Many more professional training institutions have mushroomed, including dental, nursing and even fashion technology. Who has not heard of Aishwarya Rai and Shilpa Shetty who belong to the region? The two coastal districts had the advantage of having colleges within an hours’ bus travel from any village. The spread of education has seen young men from the area settle in almost all parts of the country in banks or professional institutions - as doctors or engineers and now IT experts. A question that must have risen among many elders must have been - is our Tulu culture being swept away? It was natural that many must have felt that it was necessary to conserve the culture of the region, which has produced authors of the repute of Shivarama Karanth, Muddana, Manjeshwar Govind Pai , Sara Abubakar , and many others A fallout has been the organization of the International Tulu Convention –Vishwa Tulu Sammelano 2009 - organized from September 19 to December 13 at different centers in Tulu speaking districts. An effort was made to project the Tulu language, attire of the people of the area, their food specialties and life style. The Tulu Convention was organized by Padma Bhushan Dr Veerendra Heggade. Among the Tuluvas who visited the convention and participated in various events included the Swamiji of Pejavar, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr Yediyurappa, Home Minister of Karnataka, V.S. Acharya, the Central Law Minister Veerappa Moily, the Governor of Uttaranchal Margaret Alva, and former Central Minister Oscar Fernandes, Fifteen persons from Tulu Nadu, who had distinguished themselves in various fields , were honoured at the convention. Participating in the convention were artistes from the region, who performed traditional Yakshagana episodes, the bootha (or spirit) worship, Tulu dramas and Hari Kathas. A typical Tulu village was erected which depicted how in village schools, temples, masjids and churches co-existed, along with local officials and professionals like teachers and doctors. The village also depicted the crafts that still exist and depend on local crops like rice, sugar cane, areca and cocoanut.Over seven lakh people participated in the culminating phase of the Tulu convention, which succeeded in instilling in the people a pride in the Tulu culture. The address by Law Minister Veerappa Moily, a prominent Tuluva who was the Chief Minister of the State and a well -known scholar having authored the Ramayana Anveshanam and other works which won him the coveted Moorthidevi award from the Jnanapith foundation, echoed the desire of the listeners. Veerappa Moily told the listeners that he would try to follow the appeal of the Tuluvas for inclusion of their language in the Eighth Schedule of the constitution. The demand for inclusion was made in 2002, following a conference in the national capital, but it foundered. He said that there have been recent instances when languages which did not have an active script were given the status. The epilogue to the conference was an address by its President, Veerendra Heggade, a Jain heading the Hindu Dharmastala Manjunatheshwara temple, who said that his greatest satisfaction was to see the active participation of Hindus, Christians and Muslims in the Tulu sammelan, in a spirit of togetherness and feeling that they belonged to a family. Having witnessed it, I wish the sentiment echoes in other parts of the country as well. I. Ramamohan Rao, former Principal Information Officer, Government of India. E:mail: raoramamohan@hotmail.com