A woman from Hubballi has been creating awareness about Kannada through skating. Yes, you read it right. Fifty-year-old Shobha Sunil Gundavi, who hails from Hubballi and is currently residing in Bengaluru, took out a skating rally from Hubballi to the sammelana venue, waving the Kannada flag.

This is the 20th sammelana she is participating in and since 1998 Kanakpura sammelana, she never missed any 'Kannada Habba'.

“Skating is my hobby. I skate to sammelana venues and my family members follow me in a vehicle. I interact with visitors and participants, share with them whatever knowledge I have on Kannada and my dreams about the language. I wear sari with colours of Kannada flag and automatically visitors approach me, requesting for a selfie,” she said.

Shobha carries pocket calendars with brief details of Kannada literary figures with her and distributes the same among people while interacting with them, besides asking children to read Kannada novels and poems.

“Whenever I visit sammelana venues, I sing folk songs and hold a spot quiz for students on Kannada and famous personalities of Karnataka. This is the best way to be part of any sammelana,” she added.