Village tour of Karnataka

Village tour of Karnataka

We have a friend from Karnataka, with whom we have been friends since 1992. They have become our family friends. Pradeep Kumar and Uma have one daughter, their daughter Chitu was three months old when we first met at Hirmi a small village 52km away from Raipur, and she grew up almost the first few years at our house. She would get up in the morning and go to our house, eat with us, sleep with us, everything will be done at our house, we call her our first daughter. Then we got separated almost for 17 years, till we came to Bangalore for our daughter’s study. By chance we were in Bangalore at the time of her wedding last February and we were fortunate to attend her wedding.

We actually stay in their house whenever we come to Bangalore. Uma's village home is about 80-82 km from Bangalore. The name of the village is Kalinayakanahalli, the village is called Halli in Karnataka. There was talk of going there from long time, but somehow we missed. Even after coming to Bangalore, it was not happening. suddenly they invited us to go yesterday. Then we also checked and saw that it was Uma's birthday yesterday and we went to their village house. Even though it was only a week since our second dose of vaccine, we went to their house because there was no case and everyone was vaccinated. They were in their car and we were in our car, we got out in the morning and reached in 2 hours. In between we had breakfast at a big restaurant. We arrived their home around 9.30 am. We drove following the Covid rules. As soon as we go out on the roads of Karnataka, the small hills, the rivers, the fields, all in all, gives a nice rejuvenating feeling. Relatives of Pradeep and Uma have a lot of land, they do farming of different crops.

Although their village home is on the side of the highway, it is beautifully quiet and has a view of the surroundings, with mountains all around. The train line goes through the hills on one side, the Delhi route from Bangalore. Pradeep and I went to see their land, about two kilometres from the road inside, a lot is being cultivated, betel nut, ragi, maize, corn and so on. There are now some companies making different seed farms, they are making seeds of different crops in controlled weather. Their polythene covered sheds seemed to have enhanced the beauty of the place. Earlier we went to Chitu’s father-in-law's house at the time of her marriage, it was almost under Nandi Hill. And this place is 15-20 km by road from Nandi Hill through the inner road, but Nandi Hill is visible from Uma's house.

When Pradeep and I went to see the field, it was very sunny but the wind was blowing and there was no heat due the greenery around. There is a canal in the middle of their land, but since Karnataka receives less rain, it is very difficult to get water, bore wells have to be made everywhere. I heard that if you go down about 800-1000 feet now, then only water is available. In most places, irrigation is being done by saving water in drip irrigation system. We sat under a very old tamarind tree and chatted for a long time. Then we came back home for lunch and after eating ladies wanted to see the land, we also went again, my wife was very happy, did not want to come back.

On returning home, after cutting Uma's birthday cake, we had to return to Bangalore without any further delay. We left a little earlier as it is difficult to drive in the rugged traffic of Bangalore, in the night.

This one-day tour gave us a full recharge. It was so much fun to see such a beautiful place and such a simple lifestyle. I gave a few pictures, you can understand what kind of place, we had been.

Subir Kumar Basu