2 May 2007

Gundumane

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 7
27 April, 2007
Gundumane, my Surname was a place in Sagar taluk. This was the place where my ancestors had stayed for nearly two centuries. That was until 1965, when the Linganamakki dam built across the river Sharavathi submerged this place. The joint family had to split and move to different places provided by the Government as compensation. The remains of this place can still be seen during summer months when the water level of the reservoir falls below 1780ft.

I had the desire of seeing this place from long time. This desire increased after reading a novel “Mulugade” written by Naa. D’souza where he explains about the pains, sufferings and agony of the people who were uprooted from their place to provide light to the rest of the state.

Last Friday, 27th April, I and my uncle started from our place Talavata (near Jogfalls) on bike. We passed Kargal, took the Bhatkal route, and at Aralgod, took the diversion to Nandodi and reached Kanchikai village. The priest at the temple told that the route to Gundumane was still under water and advised us to take a diversion at Nandodi and cross a hill to reach the place. We took that path and reached a forest checkpost. The gate was locked and we parked the bike and started walking. After some 20 minutes of walk through the forest, we reached Gundumane.

There was no photo taken before dismantling the house and we had to only depend on the description given by the people who had stayed in the house some 50 years ago. We could make out the steps leading to the house, pond and plantation. We found a “Beesuva kallu” which the people had left while leaving this place.

This is the place which was once an areca nut plantation.
The fate of the big banyan tree.
This tree had seen better days.
The place where a hundred people use to stay under one roof (used to be several hundred during Navarathri) is now totally deserted. I could not imagine the feelings of the people who had to leave their abode where generations lived.

A view of Sharavathi backwaters from Kumari gudda, highest point in this area.

The exact location of Gundumane can be found in Wikipedia here.

7 Responses

  1. Prashanth M
    | Reply

    Disheartening!! its very difficult to move out of a place where everyplace – every tree, every rock has a story!

  5. Shilpa Bhat
    | Reply

    Arvind, just came across ur blog. I'm also one of grand daughter's of gundumane.. My grandfather was known as gundumane narayanappa.. How r u related to gundumane?

  6. Shilpa Bhat
    | Reply

    Arvind, just came across ur blog. I'm also one of grand daughter's of gundumane.. My grandfather was known as gundumane narayanappa.. How r u related to gundumane?

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