Heavy rains were pouring outside and I was sitting in a rural development NGO’s office which closely looked like a government office. I was listening to Chandra who had lost his crops in a storm lost week. The other man Raja beside him was staring me continuously. But I continued to ignore Raja as I was bit nervous watching him staring me for the reason I didn’t know. Chandra was almost crying explaining the story how he tried to prevent the loss but in the end, nature had the upper hand in destroying his crops. I tried to console him by assuring him few possible solutions within my limitations. And Raja had not stopped staring me till I interrupted him to ask what his problem was? He raised his hands and I started to move back. “Is he going to hit me now? But why? Should I ask sorry? Was there any mistake ?” Before I said anything he broke down explaining the sudden death of his cow which was sponsored by BAIF. I had no solutions but few words to make him feel stronger again. I started to wonder if he had so much of pain in him, why he was staring at me. It was more than a month I started to understand the language of the people who lived in the forests of Kodagu. That staring had no meaning but innocence!!!!!!!!!
It was early twenties and I was out in the woods trying to learn more about life rather than conventional way of being a corporate engineer. Soon after my engineering I had volunteered rural development activities in Coorg tribal block associated with BAIF institute of rural development. Later it turned out to be my first job (It was not optional though, I had to choose as I had no options !!) which didn’t last for many days but remains the most memorable job of my life. It all started when I met Mr. Ashok, the champion of management skills. Until then I never knew that I have got the best mentor who was inspiring me to work without any limitations. Every minute under him helped me to develop personally in turn made me to understand the value of compromises which later helped me to come out of my immature thoughts on life. It was sweetu- a 3 year old kid, son of Ashok and Bramara aunt my first friend in Coorg. He gave me the best company in Coorg to get rid of my boredom when I had left so many good friends back in Bangalore. It was a regular practice for both of us to sit on the compound of our house where I lived, he would call out all the girls walking on the road and they would smile at him. And he made a point by calling only girls of my age as if he understood I was expecting them to turn to me and smile!! Anyway I didn’t expect but you know that was not my fault but the natural instinct of any boy in his early twenties!!
Bike riding was not so familiar until I went to Coorg on a field job where they had given
TVS StartSports 125cc bike from office. The tyres never suited the Coorg country roads. It was one such monsoons in Coorg and it had rained heavily all the night. The sun was just coming out and I was on my journey to a forest village as usual. I was riding at 40-50 kmph with Natraj , my colleague sitting behind me. As I approached the woods I saw something crawling just in front of my front tyre. I realized it’s a 7 foot long snake coming out for sun from the wet woods and the next moment both of us were on the ground. I was shocked by the size of the cobra and had applied breaks instantly. As the road was slippery, our bike had slipped from my hands and I was on the path hole full of muddy water. Snake had passed and I too had almost passed it out, not really!. Don’t ask me what now :P :P ? That was my first fall and many continued after that with many of my colleagues sitting behind me having some of their memorable falls. If Mrs. Archana Murthy is reading this blog, she is definitely going to smile as she had one such experience where I had let her fell off from my bike in Kushalnagar. The reasons of fall were plenty, to mention few of them; muddy forest roads where vehicles never moved, unsuitable bikes for the kind of roads they were, power in the bike never allowed me to pull off some unexpected path holes and mainly I was an inexperienced L board rider.
Usually I stayed up to 5 o clock in the villages but later I had to leave back to Kushalnagar office as the villagers used to warn me of elephants. The nights are so dark with strange sounds of insects, birds and you are clue less if you lose your way back home making it even more scary. It is 67 years of independence that we have and still the villages lack supply of electricity. There is even an issue for the people with government for the land they live there. The say they once owned whole forests, they are born and brought up there, they are the proud children of the forest god and they will never move to the nearby towns. Few educated people would go to government offices in order to get the facilities down there to forests but in vain. I somehow felt that many efficient schemes developed by government in order to help the people there were exploited by dirty politicians. They fought hard for their rights; they fought hard for their life and survived many battles with the law. Slowly there were signs that government was making effort to recognize their rights but until it is done completely, it is never done.
Staying in Bangalore for more than 4 years witnessing many issues including pollution,water scarcity, I had a feeling that the quality of life was far better than urban areas here in the forest. They got the best water from the streams to drink, they had the best air to breathe in midst of dense woods. But then the life was not enough with all that for some though that is the best. As there were no electricity cables in the area they lacked entertainment things like TV, night life and many. Alcohol and the forest weeds were the only source of entertainment. Most of them spoiled their hard earned money on alcohol which was a serious issue considering their situation. In this regard one man stood tall to tackle these issues. He is Mr. Thammanna from Sulebaavi village in Kushalnagar forests. He used to be the head of the village. He was a drunkard once but had realized the serious effects of alcohol in his life soon. He had drawn strict guidelines in the village banning alcohol thus making it a dry village in literal sense but it was the happiest village around. He had set an example in the village by cultivating various farming practices which generated sufficient income to manage the household of 15 in a joint family. Be it a vegetable or a fruit or anything he never depended on buying it from town but cultivated right in his land and in front of his house. He taught people about the life that it is not only about entertainment from TVs, Internet, alcohol that makes a person happy but the satisfaction of living good does the best. Yes he had inspired me as well.
One fine day I visited Mr. Thammanna’s village Soolebhaavi as usual. Things had changed like I had never imagined. Men were well dressed, women were singing loud and children shouted in joy. I had no words but………………………………………
Please watch this space for Part 2 i.e coming up in few days…
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