Profile of Parul

Author(s): Pratap J Tolia
Publisher: Vardhaman Bharati International Foundation

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August 1988 in Bangalore. Kum. Parul was a promising young girl, who had made significant progress in the field of Literature. It is an extremely severe blow for father Shri Pratapkumar and mother Smt. Sumitradevi that a 'would-be' young girl has been so tragically snatched away ! Expressing our condolences to the grief-striken family, we pay our hearty tributes to the departed soul."
- The JAIN JAGAT, October, 1988, Bombay. RAY DIMMED
At the 1987-88 convocation of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's College of Communication last week, Ms. Parul Toliya's name was read out seven times — for a gold medal, silver medal, cash award, rolling shield .... Those in the audience who didn't know her, . wondered for a moment why her parents and sisters received the prizes on her behalf. And then it struck them - she was no more!
Paru!, an up-and-coming journalist, was fatally knocked down by a KSRTC bus on Aug. 28 last year while crossing Tumkur Road. A former student of Jyothi Nivas College, she got an MA and gold medal in Hindi from Osmania University, Hyderabad. She registered for Ph.D., at Karnatak University, Dharwad ; her topic being "Contribution of Jain saints to Hindi litterature”.
Having musician-parents motivated her interest in music. She was devoted to the art-both as sitarist and Hindustani vocalist and as a critic. She has reviewed and interviewed artistes such as Pandit Ravi Shankar, Bhimsen Joshi and Palghat Raghu for The City, Tab, the local weekly whose music critic she was.
Parul's father, Mr. Pratapkumar Toliya is an award-winning poet, playwright and musician who often gives concerts abroad. His Jain devotional songs have appeared on many a record and cassette, and he is a scholar in Jain philosophy, literature and culture.
Mr. Toliýa was on one of his foreign concert tours when he got the news of the demise of his eldest born. Today, he plays
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