Village Study

~Rachita Bhonsle, VI Semester

  Away from the hustle-bustle of big city life, tucked away in the Western Ghats are the little villages of Horanadu, Sringeri and Augumbe. For us city-breds, this village documentation trip turned out to be quite an interesting learning experience.

The first thing that struck us was how similar each village seemed to us. It was only after careful study that we realized how distinct and unique each place was.

  The trip kicked off a rather long and tiring bus journey. Our first destination was Horanadu. We reached there around 4pm and got to work immediately. Horanadu is a small village famous for the Annapurneshwari temple.  Breathtaking scenery surrounded us and left us captivated. The simplicity in their living left us humbled. One appreciable point was the use of solar panels in some of the houses and also for streetlights. We wrapped up our first day of documentation and headed on to Sringeri. Another long bus journey awaited our hungry souls. We reached Sringeri close to midnight and our day ended with some rather interesting (I’m being diplomatic here) dinner and birthday cake!

  Day two began early with a short visit to the village Kigga. Here, we spent time studying the houses. Kigga is what we would call a typical village. A visit to the Sirimane waterfall made us feel like we were finally on a much needed holiday.  Some people jumped right in to the cold water, others were reluctant but gave in to temptation eventually. We lost track of time and refused to leave until we were soaked to our bones. A visit to the setting of the legendary Malgudi Days had us reminiscing about Swami and his friends. Although we missed the famed sunset at sunset point, the beauty of the vast expanses of hillside left us speechless. One last attempt at documentation was made. Not much got done but the excitement and fear of suddenly finding out that we were stuck in a naxalite area with no lights or telephone network kept each and every one of us on our toes. The energy was drained out of everybody by the time we reached our lodge in Sringeri. 

  The next morning was filled with confusion. Sringeri being a relatively bigger town required a lot more work and time to document. We decided to document the road leading to the Sringeri Sharadamba temple. The temple is a must see. Standing tall with typical Hoysala temple features, it left us awestruck. At first sight one will only notice the numerous shops and public buildings on this road. Only upon looking closely will you find the little houses tucked away in between. On completing the documentation of the town, we packed our bags and headed to Augumbe, the cherapunji of South India. After a long hot day of documentation, the slight drizzle we received before leaving was more than we could have asked for. We halted at Sagar for the night. Many of us were left sleep deprived from the fear of being attacked with toothpaste by fellow insomniacs!

  Day four had us visiting a lot of temples. After lunch we were all geared to trek to Yana. The 3km trek there had us wondering if it was even worth it. On reaching Yana we realized it was. A majestic black crystalline limestone monolith awaited us. The trek back had us experimenting with less painful techniques! Some tried walking backwards, others sprinted across the steep climbs! Although the trek tired us out, most people still found the energy to get up and dance to jinke marina in the bus. We reached our last destination Murudeshwar. The night and trip ended with a campfire and some delicious barbecued potatoes! Jinke marina played on through the night! I could safely say nobody was looking forward to returning to Bangalore. An early morning visit to the beach confirmed what I felt.

Our trip ended too soon and the 15 hour bus journey made it worse! Coming back to college and long days filled with work wasn’t exactly something to look forward to!