I visited Sirsi and Yellapur area in North Canara last week. Endowed with natural wonders like thick forests, beetle nut and palm plantations, rivers, waterfalls, and mountains, it is an eternal treat to nature lovers. Some of the beautiful places I saw were Magaud and Sathodi falls, Sahastralinga Tirtha, Jenukallu Gudde (a mountain top viewpoint presenting a scenic view of the valley below), and the backwaters of Kali river.
But more than that, one aspect of life in this area reminded me of my visits to remote regions of Europe and the USA during the last 15 years and gave me a sense of pride in being an Indian.
When in the USA or Europe, I used to visit and stay in the rural areas far away from cities. One striking feature of life there was the sense of loneliness. With the distance between the houses being hundreds of meters, the roads fully deserted, rarely a pedestrian walking around, I often wondered how safe these people must be feeling in their life? But then I found them comfortable living there. I felt a sense of awe and respect for that society.
Fly down thousands of kilometers to North Canara in the East, and you again have houses hundreds of meters apart from each other, typically a couple of kilometers away from main roads, accessible only by 6 feet wide unsurfaced dirt roads, nestled in deep forests or beetle nut plantations. There you have a lonely motorcyclist with his wife riding home at 9 pm in pitch dark night when the only thing visible to him is the thirty feet track of road ahead in the dim headlights of his bike. Or a lone schoolgirl walking on the dirt road in the morning towards the main road junction to catch the bus to her school.
People live in a high sense of safety and security and are happy in whatever they have. When I asked about this to Narayan Hegde, who runs a school on a remote part of this land, he smiled and said,
“We are different type of people here. You leave your wallet anywhere, and it will come back to you with all money intact”.
It was unbelievable, especially here in Bangalore, where we get worried when our daughter-by-heart returns late from her work at night.
What makes people good or bad? Is it a culture, sense of comparative economic depravity, misdirected aspirations, or a sigma of ethical values of the societies in which they live?
I don’t know, but I am proud that, in one respect, there is an apparent similarity between the rural lives of developed nations and my poor country.
NB: My FB page Profile Picture is taken at background of valley at Jenu Kallu Gadde (Honey Rock Mountain) viewpoint. And Profile Cover photo is the Sunrise as seen from the hills near Magaud waterfalls.