The month of December was marked by agitations in different parts of the country for the carving out of separate states like Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Gorkhaland in West Bengal, Bodoland in Assam, Vidharbha in Maharashtra and Harit Pradesh in Uttar Pradesh. For a while, the agitations made people ask whether it was time for the appointment of a second States Reorganisation Commission after half a century. In contrast to all the turbulence, I was witness to another effort along the western coast of India, the South Kanara and Udupi districts of Karnataka, to revive and consolidate the centuries old Tulu culture. According to scholars, Tulu was the first off shoot of the Proto-South Dravidian language family 2000 years ago. The people of the region find mention in Asoka’s edicts, which refer to them as ‘Satiya Puta’ while Tamil Sangam literature refers to them as ‘Kosher’. The inhabitants of Tulu Nadu, which includes the former district of Dakshina Kannada — now divided into South Kanara and Udupi districts — along with the adjacent areas of Kasaragod district of Kerala, have a distinct culture, though their mother tongue, Tulu, has no living script. The original Tulu script, which is over twenty centuries old, is now defunct and has not been in vogue for over 300 years. The present culture of Tulu areas is composite in nature. People of different communities - Hindus, Muslims-referred to as Beary –Christians, Jains - live together. Besides the famous Sri Krishna Temple of Udupi, the area also has Jain temples, Christian churches and Masjids. The most famous Jain temple is the 1000 pillar ‘Basadi’ at Moodubidri and the stone statue of Mahabali or Mahaveeera at Karkala, Venoor and Dharmastala. People of the region are keen to conserve the old Tulu culture, which is in danger of being swept away by modernisation.Tulu Nadu is located west of the Western Ghats, along the Arabian Sea coast from Coondapur in the north to Kasargod in the south. It has retained and absorbed various cultures, for centuries, and grown richer in the process. Today, the languages that are used in the region include Tulu, Kannada (the state language), Konkani , Hindi and Urdu. An estimate is that nearly a million people speak Tulu. Tulu Nadu is also well known for the banks that have originated there. It was said that people of the area may not be rich, but they know how to manage the money of the rich. The banks, which originated in the area, are the Canara Bank, the Syndicate Bank, the Corporation Bank and the Vijaya Bank - which have all been nationalized — and the Karnataka Bank, which is still a private holding. The area is also known for its educational institutions. The Basel Mission was followed by the Roman Catholic institutions. The district was known for the famous St Aloysius College, which is more than a century old. It is now known for its medical, engineering and other professional institutions. The earliest came under the umbrella of Manipal-the Kasturba Mediacal College and the Manipal Institute of Technology - were founded four decades ago.