Moment the bus crosses Shimoga and moves towards Tirthahalli, one can feel the sweetness in the breeze and I did not want to miss it even though I was going home, to Tirthahalli by night bus from Bangalore. We crossed Shimoga around 3:30am in the morning and nothing was visible outside. I could only feel the familiar breeze and non stop Rain with the slightly opened windows of the bus. Except the driver, ticket collector and me, all others seemed to be asleep. Even though I have spent my years in different places, if I think of home, Tirthahalli is the first name that comes to my mind. So many memories are attached with this place, like getting my first bicycle and falling down while racing with my elementary school teacher, scars of which are still on my elbow, the cross country cycling with race cycle at 4am in the chilly weather of December, playing cricket a day before 12th exams, getting caught by lecturers and then arguing with them endlessly that playing cricket refreshes the mind, Climbing slippery Anandagiri hill during heavy rains and making Rangoli with Centipedes in the Mantap of Anandagiri hill, time spent with friends in the school and College, acquaintance with Best teachers of my life and being part of building our first own house and having my first own room…the list goes on.
July & August are the months in which rice plants are planted. Initially the seeds will be sown and thick parrot green plants will be prepared in one the fields. These plants needs to be plucked and planted again in the ploughed fields with enough distance between each other. All this has to happen during the heavily raining monsoon season. It rains almost 24 hrs of the day. Workers do not use umbrellas, instead “Gorabu” or “Kambali Koppe”. Gorabu is made of leaves and bamboo sticks to protect oneself from rain. When I was a kid, I had a small Gorabu which was custom made for me. And participating in Netti, the planting occasion of rice fields is a heavenly experience because of hot coffee and snacks which one relishes sitting on the wet narrow walking paths of rice fields with other co-workers. Snacks used to taste lot better compared to how it tastes at home.
Rice fields are filled with mud and water where one can find crabs of all sizes. So, it is not so easy for someone who is not familiar to get into the field and walk as easily as the people who work in them. It is also not so easy to walk on the narrow slippery walking paths which separate fields from one another. Don’t remember how many times I had fallen down into the mud, But I still love to walk on those narrow paths without the fear of falling down with my camera as the Joy of being on the green carpet is something I wouldn’t like to miss. Now when I get into fields with my camera, people think I am an outsider who is seeing rice fields for the first time and I explain them I belong there as much as they do and have affinity lot more than they do.
Bejjavalli:
This is a very small village around 14 km from Tirthahalli. This place is considered the 2nd Shabarimala because of the famous Aiyappa Swamy Temple. My fondness for this place is because this is my birth place. As I went to school in this place from 1st to 4th standard, lot of childhood memories are attached as well. Our study room used to be on top of the Trees. Elders at home used to force us to eat vegetables while poor kids in the school used to bring only Ganji(boiled rice) with pickle and we used to think how lucky they were. Hygiene conscious elders used to restrict us from having ice candy at school and all their efforts to provide us the best home made ice cream used to annoy us. Exchanging pickle with other children in the school was a way to make new friendships. Now my next generation is enjoying some of the things that we used to once upon a time. This is the place where I have tasted the Sweetest water on earth.
Nagarapanchami festival is something special here as the whole village gathers below the tree where Stones of Snake god are kept. My maternal uncles and aunts take care of conducting the worship on this occasion and especially on this day it rains little more than other days.
