Away from the stinking old Chennai, in the rustic landscapes of Belguam and the surrounding, I found something new. Visiting the old and more frequently lost regions of India you feel something so different, not only for the reason that it seems so distant from what our media makes us believe, but also of my own apathy towards knowing what happens in the rural belts of this vast, somtimes dusty, sometimes picturesque and yet, all the times humbling parts of India.
On vacation, I along with my dad and mom, visited some beautiful places. Gokak for its Dam and Cotton Mills and Sugal for its century old Shiva Paravathi temple shrowded in myths galore. Let me start off by 'blogging' on the latter as it was the first of the places visited.
Situated in the middle of plain landscapes devoid of trees yet covered with Cotton, Sugar, Paddy, Corn, Maize, Mustard and Sunflower crops was a hill sparcly covered with trees. Being so dry and dusty one would least expect a waterfall from atop that hill(Sorry. I dont remember the name of the hill). But there in the middle of nowhere was this thin waterfall falling from a good 50 feet, shining in the sun like the proverbial silver lining. From what I had heard from dad's introduction that this place had a waterfall was so unbelieving, but now this was so true as it was right in front of my eyes. And this was the reason why the anscestors of this place built a temple dedicated to the god of destrcution- Shiva. One myth goes that Shiva and Parvathi got married at this very spot-marked by a nondescript cricular placing of rocks. Though this myth was and is known to all nobody paid much obiescence to that circular ring of 1-1.5 feet diameter, though it was at the very beginning of the steps that led one to the sanctum sanctorum located at the summit of the hill. All that I could see was a few traces of Kum Kum of various hues. What a contrast when compared to a similar place in Tamil Nadu. The same place would have been totally covered by ash. Kum Kum and ofcource people making a total mess in thier extreme zeal to flaunt "who is a greater devout".
Next on the itenery was Gokak. Discovered by the British during their Raj it served two puposes to them. One as a location for generating power(Story goes that the idea of setting up the power generating plant was the brainchild of the Governor's dad, when he paid his son a visit) due to the presence of a waterfall across the Gataprbha and other to serve as a picnic spot when they were visited by their "Ghori ma'm"{ pharse stolen from the great Indian, oscar nominated, 4hr long movie 'Lagan'...see even I could write something as long as the Lagan script!!!}
Once the Governor General came to know of the potential of the place for generating power the first thing he did was to setup factories/mills. And what best than Cotton Mills that were the rage back then. Fueled by the demand for cheap cotton in Britain and greater Europe, cotton mills flourished. The most astonishing feauture of those cotton mills is that they are still functioning with only the michenery having been changed the rest remains as they were pre-indpendence, just as the British left it to the Indians.
But one thing I need to mention here is the IRONY factor. Why Irony because, here you have a power generating plant generating enough power to feed two distrcits streching across huge radius of kms and yet you find that the villages within a radius of 15kms, that suround the plant/fall do not get 24x7 hr power supply. Fate, my friends is so so very cruel!!!
At both locations we had some mouth watering delicacies. My favorite has to be the Corn Roti(Jholatha roti in Kannu-tounge) with various spicy powders. Best with butter and curd the Roti will be soft when fresh and turns biscuit solid on drying. The other aspect of the dry variant of this Roti is that they can last a good few months without any special storage being required. So you can always carry them arround to different places with little or no carefull packing.
Alas! Experiencing the rural life after a long time reminded me of the days that I had as an younster going to my village near Bangalore, visiting it only during my holidays. The village now exists as mere two acres of land that belongs to my Grand Mom which is to be bequeathed to my dad after her passing as per her will. All the vast streches of land are now sold, to be taken over by MNC's. Not totally the fault of my ancestors though that they lost 99% of the lands. Forced by the diktats of the Govt of the day the only choice that they could have made was to sell those beautifull lands to MNC'c just to make sure that it does not get converted to a garbage dumping ground for the PWD or to be occupied by the so called less previlged sections of the society (No offence meant here)!
Last I would like to be pardoned by you all as I can post no photos of my vacation. I did not have a handycam or an camera to shoot the places I visited. But will always be welcome to take you the wonderful land I described above.
posted by Akhilesh @ 9:57 AM
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