than in shopping malls and restaurants. The father’s pet daughter turns herself into a volcano of self-confidence when she says, “I am purely an independent girl!”

Comments

PK Kudla
 - 
Sunday, 5 May 2019

Terribly gorgeous girl.  Nice photos. 

Richard Rego
 - 
Sunday, 5 May 2019

Well written. Hope Madhu Mailankody reaches great heights of success

Roshan Martis
 - 
Sunday, 5 May 2019

Wonderful article on a wonderful girl. Proud of you Madhu Mailankody. God bless.

Aron
 - 
Saturday, 4 May 2019

Nice piece of article on a nice girl. All the best Madhu

Nithin Mangalore
 - 
Saturday, 4 May 2019

Madhu Malankodi is quite familiar in Mangalore. Happy to see her scaling new heights. I liked the last line: “I am purely an independent girl”. You are practically a feminist. I must thank the writer Mr Abhishek N Bhat for the beautiful write up. 

Raveena M
 - 
Saturday, 4 May 2019

Wonderful woman. One should live life like this! I worked Madhu during an event in Mangalore years ago and received my first salary from her. 

M Sadashiva Rao
 - 
Friday, 3 May 2019

A stupendous performance and achievement - By Madhu Mailankdy - hailing from a remote rural place - proving that it is one's talent, attitude and passion that makes or marks a person - one need not be City bread to be an achiever -  Congratulations and compliments to this simple girl from Perdala - who has carved a niche for herself in the arena of sports presentation

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 4,2020

Mangaluru, Aug 4: The Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy has announced the names of the winners of its annual honorary awards (Gaurava Prashasti and Gaurava Puraskara) for the years 2019 and 2020.

Rahim Uchil, the president of the Academy announced the names at a press conference in the city today. Beary Academy registrar Poornima and member Shamsheer Budoli were also present in the press meet. 

Gaurava Prasasthi-2020 winners are: Basheer Ahmed Kinya (Beary literature), Veena Mangaluru (Beary cinema, drama and art) and Siddique Manjeshwara (Beary organisation and social service) 

Gaurava Puraskara-2020 winners are: Dr Mohammed Ismail (medicine), T A Mohammed Asif (education), Iliyas Mangaluru (social service), Abdul Rasheed aka Rash Beary (Beary organisation) and Safwan Shah Bahrain (young talent). 

Gaurava Prashasti-2019 winners are: Abdul Rehman Kutthethur (Beary literature), Ismail Tannirbhavi (Beary art) and M Ahmed Bava Moidin (Beary organisation and social service).

Gaurava Puraskara-2019 winners are: Abdul Razzak Ananthady (Beary education), T S Hussain (Beary literature), Abdul Majeed Suralpady (General), Asif Karnad (social service) and Ali Kunhi Paare (Beary organisation). 

The Academy’s "Gaurava Prashasti consists of Rs 50,000 cash prize, shawl, garland and citation, while "Gaurava Puraskara" consists of Rs 10,000 cash prize, shawl, garland and citation.

Mr Uchil said that the awards will be conferred in a formal function after discussing the dates with chief minister once the covid-19 situation comes under control. Even though the winners for the year 2018 were announced, they weren’t conferred on the achievers. Hence those awards also will be conferred in the same ceremony, he said.

About the winners:

Basheer Ahmed Kinya: He has been involved with the Beary music sector since the last 21 years in the form of singer, and poet. He has provided lyrics for over 150 Beary audio cassettes and also sang them. His first audio cassette, Maskattoru Kallas' had created a record by getting sold out within four to five days. He has also created several non-stop cassettes and Duf songs. 
 
Veena Mangaluru: She has acted in the first Beary cinema. She has acted in over a thousand plays in different languages. 'Mami Marmolu', Kurfat Katte/Amadakaro Chiri, and Shamimarabal are some of the plays she has acted in. 
 
Siddique Manjeshwar: A social worker and activist. Through social media, he led a blood donation campaign and thereby helped thousands of people.  There are over 10,000 members in his 54 WhatsApp groups who are ready for blood donation. His ‘Blood Donate Mangaluru’ drive has been able to collect over 26,000 units of blood and conducting over 250 blood donation camps so far. He was honoured with a special award of the chief minister of Kerala. 

Dr Muhammed Ismail: Dr Muhammed Ismail completed his medical education in 1989 and has been serving different hospitals since the last 30 years being a highly respected doctor. He also is an honorary medical officer of the Wenlock Hospital Mangaluru. He has served as an office-bearer of Indian Medical Association, Karnataka Medico-legal Society etc.
 
T A Mohammed Asif: He has been providing education to over 360 students from LKG to the eighth standard through Adarsh Group of educational institutions. He is also active in the social sector and has distributed school bags and books to poor students. During the lockdown, he distributed free food items worth about Rs 10 lac.
 
Ilyas Mangaluru: He had fought against the menace of dowry. He has got over 500 girls married through an organization, 'Dowry Free Nikah'. He has also created an app, Free Nikah, which helps boys and girls to find suitable matches. 
 
Rash Beary: Abdul Rasheed aka Rash Beary is known for using social media to help the people. By establishing 'Beary Nikah Helpline' he has helped several poor Beary women to get married. He also provides free counselling services to couples from all religions. With the help of donors, he keeps distributing clothes and food among needy.

Safwan Shah Bahrain: A well-known Beary singer, he has sung several songs in past one decade. He has been organizing various Beary programmes in Bahrain for past eight years. He had undertaken the adventure of jumping from the air from a height of 13,000 feet with the Indian flag in hand. 

Abdul Razack Ananantady: A PU college lecturer by profession, he has conducted over 500 pre-exam training camps and functioned as a resource person in leadership and personality development training. He has been conducting training and lectures for students and their parents on learning nutrition, and life values. His addresses on education and cultural aspects have been aired by Akashvani.

Abdul Rahiman Kuthethur: He was the co-editor or Beary Kannada - English dictionary and editor of the first-ever Beary grammar book released in 2019. He also is a member of the experts' committee on the Beary language textbook. He has translated Panchatantra stories, Sarvajna Vachanas etc into Beary language and published collection of poems.

Ismail Tannirbavi: He is known as a Beary theatre personality, who started acting at the age of 17. He has acted in over 300 plays including Beary, Tulu and Kannada. He has been in the theatre since the last 55 year and his plays have been presented in countries like Muscat and Kuwait. 
 
Ahmed Bawa Moidin: A social worker and member of the Beary Study chair. He also is the life member of Beary Sahitya Parishad and member of Human Ethical Committee of Mangalore University. He was the founder vice president of Mangalore Merchant Associate and member of divisional railway users consultative/committee. He has donated blood 53 times. 

 T S Hussain: Hussain is a veteran Beary writer who has defied blindness. He faced many difficulties and challenges in life and also met with an accident in 2008. Because of this accident, his eyesight had become very weak. He continued with the creation of works with determination in spite of failing eyesight with help from friends. He has authored two works and was appreciated for their content. Thereafter, he authored two more works. In 2018, he wrote another work.
 
Abdul Majeed Suralpady: A social worker and activist, he has served in various organizations. He served as the president of Suralpady government higher primary school for 21 years. He also served as the president of the educational committee of South Karnataka Sunni Centre's Al Ihsan English Medium School and got government recognition for the school. He set up PU college for girls and laid two-way road at Kaikamba besides bus shelter, toilet, drinking water system and building for police check post.
 
Apatbandhava Asif Karnad: He has been serving as an ambulance driver for the last ten years. He readily carries dead bodies and performs funeral. and done so for over a thousand bodies so far. Whenever he comes across mentally unsound people on the road, he gives them a wash and admits them to Ashrams. He has also been maintaining Maimoon Foundation Apatbhandhava Sycho Rehabilitation Centre.
 
Alikunhi Pare: He is the founder president of 'Melthene', a forum of Beary writers and artists. He has also served social, literary, organizational and religious sectors. He has been identified with several organizations including Mangaluru taluk Yuvajana Okkota and Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Muslim Central Committee.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 16: A protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and National Population Register organised by the Muslim Central Committee of the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts near Adiyar on Wednesday signalled a snowballing opposition to the measures.

Harsh Mander, former Indian Administrative Service officer-turned-social activist, asserted that the nation’s fight against 'fascist' forces including Bharatiya Janata Party and its parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh began over 100 years ago when Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa and led the freedom movement against the British.

In his address, Mr Mander asserted that the fight against CAA and NRC is also a campaign to save the secular fabric of the nation. He added that the fight began over a century ago when Hindu Mahasabha and other organisations popped up with their vision to turn the nation into a Hindu country.4

Also Read: 

#MangaluruAgainstNRC | Undeclared bandh in parts of Dakshina Kannada

‘Who are you? Are you British?’ PFI leader lambasts Mangaluru top cop at anti-NRC protest

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 20,2020

Mangaluru, May 20: In a gut-wrenching tragedy, a Class 10 student who was preparing for the final examinations drowned in Adyapady dam on the outskirts of the city yesterday.

The victim is Mallik, 17, a resident of Mulur village in Gurpur. The tragedy occurred when Mallik along with some others had come to the dam to catch fish.

According to the police, he accidentally slipped into the waters and drowned. His body was recovered later. 

Jurisdictional Bajpe police have registered a case of unnatural death and investigations are underway.

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