Memoir - Part I

I was born and brought up at Sakleshpur, a beautiful, picturesque town in the malnad belt. The town is surrounded by green hills and coffee estates. River Hemavathy flows amidst the town and during my boyhood, water in the river was crystal clear and very sweet. But due to the growth of so-called modern civilisation and the neglect of the inhabitants, water and the river bed are so polluted that nobody wishes to have a stroll on the sands and go near water. Now, we will have to wash our hands with soap if we touch the river water.

An iron and steel bridge was constructed across the river by the British which attained 100th year during my primary school days.The bridge was quite strong and I am happy that I have also used that bridge. As the traffic increased and the government felt that the bridge was old and weak, a new concrete bridge was constructed abandoning the old bridge. The construction of new bridge took 5-6 years. A lot of people from Tamilnadu and Kerala took part in the construction of new bridge. I have not noticed any localite indulging in the construction activity of the new bridge. The old bridge is abandoned and retained beside the newly constructed(in 60's) as a monument (without any maintenance).

The town reminds me of any hill station. The houses are constructed on hillocks and the hills are standing on paddy fields. Beside these hills, there are coffee plantations with lots and lots of thick green trees. Average rainfall was of the order of 150-180 cm per year. Now the rains, winds and their intensity are reduced and the present average rainfall is 80-90 cm per year. The reduction is mainly due to deforestation in and around the town.

The population of the town was 10000-12000 during 60's and now it is estimated to be 35000. There was no college at that time. I studied at E.H.Young's municipal high school up to SSLC. There were only two middle schools, two primary schools and one Urdu school. My primary education was event free at a school opposite to my house. The school building was in a dilapidated condition and subsequently it collapsed and I was shifted to the town middle school. A new school building was constructed after some years.

                                       

My High School - E.H.Young's School, Sakleshpur

I had a happy boyhood. There was no caste discrimination what so ever. We studied and played together. We were participating in Mohurrum procession and we were given sweets and prasadams by Muslim priests. Some of my father's Muslim friends were coming to our house to eat hoLiges(obbattu) after Gowri-Ganesha, Ugadi festival. It gives me pleasure to state that the great poet Sri.S.K.Karim Khan happens to be one of my father's friends, who had blessed my marriage.

Though, I am from a poor family, my friends, (some of them were sons of big coffee planters and merchants - stinking rich) were very friendly with me. There was not even an iota of status difference among us. I had very efficient, able and good teachers at the town middle school and high school. One teacher at the middle school was very good at English grammar but he was very sparingly teaching us. He used to play cards during night and sleep in the class room during our class hours. Whenever, he had the mood to teach, he taught grammar excellently. Similarly, at high school one teacher with the same habit used to teach us social studies and moral sciences. He used to tell moral stories hours together and we never felt it boring.

My town middle school was about 2 Km from my house and high school at 4 Km. I used to walk the distance very comfortably. I was coming to my house for lunch. Lunch break was 45 minutes. Apart from this, I was learning Hindi at a distance of 2 Km from my house. Hindi classes were held between 6 and 8 a.m. We were playing ball badminton and table tennis in evenings. Cricket was not popular at that time. Some physically strong students were playing kabbaddi, khokho etc. During rainy season (between June and Sept) it used to rain very heavily and I was carrying my lunch to school. No plays in the evening. We enjoyed watching rain in the evening and on holidays. Sunshine was a rarity during rainy days. We were trained to use umbrella. Rain coat was expensive and rarely used. By the time we reached school, we would have drenched and had to sit in the class room fully wet. By the time we'd return home the clothes would have dried a little but return trip would wet the clothes again and we used to dry them at home on fire/charcoal. Due to the weather conditions, during rainy season and winter we were feeling very hungry and we used to eat voraciously. But for the weather vagary, it was healthy. We were never sick during rainy season.

Those days, cooking gas was not available even in cities. We were dependant on firewood. It was abundantly available. It was to be collected and stocked well ahead before the commencement of monsoon. Hot water for all purposes was available always during rainy season and food was always served hot during that period.

To be continued..........

--------

Nanjundaswamy.S