To D Ismail, the mastigallu (masti stone) is a fascinating storyteller. It talks about the history and the people as he peers into the inscrutable inscriptions whether it is in Modi lipi or Halegannada (ancient Kannada).
The epigraphist from Birur town in Chikkamagaluru district took a fancy to the knowledge hidden in stones, and is one among a small number of people who can understand ‘Modi lipi’, a cursive script used to write several languages, including Kannada.