The Story of a Malnad Boy - 57

The doctor who had the best practice in Sringeri and all the near by villages was Dr. Ramachandra Rao.  His shop and the house were located in the middle of the Bharathi Street. He had LAMS as his qualification and was actually a very big landlord. His charges were very reasonable. He would visit any interior village on his motor cycle at any time in day or night in case of emergencies. His kaiguna (quality of hand), which means in Kannada the quality of treatment and medicine prescribed, was very good. The patients used to recover very fast under his treatment. His very personality meant a sort of assurance to them. His words gave a high level of comfort to the family members. There used to be several cases of non-payment of his charges by the villagers. He had a system of sending reminders by post cards. As the cards would be seen by many villagers before they were ultimately delivered to the debtors, the chances of recovery were better! I remember to have seen some such cards addressed to my father. They used to be worded very politely!

Dr.Rao was staying in a RCC building owned by the richest man in our community. He was Subba Rao of Kavilkodige. He owned such buildings in Koppa and Shimoga also. He had vast agricultural lands in several villages of Koppa and Sringeri taluks. These were given to tenants for cultivation. The collection of areca and paddy every year from these tenants, spread across two taluks, itself was quite a big job. Subba Rao was a very simple man. He had a major share holding in local Sharada Bank which was later merged with Karnataka Bank. The first duty of any bank manager in Koppa, Sringeri and Shimoga was to call on Subba Rao to solicit/retain his family deposits. They were usually not disappointed!

Kavilkodige is located in the Koppa Sringeri road between Hariharapura and Sringeri. Subba Rao was a good host and several dignitaries and littérateurs used to visit his house. Dr. Shivarama Karanth was one among them. He was a pioneer in generation of hydel power. Even before Sringeri town was provided with electricity, he had the same at his residence. He was able to generate the same from a mini water falls near his house. He also had a small mill for husking paddy to produce rice.

There used to be several stories about his wealth. The fact was nobody was able to assess it correctly. The silliest one, we heard as young boys, was that he was keeping Rs99000/= in each bank to avoid income tax! In fact we had once thought of a simple idea of calculating his wealth basing on this story. It was to multiply the number of bank branches in the three places (Koppa, Sringeri& Shimoga) with Rs. 99000/=! But we were stuck in one place. We could not get the correct number of bank branches in Shimoga!

Another story about his immense wealth was that he was hoarding wealth in the form of gold bricks at his home! The gold bricks were supposed to have been hidden in the walls and floor of his ancestral house! This story got so authentic after some time that it attracted the attention of even the Central Excise authorities! There used to be frequent raids on his house by this authority. They used to dig up the walls and floors of the house hoping to find out the golden bricks! In fact one such raid is said to have taken place even as I was studying in Sringeri College! But we were told that all these raiders could never lay their hands on the gold bricks. They remained as elusive to them as a mirage in the Arabian Desert!

We were told that Subba Rao used to be quite amused about these raids. It seems he used to tell these raiders that he was very much honoured to invite such raids! But the problem as per him was that he himself was unaware of the location of these golden bricks! He even hoped that one day these raiders may be able to find some hidden treasure at his house in the course of their excavation! But sadly for him it became just a matter of patching up the walls and floor after these raiders left the place! Of course he used to extend them the usual Malnad courtesies during their stay by way of delicious food and a visit to Sringeri Mutt!

The other doctor H. Manjappa Gowda was a young doctor at that time and also had a good practice. He was again from a rich agriculturist family. His wife was the only daughter of another super rich landlord and politician Halappa Gowda. That particular year itself the doctor constructed his beautiful RCC bungalow in the town. At that time it was the best bungalow in town.

Another doctor who was very famous but had died by the time I came to Sringeri was Dr. Hegde. He was said to be having a very big practice and was highly popular. He belonged to the South Kanara Bunt’s community. He owned a medical shop in the centre of the town in the name of his son Prema. As far as I remember it was the only medical shop in town and as such was a landmark. His sons were close friends of my elder brother (AVL). The family was highly sophisticated and had a class of its own. One of the sons Taranath Shetty was my classmate.  He is having a very good practice as a dentist in Bangalore at present.

As for as businessmen were considered, the first name which comes to my memory is that of Dubari Dasappa Setty & Sons. The owner Dasappa Setty used to quote such high prices to the items sold in his shop, that the word Dubari (one who quotes exorbitant rates) stuck to his name and shop. For quite a long time he could manage to run his business in this fashion. He even thought this name as a brand and was quite happy to carry it! But not for long. By the time I joined the College the business had fallen to the lowest levels. The brand value had simply disappeared in thin air! His sons had to carry the legacy as a burden!

The shop of Biscuit-Bhat was another shop with a brand. It was run by two young brothers. They used to manufacture bread and biscuit in their home. They were having a very good business. They used to sell books also. The brothers were very handsome and very fluent in their talk. Unlike the Dubari family who lacked finesse in quoting exorbitant rates these brothers could charge high prices by their own polished mannerisms! It could be called ‘meeti choori’ (sweet knife) technique! We students were once caught in their business acumen! I would come to it later.

T K Srinivasa Setty & Sons was a famous old generation book shop. Its name was known even in distant villages since many years. But somehow the family had lost its business and was almost on the verge of closing their business at that time. The eldest son was a great singer of Bhajans. But he could not manage the business as his mind was more into Adhyatma (philosophy).

M Srinivasa Setty & Sons had a very good kirana business. A daughter from their family was later married to the Commerce lecturer. Similarly Baje Rama Rao was a big kirana dealer and their daughter got married to Chemistry lecturer Shanbhag. Annaiah Pandit had a big textile shop. His youngest son Vivekananda was my classmate. Padmaraja Shetty & Sons were well known gold and silver merchants. They belonged to Jain community of South Kanara.

 My classmate Lalithamba’s father Shivaiah had a big kirana shop in partnership with a person called Thandavamurthy. This Thandavamurthy was known for his WWF personality. He had made an investment which was as good as his personality! He had dug up a major portion of the hill on which our College and other buildings stood. There he had constructed a lengthy and unwieldy structure. To put it mildly, it was a civil engineering disaster! Nobody knew what type of utility this strange structure could have! We used to call it as Thandavamurthy Kudure Laya (Horse Stable)! It was an eyesore for us students as we had to see it daily twice on our way and return from the College. Only after we visited the Mutt later in the evening this eyesore could go out of our vision!

The best hotel in Sringeri was undoubtedly Mallika Mandira. It was located very close to Katte Bagilu. The hotel really had made its name as a brand. The quality and taste of items was of very high standard. We always thought it a privilege to eat in this hotel. The other hotels were nowhere near its standard.

Another landmark in the town was the house of Kodur Sham Bhat. Sham Bhat was known as a great Scholar and Sanskrit Vidhwan. But the landmark was mainly on account of his two elderly sons, Srikanta Bhat and Nanjunda Bhat. They were twin brothers; but were so unlike that the pair could be compared to chalk and cheese! This was the same Nanjunda Bhat whom I referred to in an earlier chapter as a talkative man. At that time he had not still moved to our village.

These two brothers could be found sitting in the front veranda of their house for most part of the day. They always had two intentions in their minds. To collect as much news (rumours) as possible and hide their wealth at all cost by appearing to be very ordinary! But in fact they were not so ordinary! They had substantial wealth and had purchased properties including the one in my own village. In Sringeri town itself a big building, in which earlier a famous hotel Amba Bhavan was situated, belonged to them. They wanted to invest in property and hide their wealth at the same time! It was a losing battle for them.

They were interested in talking to us college students to hear about the lecturers and other affairs of our college. Actually both their daughters were my classmates. The daughter of Srikant Bhat by name Kamalamba was a dark beauty and was good in her studies. On the other hand the daughter of Nanjunda Bhat, Vimalamba, was a fair complexioned girl and was an average student.

As already mentioned by me earlier, Nanjunda Bhat was always interested in delivering speeches. I had on one occasion seen him giving a speech in our village school function. He just went on and on and the organisers had to use all their skills to ensure the end of his speech!  His one great ambition at that time was to deliver a speech in our JCBM College! Somehow the college authorities had denied him that opportunity.

But not for long! He got an opportunity on a particular occasion and grabbed it with both hands! We students became the sitting ducks! We only knew the beginning of the speech and the end appeared to be nowhere in sight! Ultimately it got stuck in a place like a needle on an old gramophone record! The compere was forced to announce the vote of thanks to end his misery! We all heaved a sigh of relief!

----- (To be continued)

The Story of a Malnad Boy - 56

As compared to my daily routine at the hostel in Shimoga, the life in Sringeri was quite different. The hostel had in-house facilities and a disciplined life strictly monitored by the warden. Here in Sringeri I had to visit the mess in the morning for taking bath and the breakfast thereafter. Fortunately the mess was very close to my room. It was actually an Agrahara type of building with the Holla’s mess on one side and the Sanne Bhatta’s house on the other side. This was the same Sanne Bhatta whom I had referred to in my childhood days. His house was not new to me as our family used to stay there during Navarathri celebrations on certain occasions. He was a very old man now. The opening of the College was a blessing to him as his first son who was unemployed got appointed as a laboratory attender in the College. The second son who was our ‘enemy’ in our boyhood days had run away from home.

The Holla mess was in fact his residence cum mess. As such, we had to face some embarrassments at times. While taking our bath in the open bathing system prevalent in those days, we used to feel uneasy to see Holla’s elder daughter moving around for milking the cow and other purposes. Believe it or not, as village boys we used to be more shy than the girls in the town! But Holla was not taking any assistance from the ladies for cooking or serving the food. That was a big relief for us. He took assistance from only his sons and that too very rarely. He was hard working and the quality and taste of the food was quite good.

Holla got a boost to his business as all the college lecturers decided to take their food at his mess only. His prestige simply went up by a few notches. While we also felt honoured to have our food along with our lecturers, we were feeling a bit uneasy to treat them at par with us. That was the culture in which we were brought up! We used to have our lunch by 9.30 AM and leave for the College. The College was about two KMs away and all the students along with the lecturers used to cover the distance by walk only. Even most of the students from the villages preferred to walk the distance than traveling in bus. None of the students used any two-wheelers.

That the people of Sringeri town belonged to a different class of civilization, altogether, came to the notice of the lecturers within a couple of days. The Sringeri town was in fact nothing but a main street (Bharathi Street) extending from the location of Mutt and the temple up to a hillock leading to a junction of Koppa and Jayapura roads. The College building stood on the Jayapura road on the top of the hill. As the lecturers were staying near the Mutt, they had to walk through the entire street to reach the college. As all of them used to start at the same time, it was virtually a procession all the way. Most of them were quite young and used to be in their fine suits. The local population and the general visitors were accustomed to dress in the traditional dhotis and simple shirts. Majority of students had the same dresses.

It became a daily habit of the majority of the town folk, mainly ladies, to peep from the windows or from the partially opened doors to witness the procession of the lecturers! There used to be even competition between housewife’s to identify each lecturer by his name and by the subject he taught! The other subjects for mutual discussion were the aspects like who was taller, who was more handsome and who dressed well! In the matter of identification by names, the beloved wife of our Holla would generally win hands down!  She had the advantage to see them closely when they were having their food in the mess. She could collect details about them from students like us. She could even tell who was eating more and who were very poor eaters!

The lecturers were initially not aware of this daily review of their procession! But soon somebody told them that Sringeri town was now privileged to have daily utsavam!  When they realized that they had become a sort of daily exhibits on the road, they were not amused! It also came to their notice that certain families had even selected some of them as suitable grooms for their beloved daughters! To say that they were miserable on hearing this may be an understatement! That at least two lecturers later got married to two local girls, that too the students, is only the other side of the story!

But right at the time the lecturers were very furious at the town folk. Our English lecturer SriRam was in the forefront of this furious lot. He knew he was not particular about his dressing. He used to dress in a simple half-shirt and pant. Naturally his rating was very low in the minds of the town ladies! But he disliked the very conservative nature of the local population and gave vent to his feelings in all his classes. Naturally his was the first wicket to fall when the attrition started among the first batch of ten lecturers! I would come to it later.

It may be interesting to the reader to have a brief description of Sringeri town and its typical citizens of those days. For this I would like to take the reader through the town starting from the Mutt itself as the focal point. If one was to start his journey from the Mahadwaram of the Mutt, there was only a short road on the left side other than the main Bharathi Street. This road was leading to what was known as Sringeri bus stand. But it was only a ramshackle building with a small hotel. The hotel was very unclean and the bus stand was generally deserted as no passengers were to be found there. The local people preferred to pick up the busses in the centre of the town at a point called Katte Bagilu. Similarly all the passengers would get down at this point or in front of the Mutt. The bus stand was for the name sake.

The first house on this side road was that of Chandramouli Rao as already mentioned by me. It was comparatively of good construction. Almost all other buildings in the town were not pucca buildings and there was no sanitary system. The roofs were also generally covered by nada- henchu (local inferior tiles). Even the Mangalore tiles were a luxury in those days. The other important house in this street was that of N S Chandrasekhar. He was a senior journalist and agent for Kannada Prabha and Indian Express newspapers. There was the house of a gentleman called Bala Ganapathi. He was a famous astrologer. The Municipality building was also located here. The only other mess of the town was situated here. That was the house of Kallu Devasthana (stone temple) Subba Rao.

Subba Rao had started the mess only at that time. Till then his was a strange occupation. Believe it or not! His sole profession till then was playing cards! In fact he was the only person one had heard in those days who could make a living out of this vice! At any time of the day or night you could find people engaged in playing cards at his house. Many of them were from nearby villages. But there were a few locals who had dedicated their lives for this deadly game! This scourge of card playing had destroyed several Malnad families in those days. While for all other family members Sringeri used to be a place of pilgrimage, for the family heads it was more of an entertainment club where they could lose their family’s hard earned money! My father was also a member of this group quite for some time. As such, the name of Subba Rao was also included in the hate-list prepared by our family. As for him it was his profession and he carried no guilt feeling! He cared a damn for the curses of several Malnad housewives whose husbands were spoiled by this deadly game!

Right at the front of the Mutt stood the building which housed the taluk office. The first house on the Bharathi Street belonged to the family of Halemane (old house) Srikantaiah and his brother. Later I had the privilege to stay in this house for two years. Srikantaiah was like a Chanakya in local political circles. He was once a member of town Municipality. However, at that time he had turned a king maker and was an expert in maneuvering the issues behind the curtains!  The contestants to the Municipality posts had to seek his advice invariably! He had a lovable personality and knew the importance of higher education for the reluctant young generation of Sringeri! He was an LIC agent and father of my elder brother’s (AVL) closest friend and classmate, Jayaprakash. I had visited his house earlier along with my brother. Hence the family was well known to me. His first daughter, Vijaya Lakshmi, was a brilliant student studying MBBS in Hubli Medical College. Jayaprakash was also sent to Hubli for his PUC. Somehow Srikantaiah did not want him to study in our College. Srikantaiah’s elder brother was a professor in the Manipal Engineering College.

One of the other important houses in the street was that of local High School Head Master. His eldest daughter Subhadra was our classmate and an art student. Earlier he used to be local VIP. With the opening of the College and arrival of the postgraduate lectures in to the town, the status of High School Head Master and other teachers had come down steeply in the eyes of locals. There was no way they could stop this erosion in their social standing!

The Sringeri taluk did not have a Magistrate court. Hence there were no practicing lawyers in the town. However, there were a good number of doctors. The senior most doctor was Dr. T K Bhat. He and Dr.H. Manjappa Gowda were the only two doctors with MBBS degree. The seniority of Bhat may be gauged from the fact that one of his sons was a Professor in the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. When I met this great Professor four years later in the year 1969, he was on the verge of retirement!  That indicates the seniority of Dr. Bhat!

Dr.T K Bhat was basically a very nice gentleman. He and another doctor by name K P Bhat belonged to Saraswath Konkani community. K P Bhat had only LMP as qualification. But he also had a good practice, particulary, in the villages including our village. But with the age catching up on them both these doctors had lost practice. T K Bhat was more famous for the litigation he had entered in to with the local MLA.

The issue started like this. The MLA had constructed his bungalow on the top of a hill near the High School. He had dug a well and had plenty of water in it. Dr. Bhat had his bungalow and garden at the bottom of the hill on the other side of the road. The trouble started when Dr. Bhat began digging a well in his garden. While he got plenty of water without digging much, the water level in the MLA’s well started depleting within no time! This was the beginning of a never ending litigation between the two!

------- (To be continued)

The Story of a Malnad Boy - 55

That Monday morning saw me attending the College on its first day. I was a total stranger for all others in our PUC batch. Most of the students had finished their SSLC in the local High School and were known to each other. There were many students who had finished their SSLC in the earlier years and had discontinued their studies. Now that the College had come to their own town they were back to their studies. Some of them had come very reluctantly on account of the pressure from the College Committee on their parents. I could even find some elderly students who were quite older than the lecturers! Most of the boy students had one thing common. They all had dressed in their dhotis!

Our Principal Dr. K B Ramakrishna Rao was a very learned man and had a doctorate in Philosophy. His very countenance would invoke a deep respect for him. Such was his personality! He used to dress appropriately to suit his stature and looked every inch a great philosopher!  The Academy had chosen him for the post with care. He had earlier worked as the Principal of the Vijaya College in Mulki, in South Kanara. He had to meet the expectations and maintain the prestige of the ancient and sacred Dakshinamnaya Peetam founded by the venerable Shankaracharya.

The first lecturer to take classes for us was Pradhan Gurudatta. He had Masters degrees both in Kannada and Hindi. He had already worked as a lecturer in Mysore. He had dressed very impeccably with suit and tie and was quite handsome. We found him very outspoken and his efforts to impress the students was quite visible! And impressed we were indeed by his charisma!

There were about ten lecturers in all, half of them hailing from South Kanara and the other half from the city of Mysore. Most of the lecturers from Mysore dressed in full suits, whereas only the biology lecturer, Mr. Rai, from South Kanara had the formal dress. We were very much impressed by another lecturer. His name was Raghunathan and he hailed from Chitradurga. He had a master’s degree in Chemistry. He also used to dress impeccably in suit and tie. As there was some problem in recruiting the lecturer for Physics, he also took Physics for us initially. The lecturer for Sanskrit was Venkannaiah, who was the son of the famous littérateur and Kannada Professor T S Shama Rao. The lecturer for Mathematics was N R Bhat from the border town of Kasaragod in Kerala.

We had an easy time with these lecturers when they introduced themselves and took the first classes for us. But our first English class with our lecturer, B N SriRam was a disaster! This gentleman was a close friend and associate of Shri Purna Chandra Tejaswi. Tejaswi was the son of the legendary Kannada poet K V Puttappa (Kuvempu).He was a budding writer in Kannada. Later Tejaswi himself grew up as a great Kannada writer on his own and died very recently. Some of his stories have been filmed quite successfully.

SriRam was a fresh postgraduate in English. But he was well versed in Kannada language equally. In those days there were very few postgraduates in English. Hence the English lecturers were a scarce commodity. SriRam was quite aware of this. It appears that he had already developed some sort of allergy for the very conservative nature of Sringerians. He belonged to a different school of thought and was least enamored by the Sringeri Mutt and its religious philosophy.

Sriram was quite upset with the dhoti wearing traditional boys of Sringeri. As he got each student introduced to him, his anger and disgust rose to a feverish pitch. He could make out that the students in general were quite inferior in their English language. The fact that none of them had studied in English medium might have been just one of the reasons for this lacuna in them. Being a good Scholar in both English and Kannada languages, he wanted his first batch of students to be a model for other Colleges. That he was very much disappointed may be an understatement!

SriRam asked us to write down an essay on Jawaharlal Nehru. When he went through them, he could find that some of the students could not even write simple sentences correctly. The fact that many of them knew very little about Nehru (except that he was the ex-Prime Minister) added to their misery. He was impressed by the writings of only a few of us, mine being one. I had used the word secular in the essay. He was not sure that I was aware of its actual meaning. He was quite pleased when I could explain the meaning of the word correctly. His was the first appreciation I received for my English writing.

There were good number of girls in the class. But most of them had taken arts as their optional subjects. As such, we used to sit with them only for our language classes. There were only two girls who had taken science as their optional subjects. They had taken biology in place of our Mathematics as both of them wanted to go for MBBS. One of them was the grand daughter of Chandramouli Rao. The other girl by name Nirmala, was appearing for the PUC second time, as she had not obtained sufficient marks to get admission to MBBS degree in her previous examination. She was an intelligent girl and was good in her studies. Among the arts students, there was a girl by name Lalithamba, who used to secure highest marks in all her subjects. She was the daughter of a business man in Sringeri. She conducted herself with lot of dignity and carried respect among other girls. She had a class of her own. The eldest daughter of the local High School Head Master, by name Subhadra, was one of the arts students.

Among the boys there was a boy called Ravindranath Tagore, who was the son of local MLA and co-founder of the College, Mr. K N Veerappa Gowda. His father had named him after the legendary Bengali poet and Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore (He later retired as a top IPS Official of DGP grade in Karnataka). The MLA was very particular that his son should not get any preferential treatment and should come up on his own. Among the PCM students there was a boy called  Prakash Kamath who was very brilliant in his studies. He was supposed to give tough competition to me as per the expectations of the other students. One of the students who was his classmate from High School days even challenged me and told me that I should not even think of outscoring him! Prakash was a dedicated hard core RSS member. RSS had a strong base in Sringeri in those days. There was a practicing doctor by name Upendra Shenoy who was totally dedicated to the ideology. He was a learned man and a very good orator. Later he left his practice, deserted his family and dedicated his life for spreading the ideology of RSS.

Among the arts lecturers there was a lecturer of history by name Sundar. He appeared to be well read and knowledgeable. He also used to dress impeccably. Somehow the students were not happy with him. His problem was that he could not smile and appeared to be very serious even in ordinary matters!  He always tried to be very close to the Principal. But he had another competitor in this venture. Pradhan Gurudatta, the Kannada lecturer, was also very particular to be as close to the Principal as possible. The issue was who would be the Vice Principal. The competition was rather tough. The students were quite amused to see the antics of the two solicitors!

The arts students had logic as one of their optional subjects. The Principal himself used to take classes for this subject. His classes became so famous that several other non-students used to attend them with his permission. The Principal was a very erudite and scholarly person. His classes and speeches were of great value to the students and the public in general.

The Academy of Manipal was very particular to have commerce as one of the optional subjects. Very few colleges in those days had commerce as optionals. Few students thought of commerce and business as a field to be interesting and which could fetch one a job. Being one of the founders of Syndicate Bank and a pioneer in the field of banking, TMA Pai gave due importance to this subject. There was absolute scarcity of postgraduates in commerce. The College had recruited a person from Andhra, Satyanarayana, as Commerce lecturer. He had to take classes to a batch of only three students.

In the evening I met one of my classmates in my Primary School at the mess. His name was Vishwanath and he was my distant relative. He had joined our College as PCB student. He was staying in a nearby room along with his nephew Manjunath (a High School student) and another boy, by name Padmanabha, studying for his SSLC. Padmanabha was the only son of a super rich man called Kodigethota Krishna Rao. The four of us formed a close knit group. We used to have our food together. We used to visit the Mutt and the temple daily in the evening. I spent most of my time in their room whenever I was through with my studies. Slowly I settled down to a new way of life in the sacred town of Sringeri.

-------- (To be continued)

The Story of a Malnad Boy - 54

When I reached my home on that evening, my parents could not believe me when I told them that Shankar Rao had paid the fee of rupees three hundred fifty for my College admission. They could recollect that I could hardly collect a sum of rupees forty when I had gone on a collection drive during the last year. The generosity of Shankar Rao was simply unbelievable to say the least. To remember that the same gentleman was at the receiving end of choicest abuses from none other than my own father was indeed painful in the present context.

But the payment of fee was only a part of the job accomplished as far as we were concerned. For my parents, the real problem was to arrange for my boarding and lodging at Sringeri. I was paying a monthly fee of only rupees six at the Shimoga hostel. That luxury was not available at Sringeri. My cousin Subrahmanya owned a house in Sringeri. He kindly permitted me to stay in a room in front of the said house. As regards the food there was a mess close to the room run by a gentleman called Holla. The arrangement was that he would charge a sum of rupees thirty per month for the morning bath, tiffin and two meals. There would be a monthly burden of rupees forty in all for my parents on my education. The annual burden would almost equal one third of our annual earnings! Even though I myself was least convinced on our capacity my father said that he would somehow manage. He could not simply allow me to discontinue my studies now that Shankar Rao had made such a big payment.

As told to me earlier I visited Vishwanathapura on a particular evening and stayed with the Rao family. Next morning he took me to Sringeri for the inaugural function of J C B M (Jagadguru Chandrasekhara Bharathi Memorial) College. It was the 27^th day of June 1965. There was a huge gathering. The function was presided over by the Deputy Commissioner Dr. H L Nage Gowda. The inauguration was done symbolically by lighting of Jyothi by Dr. T M A Pai, the Registrar of Academy of General Education Manipal. It was indeed a historical moment for the people of Sringeri town. In spite of being very busy in the function, Srikanta Rao, the eldest son of Chandramouli Rao, spoke to me and got it confirmed that I would be attending the College on the first day.

My Barefoot Journey to Sringeri

That Sunday afternoon I left for Sringeri with my bag and baggage. I had to walk a distance of eight miles from my village to reach the town. As I was walking the long distance, my childhood memories came flooding back.

I have earlier mentioned that our family used to visit Sringeri every year during the Navarathri celebrations. While we enjoyed the festival at the Mutt and the mandatory viewing of a film and a Yakshagana Prasanga, we hated the journey part of our trip every time. For us children, especially, the barefoot journey for such a long distance was very painful and tiresome.

The onward journey was, however, better with our spirits flying high in anticipation of the events at Sringeri. But we used to be totally tired during the return journey as we had to lose our sleep in the previous night to witness the film and the Yakshagana. Once we reached our house we used to be in a hurry to hit the beds. We would be in a sound sleep in the afternoon even though we were normally not accustomed to this day time sleeping.

But our deep sleep and the dreams of the Yakshagana characters used to be invariably disturbed by the antics of my immediate elder brother! He had this problem of Somnambulism! In the midst of the sleep he would suddenly wake up and start playing one of the characters of Yakshagana! He would walk out of the house half awake! It was very difficult to control him and bring him back to bed! Many a time he would reach the neighboring house and enact the scene in front of them! They would be fully amused by his antics! This part of our Navarathri celebrations also became a routine at least for some years!

As against this painful journey in our childhood, I found my present journey quite pleasant. The difference was the enjoyment I had now developed for the nature’s beauty. From the valley of our village I had to first reach a plateau and traverse for a small distance on the road before reaching a place called Yellalli. Here one could find the ruins of an old house and the discarded areca garden. The house had a history for us as my father had been brought up in that house by his maternal uncle. There was ample supply of flowing water in this area throughout the year. The reasons for allowing the house and garden to become a part of the ancient history remained a mystery.

From Yellalli one would reach a place called Voorugudige. Here was the house of Subba, the Harijan. He had a beautiful daughter named Devi. This Devi, even when she was wearing a dirty sari, could give blushes to an upper caste young lady from a rich family! Such was her beauty as a young maiden. Subba was the only Harijan land owner in our village. He had been sanctioned a fertile paddy field by the Government under the Darkhast scheme. But he was least interested in agriculture. He would rather work as a cooli and earn his living. He used to work for us on several occasions. Basically Subba was a great storyteller. He had this uncanny knack of converting the ordinary events in the life of the villagers in to interesting tales. We used to hear him spell bound when he was narrating such tales. The ownership of land appeared to be a burden for him! He wanted to sell it off and become a free man! But the Government had put a condition that he could not sell it for ten years. Poor Subba! He had no alternative than to carry on with this burden!

From Voorugudige one had to pass through a deep forest before reaching a place called Aradalli. During day time itself one would find this forest very dark and deep. One would be generally unnerved by the total silence in the darkness till he reaches the green paddy fields of Aradalli. Later, one particular evening, I was returning from Sringeri. I wanted to pass through this forest well before the night started. But I was late. I was carrying a torch for seeing the narrow path in the darkness. The branches from the trees on both sides were entangled in such a way that even the moon light could not enter inside. I could hear the sounds of wild forest animals coming from the top of the nearby hills.

All of a sudden I found a powerful beam of light approaching me from the front. It was moving towards me in full speed at a distance of about six feet from the ground along the narrow path. I had heard of Kolli Devva in my childhood which had been taught a lesson by my father. I simply thought that it was taking a revenge on me now! I reduced the speed of my walking. My heart was literally in my mouth as the light approached me!

Suddenly I could find a person in front of me with the light fixed on his forehead! It was none other than Soora from the nearby village called Chittemakki. He was on a hunting mission. I was aware that these hunters carried a headlight in the night. I was fully relieved of my fear and tension. Soora came with me till I crossed the forest to relieve me from my fear.

At the other end of the forest I had to enter a vast paddy field. A big stream was running in the middle of this paddy field virtually dividing the field in to two equal parts. The entire land originally belonged to Hurulihaklu family of my brother’s father-in-law. He had sold half the land to Sampige Kolalu uncle and the other half to Rama Rao of Balehaklu. These two families had a big fight over the rights of water flowing in the stream quite for some time. The fight ultimately ended when the sister of Rama Rao was married off to the nephew of Sampige Kolalu uncle! Later the things improved to such an extent that the eldest daughter of uncle was married off to the younger brother of Rama Rao!

After crossing the paddy field one would reach a place called Melinakodige. Here one had to pass near the house of one Nanjunda Bhatta. This gentleman was originally from Sringeri. He had also purchased the land from Hurulihaklu family and settled down comfortably in the village. He was a highly knowledgeable man and was always eager to pass on the same to others. He used to quote extensively from Sanskrit Scriptures. But the trouble was none of the public was interested. The reason was simple. He did not know how to stop his talking! Things reached such a stage that people used to virtually run away on seeing his face! I became a victim of him on a few occasions. But I learnt my lessons fast and took to my heels on seeing him from a distance!

The next place on the way was called Megalabylu. Here one had to pass in front of the house of a rich man called Sheena. The path would then lead to a place called Kondaguli. Here was the house of a rich man called Krishna. This man was famous for his fascination for playing cards! As my own father used to lose lot of money in this game, our all other family members had a total hatred towards all card players! Krishna was just one in this list!

From here one had to pass through a pucca road for some time before reaching a tributary of Tunga River. This was a big stream and would be quite turbulent in rainy season. There was no bridge available at that time. Hence crossing of the stream would be a minor adventure in those days. Once crossing the stream one would arrive at a famous Ganapathi temple at the entrance of the Jayapura-Sringeri main road. This was called the Honnemara (Golden Tree) Ganapathi temple. The Ganapathi here was known to be very powerful.

Once entering the main road here one had to walk a distance of three KMs to reach the Tunga-bridge near the Sringeri town. Our College building was situated on the banks of the river immediately after crossing the bridge. The town was located another half a KM distance from here.

I had taken about two hours to reach the town. It was late in the evening .I unloaded my belongings in the room given to me by my nephew. It was located close to the Mutt and the famous Sharadamba Temple in the main road called Bharathi Street.

It was for the first time I was entering the famous temple alone. I first went to the river inside the Mutt and washed my hands and feet. After first visiting the Vidya Shankar Temple I went to the Sharadamba Temple. The decorated Sharadamba is such a great sight that one feels a sense of peacefulness and attainment of spirituality simply by standing there for some time. After sitting in the temple for some time I reached the river bank again. Here I sat for quite some time watching the Tunga river in flow. From the busy city of Shimoga I had moved to the small and peaceful town of Sringeri. Another chapter in my eventful education career was getting unfolded!

-------- (To be continued)

The Story of a Malnad Boy - 53

Vishwanathapura is a small Agrahara on the banks of the River Tunga. It is at about a distance of three KMs from our village. The Gopal Rao family in this Agrahara was having the hereditary rights of Shanbhogue for our village. This family had the entire details of the revenue land and other family affairs of our village on their finger tips. The family belonged to Shivalli sub-sect in the Brahmin community. Most of our villagers belonged to another sub-sect called Hebbar. It was generally believed that the Shivalli families did not like the Hebbar sub-sect people to come up in their life.

Shankar Rao, being the eldest of the two sons of Gopal Rao, was the Shanbhogue of our village at that time. There was a tradition to give a small measure of arecanut to the Shanbhogue annually as a token of respect. This would be collected by a representative of the Shanbhogue by visiting the houses of each of the families. The Gopal Rao family had large landholdings and was well off. As such, they were collecting this token of respect only as a matter of their hereditary privilege. When the relation between our family and the Srinivasaiah family had soured, my father had checked up with the Shanbhogue as to the status of our family in the revenue records. He wanted to know whether our name was entered as owners or tenants in the records. To his shock and dismay he found that the entry was neither as owners nor as tenants, but as coolies!

It may be mentioned here that Srinivasaiah was the Patel of our village. These revenue records were updated annually under the joint ownership of both Patel and Shanbhogue. It was obvious that the entry was made at the instance of Patel Srinivasaiah. But basically it was the duty of Shanbhogue to update and maintain these records. My father did not take this insult kindly. He was basically a short tempered man. That year when the representative of Shanbhogue visited our house, he refused to give him the usual arecanut contribution. He simply shouted at him showering a mouthful of undesirable epithets on the post of Shanbhogue!  The same was conveyed verbatim by the representative to Shankar Rao, the Shanbhogue.

I had seen the Shanbhogue Shankar Rao on a few occasions. He had a highly commanding and respectable personality. He used to address all the villagers kindly with due respect. Nobody spoke anything bad about him anytime. None of our family members agreed with the way my father treated the Shanbhogue’s representative. Besides, we were small fries compared to his stature. It was not advisable to spoil our relations with him particularly when the Patel was already against us.

Being a thorough gentleman, Shankar Rao never took it as an insult to him! Rather he regretted his mistake and took necessary corrective steps. Later as a Director of Malnad Arecanut Society he helped my father a lot. My father’s attitude towards him also changed to the other extreme!

In our Malnad there were only two first grade Colleges at that time. One of these colleges was at our district headquarters of Chickmagalore. This college was quite unknown. Besides, the Chickmagalore town was under-developed and was not found to be a hospitable and livable place. All the College going students flocked to the other famous College. It was the prestigious Sahyadri College in Shimoga. The Shimoga City had its own charm for the people Malnad. It was deservedly known as the Gate Way of Malnad.

In the beginning of the sixties there were frequent attempts by different people/associations to start a first grade college in the interior Malnad. None of them were fruitful mainly because there was no agreement on the location of this College. The towns in competition were Sringeri, Koppa and Thirthahalli. As there was no unanimity, the people from respective places started their individual efforts towards establishing the College in their own town.

The people from Sringeri had their own reasons to argue their case. After all it was known from ancient days as a pilgrim town. It had the prestige of having one of the four Mutts established by the great Shankaracharya. In fact the Mysore Kings had left it as jahgir of Sringeri Samsthanam. The entire revenue from the taluk was to go to the Mutt only. The Jahgir was abolished only after independence.

The Hulgar family near the temple of Kigga was well known in Sringeri. The Yejaman of this family had the privilege to administer the affairs of Kigga temple.  He was also entitled for a major role in the affairs of Sringeri Mutt. The Swamiji of Sringeri generally consulted him on various issues. At that time Chandramouli Rao was the Yejaman of the family. He was a leader of high stature. He was the President of the Sringeri town municipality from its inception continuously for more than twelve years.

Chandramouli Rao was in the forefront of the committee set up for establishing the College in Sringeri. He was ably supported by K N Veerappa Gowda, the MLA from Sringeri. Together they took it as a challenge to establish the College. They got an offer from the well known Manipal Academy headed by the famous Dr. T M A Pai. As per the offer, the committee had to collect a sum of Rs. 2 lakhs and hand it over to the Academy. The academy would, in turn, contribute a sum of Rs.1 lakh. The college would be established and run by the Academy. The academy had already successfully established and running Colleges at Manipal, Udupi, Karkala, Kundapura, Mulki and Moodabidri.

The committee with great difficulty could successfully mobilize this amount from the philanthropists of Sringeri taluk. The foundation of the college was laid in the month of December 1964. By June 1965 the Academy was able to construct a makeshift building, ready for starting the pre-university classes. The necessary clearance from the Mysore University was also obtained.

The real trouble for the committee started at this stage. There were only about forty students who had passed out from Sringeri High school in that academic year. Some of them, including my brother, had left for studying at different places. There was another set of students who were required at their homes for looking after their lands. Some others were least interested in college studies. There were some cases wherein the students wanted to study, but the parents just thought “enough was enough”.

As per terms agreed with the Academy, the mobilization of students was one of the conditions. In any case it was a matter of prestige for the committee to bring the students to the College from the families of reluctant Malnad farmer community.

Each of the committee members was allotted certain quota for this purpose. From our Hebbar sub-sect, Manjappaiah, of Talavane family was one of the members on the managing committee. He was the elder brother of Talavane Srinivas who had helped me in my hostel admission at Shimoga.

Shankar Rao, our Shanbhogue, was also one such member. Besides, he was closely related to the Hulgar Chandramouli Rao family. The Hulgar family also owned a rice mill near our village which was managed by Shankar Rao. A tragic incident had taken place earlier within these two families. The eldest son of Chandramouli Rao, Raja, was a very popular young man. He was on a visit to Vishwanathapura with his friends. They had gone on boating in the flooded Tunga River. Suddenly the boat capsized and all the friends had to jump in to the river. Raja was an expert swimmer. He could save two of his friends. But while attempting to save the third he himself lost his life.

This was one of the most tragic events we ever heard in our younger days. There was lot of sympathy for the bereaved family from the entire population. For Shankar Rao family the event was difficult to forget for many years.

One fine morning my father received a message from Shankar Rao asking me to meet him. I was not at all aware of the struggle going on for mobilizing students for admission to Sringeri College. Till then I had only heard of Vishwanathapura and never had the opportunity to visit it. Traditionally the Hebbar and Shivalli sub-sects had no social relations between them. There used to be no inter sub-sect marriages also. Our intermingling was limited to the public activities fields only. As such I was curious to visit the house of Shankar Rao to see their way of life.

I have already mentioned about the larger than life personality of Shankar Rao. To be frank, the villagers were generally in awe of him as a person. My case was no different. On that morning I left from my house and traveled in the direction of Tunga River bank after crossing a deep forest and a big paddy field on my way. I could see the Agrahara from a long distance from the paddy field. Inside the Agrahara to the right side of the gate I found the residence of Shankar Rao. I was asked to sit down and was served the coffee. Shankar Rao was in his Pooja room and I could hear him engaged in loud Manthra Patanam. At the centre of the Agrahara there was a temple. The ambience of the entire locality was such that I felt myself in a different world all together.

After about half an hour Shankar Rao came outside and spoke to me in his baritone voice. Straight away he told me that he could not understand how a merited student like me could sit at home! I didn’t know how to react to him. I just kept quiet. He then told me that the Sringeri College was in need of students like me. I had to tell him my financial difficulties at that stage. He then asked me to come to his home again on the weekend. I was to carry my marks card and TC. He also told me that I should stay in his house for the overnight. He wanted me to accompany him to Sringeri next day.

I visited his house again on the weekend as told by him. His family treated me as an important guest at home with all niceties. He was a highly religious person. He spent a good time in the evening Pooja. Later I found him hearing Carnatic music till late night over Radio.

In the morning together we reached Sringeri town after crossing the Tunga River. There we visited the Hulgar House very close to the Sharada Temple. This house was owned by Chandramouli Rao family. The College Office had been set up there on a temporary basis. None of the family members of Chandramouli Rao was available at that time. Shankar Rao introduced me to the Principal of the new college. His name was Dr. K B Rama Krishna Rao.

 After some time we came out of the office. Shankar Rao handed over some receipts to me. He also told me that I could go home and come back to his house on the month end. That was to attend the inaugural function of the College.

I started on my way back home. Hardly had I walked a few steps, when a Fiat car came from behind and stopped by my side. A young and handsome man came out and spoke to me. He introduced himself as Srikanta Rao, son of Chandramouli Rao. He simply told me that the Sringeri College was in need of students like me! He also invited me to the inaugural function of the College on the month end. Suddenly I had turned out to be a VIP! I had moved to a different world all together!

Once he left, I took out the receipts and went through them. In all they totalled up to a sum of rupees three hundred fifty. I could not believe that any one person could pay such a big sum for the admission of a student who was totally unrelated to him, by blood or in any other way! It was actually the entire annual fee of the College paid in lump sum. I was quite aware that even super rich persons found it very difficult to part with even five rupees for the welfare of others. But here was a person who was doing it without any publicity of any kind! This in spite of there being absolutely no request from the recipient!

------ (To be continued)--------

The Story of a Malnad Boy - 52

Mathematics had always been one subject for me which I have enjoyed doing. Generally I used to score in nineties in this subject. But I don’t know what exactly happened to me on that particular day when I saw several thrinamas on my way to the examination hall. I developed weakness in my knees all of a sudden!  And indeed my apprehensions were right. I found the question paper not only tough; some questions were even out of syllabus! For the first time in my career I found myself unable to solve all the problems. Looking back now I feel that the thrinamas had really no role to play in my predicament. But at that juncture I took them to be the root cause of my trouble!

I did well in my remaining papers. It was time for me to tell goodbye to my School. Looking back, I feel this School had contributed much for my career. The solid foundation the teachers laid here for my education was to come handy later in my College career. It was my brother who got me here in spite of all the adversities. I remain indebted to him for life!

As for the hostel I developed a feeling that I may never come back there. The free seat was available for my taking. The nominal charge per month was just nothing for any student. But not for me! Given my family financial position it was going to be tough to even pay that. I had reached a stage where I had decided that I should no more depend on the mercy of others for my education. At least I was not going to beg anybody for that!

There were several takeaways from my hostel life. I had come out of the shell of protected life in my sister’s home. I could understand the role of money in one’s life. The community life gave me lot of exposure to different cultures. It also gave me strength to handle my affairs independently. My association with senior college students added value to my knowledge levels. With a strict hostel administration to oversee us I could learn how to lead a disciplined life. The exposure to sports and other extra curricular activities also widened my perspective.

I was back at my home for my summer holidays along with my brother Puttanna. As in the previous year, we had a tight schedule to finish off various tasks at home. My father had sent the entire arecanut produced at our garden to the Arecanut Marketing Society (MAMCOS) at Shimoga. That year our gross revenue from the proceeds was around rupees one thousand. He had somehow managed to make both ends meet. We two brothers helped him one of his new ventures. The construction work of bridge for Sitha River was going on. There was a large camp of Tamil labourers at the site. They were crazy to eat the bananas grown in our Malnad. Twice in a week we used to visit this camp to sell ripe bananas which we used to collect from our gardens. This activity became a major source of income for us.

That year we had to attend to one strenuous job. In an earlier episode I have written about the work of collecting arecanut leaves (Soge) for covering the roof of our house. This year we found the quantity from our garden insufficient. The youngest brother of Belavinakodige family was living in a place called Bhuvana Kote. He permitted us to collect the same from his gardens. For going to this place we had to climb a steep hill first. Thereafter we had to climb down the hill on the other side to reach the house. The gardens were further deep down in a valley. From here we had to lift the arecanut leaves (tied in to a bunch) on our heads back to the top of the hill. Thereafter we had to climb down the hill to reach our home. The whole journey used to be on a narrow path called Kaalu–daari (footpath). Our father and we two brothers completed this entire manual job on our own. Today when I think of the hard work we did I really feel proud. We had to do all these jobs to avoid paying labour charges.

Thimme Shetty Conthratu!

There was only one particular work which we could not do. That was the annual feeding of manure, green leaves and fresh soil to the arecanut gardens. In our Malnad this activity is called thotada –besaya. For this purpose, the land is divided in to three equal units. Every year only one such portion is taken up for feeding. This activity is generally entrusted to only labour contractors.

Generally these contractors were coming from South Kanara district with a number of labourers at their command. But I should mention the name of one contractor who had at his command only one labourer. He was called Thimme Shetty. The only labourer at the command of Thimme Shetty was none other than Thimme Shetty himself. His was a one-man army. His terms of contract were quite different from the other professional contractors. In fact his brand of contracts was more specially known as Thimme Shetty Conthratu!

The basic term of this Conthratu was that he was to be treated as a non-paying guest at the house of the family with whom he was entering the Conthratu. He was to be provided the same food as if he was a member of the house. This cost was to be kept in mind while fixing his conthratu. Basically Thimme Shetty was a polished handsome man. He would never wear dirty clothes unlike our usual village labourers. He had a special dress stitched for usage while he was doing the manual labour. He would neatly wash them during week ends. He could manage to do any part of his contracted work singly even when the same required two persons in the normal course.

Thimme Shetty was a bachelor. He would take daily bath which was again a rarity for the normal labourers. He was in possession of a torch which was his trademark. He would never forget to carry it in the night. He would do hard work on all days till Sunday. He would take an off-day on Sunday. It was difficult to recognize him once he dressed himself. He would look like a film hero. Once dressed in spotless white clothes, he would leave for the town (Jayapura, Koppa or Sringeri) depending on which place had a good film in the Theatre. He would return in the late night carrying his torch. He would be blissfully whistling the latest film song. That would herald his arrival back at the place of Conthratu.

Generally the ladies at the house did not like his Conthratu. They found it difficult to cook and serve him. But the advantage was  - he would not be required to be given a seer ( a measuring vessel) of rice per day  unlike other labourers. Some families found the arrangement cheaper. Besides Thimme Shetty was a thorough gentleman. For small landholders his Conthratu was ideal. His services came as a nice package. That year we entrusted our thotada –besaya to Thimme Shetty under a Conthratu.

I wish to mention here that I had been to my village about five years back. I visited the house of one Baalehithlu family. I could remember that this family used to engage Thimme Shetty frequently by entering in to Conthratu with him. I casually asked them what had happened to Thimme Shetty ultimately. I had not seen him for more than thirty years. Believe it or not! They told me to my utter disbelief that right at that time he was engaged in a Conthratu with them! That day being a Sunday he was off to Koppa for seeing a film! They told me to visit them on Monday to meet him. They also told me that he had grown old now. I simply told them ‘no’. I didn’t like to see an aged Thimme Shetty. I wanted him to continue to be young and handsome in my vision always! That was the last time I heard of him. He remains evergreen in my memory!

It was the end of May. I went to Hokkalike to visit the houses of my sisters. I stayed there for a week. On the day of return I was to catch the bus at a place called Gadikal. While waiting for the bus somebody told me that the SSLC results have been published in the newspapers of that day. With great difficulty I collected a copy of news paper. I could find that I had secured first class in the examination. 

I reached my home late in the evening. My parents already knew my results. My brother also had been successful. Both of us had reached a stage in our life because of the efforts of our eldest brother. We received a letter from him congratulating both of us.

I visited Shimoga and collected my marks-card and TC. I had scored excellent marks. Arunachalam and my other well wishers asked me about my plan for studies in future. I simply told them that my family could not afford to send me to College. All of them quoted a Kannada proverb which roughly meant “if one has the teeth, he has no groundnuts to eat; if one has groundnuts he doesn’t have teeth to bite!”

There was no way I could study any further. In those days the clerical vacancies in Post offices were being strictly filled up on the basis of merit in SSLC examination. As I had not completed the age of eighteen I was not eligible at that time. I simply told my parents that I would assist at home for one year. I was left with no more ambitions. The spirits had burnt out!

My elder brother Puttanna had other plans. He was very particular that he should study in the College. He tried his best in that direction. Fortunately for him our cousin Subrahmanya with whom he was staying told him that he would help him to study in Bangalore. He took it as a challenge and left one fine morning for Bangalore with just bus fare in his pockets.

My Student Career at Cross Roads

Even though I had taken a firm decision to discontinue my studies, I had tough time once my brother left for Bangalore. The people in my village were surprised to see me carrying bananas and betel leaves for Koppa market with my father. They could not believe that a merit student like me could discontinue studies so nonchalantly! But when I told them my financial difficulties they just kept quiet. It became a great worrying matter for my parents.

One particular evening I was engaged in feeding the water to the gardens from one of the tanks. Once the entire water in the large tank had flown out and fed to the garden I had to go back to the tank to plug the outlet from inside for refilling. After plugging the outlet I just stood in the tank thinking about my fate. The sun was just setting in the evening. Suddenly I felt that I was also at the evening of my student career! I remembered how my brother had strived hard to bring me up in my educational career. But right at that time my career was in crossroads. My brother was no more with me. A sense of grief and dejection overtook me. I just forgot my surroundings. Everything appeared to have come to a standstill for me!

Just then I heard my father calling me loudly. I suddenly woke up. I found the water level raising fast. It had already come up to my waist level!

------- (To be continued)-------

The Story of a Malnad Boy - 51

I was back at the house of Arunachalam by the first of June. Early July found me back in the hostel, this time duly settling the payment of Arunachalam. This year no additional building was hired and I was allotted a room in the main hostel building itself.

We found our stature improved as SSLC students. We were the senior most students at the School. We felt ourselves very proud. There was ample encouragement for us both in the School and at the hostel to do well in the public examination we were going to face. Our Head Master himself started taking certain English classes for us. He (Srinivasamurthy) was a post graduate in Arts, Commerce and teaching (MA, M Com & M Ed.). We sometimes used to wonder why he was underemployed in a High School like ours. Later he became the first Principal of National Commerce College in Shimoga.

We found him an excellent teacher in English. I distinctly remember how beautifully he taught us the poem,” I remember, I remember, the house where I was born…”written by Thomas Hood. He had grown old by that time and he could describe to us the wonderful recollections of his boyhood. I have always felt this poem as one of the most beautiful poems ever written. In fact I had commenced the writing of this memoir by quoting the poem.

The Unfair Competition

This time one of my roommates was a boy called Nagaraja Rao Bapat. He was an intelligent boy and a classmate from our School. But he was studying in Kannada medium and that was a reason for his inferiority complex. Somehow he took me as his competitor. While I was least interested in this competition, from his side it went to the ridiculous heights. Even while getting up in the morning, he would jump out from his bed the moment I started making moments to get up! He would go to bed only after I went to sleep! My other roommates started cutting jokes on this close competition.

For Bapat this close and unhealthy competition rather ended in a tragedy. In our School there was a special optional subject called craft. The students had an option to take this as an additional subject. It had three branches namely civil, mechanical and paper-making. It carried total marks of fifty with twenty five each for theory and practical. The marks would not be considered for the rankings.

 I had not taken this subject. But Bapat had taken it. In the public examination the theory paper was completed along with other papers. But there was a gap of a few days for the practicals after our last paper. I was to leave for my home after the final paper. Bapat wanted to be the first even in going home! So he left for his home earlier to me thinking that he would come back for the practicals later.

Once going home he thought there was no necessity to attend the practicals as the marks had no consequence on the final results. The same was the thinking of some of my other classmates also. But to their horror, the SSLC Board took a stand that the students were absentees to that particular subject. The Board announced their results as failed! These students simply lost one valuable year of their student career. They had to repent for their life. That was the end of the close competition between Bapat and me! Surely I was not a party to this. At least for some time, I admit, I had a feeling that a poetic justice had been done for the unfair and undesirable competition!

Lanchavatara

I remember certain special events in the hostel during the year. The renowned dramatist Master Hirannaiah used to conduct one benefit drama every year and donate the entire collections to the hostel. That year he held the show of Lanchavatara at Shimoga and the proceeds of the houseful show were given to the hostel. We had a big dinner in the hostel in his honour. We enjoyed it every bit. In fact we enjoyed the dinner more than the drama!

A rich party wanted to have its family member’s marriage conducted in the hostel. The rent offered by them for the building was so much that we had to vacate the hostel for three days and move to DVS High School building! The entire hostel set up including the kitchen was shifted to this building about one KM from the hostel premises. It was a unique experience for all of us. We did enjoy our new temporary location!

There was scarcity of rice in the market quite for some time. Our Secretary Avadhani owned vast paddy fields in his native place Koodli. Because of him our hostel could escape from the scarcity atmosphere.

A Thief in the Hostel

All of a sudden hostel inmates started losing their valuable items. It started with boys losing money in the beginning. But soon other valuables like watches also started disappearing. It reached a stage where we started losing our stainless steel coffee cups also. I was one of such losers. Actually it was one of my proud possessions. I had won it in a hostel sports competition!

The hostel had full security and no external thief could enter and have access to our rooms. It apparently appeared to be an insider job. The management engaged some internal detectives to keep a close watch on some suspicious characters! Indeed they did a marvelous James Bond job! One fine morning we heard that the ‘thief’ had been caught red-handed and packed off to his home!  He was none other than a second year B.Sc. student by name Shivamurthy.

Shivamurthy hailed from a poor family in Chitradurga. He had a fascination for seeing films. We were told that he had a better attendance in Shimoga Theatres than in the Sahyadri College! He wanted to see at least one film per day be it a morning show, matinee or first show. How he managed it was only known to him. But he had kept one meticulous record, a note book wherein he noted the full details of the films including the name of the Theatre. That was his undoing. The James Bond team had kept an eye on him. At their instance, one of his roommates could lay hands on this valuable record. Naturally the first doubt was regarding the source of funds. He kept a close watch on his filmy roommate.  He could catch him red-handed when he was searching the pockets of one of his roommates! That was the end of the story for our filmy hostel-mate Shivamurthy. We never saw him again. Of course none of us could get back the valuables we had lost. I never had the risk of losing money as I never had it in the first place! My only valuable possession was that stainless steel cup! Shivamurthy did not even have the courtesy to spare it!

A Rich Friend and a Romantic Film

I had another roommate by name Chandrasekhar. He was from a place called Kodur near Hosanagara. His family was comparatively rich. He gave me good company. He valued my merit and friendship. The best thing was - he didn’t mind spending money for hotel and films in my company. That was a God send for me. I liked both!

In the company of Chandrasekhar I could see one of the most romantic films of that era. It was the famous Raj kapoor film Sangam. It was released at the Mallikarjuna Theatre in Shimoga on the day of All India Release itself. We stood in a long queue and managed to see the film on the first day. We were simply bowled over by the romantic story and the wonderful music by Shanker JaiKishan. It was the first Eastman Colour film from Raj kapoor.

Quite for some time I could not come out of the romantic world created by this film! I could pick up all the songs and particularly the song Yeh Mera Prem Patra Padh Kar was my favorite. The film took us to a different world altogether. But alas! Those days never come back!

That year I could see many sports events. A cricket team from Hardwick High School, Mysore visited our School. They played a match with our School team in the nearby Durgigudi grounds. We were given a holiday and could witness the match in full. Our School team played excellently and won. For me it was the first match to witness. I enjoyed it fully. Later I could see many matches played by the famous Durgigudi team. This team had great players like Puttappa (Skipper), Naani, Shenoy, Yajna (the wicket keeper) and others. The wicket keeper Yajna was known for his antics behind the stumps!

We liked and enjoyed all his gimmicks.

For the annual Republic Day celebrations there used to be a football tournament. We attended and saw all the matches at the Durgigudi grounds. The teams I remember are Friends Union, Mahatma and Railways. We were the staunch supporters of Railway team. There was one famous player by name Abdul Subhan whose game we liked immensely. He was also a great athlete. As expected the Railway team won the trophy that year.

Brother Moves to Shimoga

One day I was surprised to find my eldest brother at the hostel. He told me that he had shifted his family to Shimoga along with his father-in-law. I was told that his father-in-law B S Lakshmi Narayana Rao (BSL) had sold all his land in our village including his famous ancestral house at Hurulihaklu. It was a great surprise but rather a shock to me. I could not imagine such a well known family leaving our village for good. What hurt me more was that they had sold out their entire property. All of us had some sentimental attachment to the famous house and the family. Even though BSL had received substantial amount as sale proceeds, it was quite uncertain as to what he was going to do with the money. The family had shifted lock-stock and barrel to Shimoga. My brother’s fate also looked quite uncertain, as BSL had failed to keep his promise of giving a portion of his lands to him.

The family later lost everything as BSL could not invest his funds wisely. The first son Thimmappa simply disappeared and his whereabouts are not known till date. Of the other three sons only the youngest is doing well in Bangalore. The family had to see worst days only because the Yejaman totally mismanaged the finances. A huge property built up over generations was liquidated by one single man by his middle age. He had to lead a dejected life fighting for survival at his old age. His life ended in a tragedy. In our village itself several families which had purchased pieces of land from him are doing so well. The person who purchased the original land and the house is a multi millionaire now. By joining with his in-laws my brother’s fate was also sealed. The whole thing ended in a tragedy.

That year there was a student in the hostel by name Madhyastha studying for his PUC. He was a brilliant student. He used to secure hundred percent marks in Mathematics. The hostel management was expecting him to secure a rank and bring credit to the hostel. He was being pampered a lot. We used to envy him. I had a feeling that given a proper support and encouragement I could also secure a rank in my examination. But no such support was forthcoming for me at that stage. Ultimately Madhyastha did secure cent per cent marks in Mathematics; but he failed to secure a rank.

I prepared myself well for the SSLC examination. We were taught well in our School. But somehow I was developing a feeling that we were not being properly briefed as to how we should write our examinations. Meanwhile my Sanskrit scholarship was also sanctioned. I could get the money with the help of Kanchi as in the previous year.

Our SSLC examinations started in the last week of March. I could do well in the languages and the optionals. We were left with general mathematics, general science and social studies. I started that day morning from the hostel for general mathematics paper. On the way I met a big procession of Shri Vaishnavas. They were all wearing the thrinamas prominently on their foreheads! Suddenly I developed a feeling that it was a bad omen for me. I developed an impression that my performance may indeed turn out to be the equivalent of thrinamas!

------ (To be continued) ------