JOURNALIST, ACTIVIST AND CHRONICLER OF COORG
P. T. Bopanna (born 30 June 1950) is an author and journalist from Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnataka, India. Palanganda Thimmaiah Bopanna has worked for some of the leading Indian English dailies, including The Times of India, Bengaluru, for 12 years (Principal Correspondent), and The Pioneer (New Delhi), as their Special Correspondent (Bengaluru) for 13 years. He has written nine books.
Early life:
Bopanna completed his schooling at Gonikoppal in Kodagu. He obtained his B.A. degree (Economics) from Madras University (Chennai) and M.A. in Political Science from Karnatak University, Dharwad. He also has a post-graduate diploma in journalism from Bhavans, Mumbai, where he was a student of well-known journalist M.V. Kamath.
Career:
Bopanna began his journalistic career in 1981 as the Coorg Correspondent of The Hindu newspaper. He briefly worked with The Times of Deccan at Bengaluru, where he was mentored by veteran journalist T.J.S. George.
He served for 12 years with The Times of India, Bangalore (June, 1984), starting as Reporter and exiting as Principal Correspondent. Subsequently, he worked for 13 years as Special Correspondent with The Pioneer (New Delhi) at Bengaluru from August, 1996. He covered mostly political news for the paper. For six years he served as Bangalore Stringer (from 1998) of the Associated Press, an American news agency. He covered general news with emphasis on human interest stories. He taught journalism for six years to undergraduate and post-graduate students from 2001 to 2006. For two years, he taught at Surana College, Bengaluru, two years at Jain College, Bengaluru, and two years at Sri Sri Institute of Media Studies, Bengaluru.
Awards:
Bopanna won two awards in 1986 instituted by the Bangalore Reporters' Guild for best crime story and scoop of the year.
His book ‘The Romance of Indian Coffee’ won the prestigious Gourmand international award under the ‘Best in the World’ coffee book category in 2015.
Books:
Bopanna has written nine books: Discover Coorg (2006, Prism Books), The Rise and Fall of the Coorg State (2009), Dateline Coorg (2010), Coorg: Land of Beauty and Valour (2010, Prism Books) and The Romance of Indian Coffee (2011, Prism Books).
The book Discover Coorg, published by Prism Books Ltd., Bengaluru, was translated into the Kannada language – Kodagu: Mungaru Maleya Vismayada Nadu (2008). Another book Rise and Fall of the Coorg State has been translated into both the Kannada and the Kodava (Coorg) languages. Bopanna compiled the book 'Are Kodavas (Coorgs) Hindus?' (2018), which debates the religion of the Kodavas. In 2020, Bopanna authored ‘My Coorg Chronicles’, which traces his journalistic journey, and his foray into writing books. In 2021, he published his book ‘Coorg Role Models’ which features the winners of the ‘Coorg Person of the Year’ title. Bopanna authored ‘Round and About with P T Bopanna’ in 2022.
Websites:
Bopanna launched www.coorgtourisminfo.com, a news and tourism portal in 2005. The websites promoted by him are:
www.coorgtourisminfo.com
www.coorgrecipes.com
www.coorgjewellery.in
www.coorghomestays.co.in
www.coorgnews.in
www.coorgbooks.in
www.kodavas.in
DVD on Coorg:
In April 2015, Bopanna released a 35-minute DVD on Coorg called Discover Coorg Video. It features tourist spots, homestays, Coorg jewellery, and golf ranges in Coorg, the Kodava family hockey festival and Kodava culture, including the traditional folk dances and Kodava weddings.
Online Campaign:
Through his news portal www.coorgtourisminfo.com, Bopanna started an online campaign in 2012 to improve the condition of the neglected Hunsur-Gonikoppal Road, a 45-km highway between the districts of Mysuru and Kodagu. Due to the sustained campaign, the relaying of the road was completed in 2014.
He is also actively involved in social media. He has more than 20,000 members on his various Facebook groups/pages. He also conducts an annual online poll to select the 'Coorg person of the Year'.
Personal life
Bopanna is the son of P. M. Thimmaiah, who served as Deputy Conservator of Forests in Andaman Islands, and Kamy Thimmaiah. He is married to Sita Bopanna. Bopanna's son Devaiah Bopanna, is a Mumbai-based writer and entrepreneur. Devaiah is married to Bhakti Saraswat, computer science engineer and user experience designer. They have a son, Raghav Thimmaiah Palanganda.