Sunday, July 3, 2011

Monsoon Memories


(Two years ago I have written this article in bad English for my English assignment. That time i was in Bangalore. Now I am in my village doing field work for my internship. Again it is raining heavily here. )

   I read a report in a newspaper, heading saying that "Heavy Rains in Uttara Kannada District". I was very curious to know how much water was flowing in Kokkar Streem and Bedti River. So I immediately called on my house but I heard a voice saying "the number you have called is under repair". I tried again and heard the same voice. This is very common in Malnad area. Most of the time during this season there is no electricity and the phones do not work because of trees falls that damage the electrical and phone poles.

I loved it when there was no electricity in the night during the rainy season because my parents won't force me to do home work or read text book. I could sit front of hodtki with my grandfather--hodtki is a type of dryer used for drying coarse rug. He always tells me a lot of stories there most of them are very interesting especially Brahma Rakshasa story, Punyakoti stories, a few ghost stories, and stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata. In the bonfire of the hodtki, we used to bake jackfruit seeds. My grandfather used to hole the seeds and then put it in the fire otherwise it would burst in the heat. When it is raining a lot it is a very joyful moment sitting in front of the fire of the hodtke enjoying the baked jackfruit seed, jackfruit papad and cashew nut. The process of baking cashew in the fire is very intresting.While baking the cashew nut, it gives very beautiful scattered flames and different crackling sounds. Sometimes it sprays the hot oil with fire.

Early in the morning from 6 o' clock my mother starts waking me up because I have to walk 3 kilometres to reach the school. Finally I get of the bed only after 15-20 minutes. After leaving the bed my first work was watching the sky to see if it is cloudy or not and then to the news on AIR Dharvad if they announce the possibility of heavy rains in Uttara Kannada district within 24 hours and celebrate as my father would says no need to go to school today.

During the school days Mahadeva was my close friend. He was very good at catching fish (i.e. without any tools). Every Saturday afternoon and Sunday we used to go catch fish and crabs and also play in the slush of paddy fields. I was not able to catching even single fish but Mahadeva was catching the fish and crab so easily. he put his hand in a deep hole upto his elbow to catch crab. Once a big crab almost a palmsized cut his fingertip.

During the rainy season Mahadeva and me used build mud dams to small channels of water within an hour it collapses and we enjoyed the seeing of it collapsing and a huge amount of water flowing out of it. We used to imagine this as stories where LTTE terrorist attacking dams and demolish them. (i used to read in newspaper that govt was giving protection to Supa Dam from LTTE).

We used to make paper boats and used to put red ants on the boat and leave the boats on the streems. The ants were moving here and there on the boat searching for way to escape from the floating paper boat. Some jumped into the water and started to swimming and few climbed on to the blades of grass partially touching the stream water.

On the way to school we used to see lots of dead snakes, frogs and millipads on the tar roads. During the time of crossing the roads those animals are dying due to the vehicles which are moving on them. Those fresh decaying flesh of those beings mixed with water give a smell resembling the smell of iron rods of KSRTC bus seats. Green vine snakes are common during the rainy season. We used to catch them bare hands and thrown them on some plants on the way to home after the school. We used to take the forest route in search of wild mushrooms.

In the forest we find a lot of differently coloured and different types of mushrooms. Mahadeva told me that only 2 types of mushrooms are edible and rest are poisonous.

Now again monsoon is started, water from the new rains are flowing in Kokkar Streem and bedti river. A new vine snake waiting for a new frog. My grandfather is putting new firewood to hodtki fire. New rain-water is evaporating from the coarse rug. A new crab making new hole in paddy field. it is raining even in Bangalore. But it is not a new rain, it looks like last year's rain and the year before the last. Without the smell of fresh soil, without the cool soil slush, without vine snake, without the frogs song, without hodtki fire and jackfruit seed, how can it be new? Then why am I living in Bangalore? I don't know and I don't have an answer.

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