A visit to Sharavathi backwaters

I was in my native place for a family function. There was some free time to spare, and I planned to visit a few waterfalls. But the monsoon had not yet arrived, and there was no point in visiting a waterfall that was dry!! But delayed monsoon meant that the water level in Linganamakki reservoir would go low, opening up submerged areas of our ancestral house!! So, we headed to Sharavathi backwaters.

Our first place of visit was Gundumane, my ancestral house submerged under linganamakki backwaters. You can see the post of my earlier visit here. I had visited 15 years ago and was curious to see the changes during that period.

We took the interior roads from Nandodi village and reached the forest gate. A new addition was the check post next to it. The board indicated that the public was not allowed to enter the forest. But knowing our intentions of visiting the remains of our ancestral home, the guards allowed us to enter the forest.

My uncle and I had managed to find the way to Gundumane easily last time without any support. We were now armed with GPS and satellite maps, but we struggled to find the road to our old home!! The forest had grown a lot in the last few years, and we had a tough time recollecting the path we took.

But finally, our continuous quest to search the route paid off. We found a path made by bison leading to the valley where Gundumane was located. The ruins were intact!!

Our ancestors had left this place 57 years ago. People who could explain about this place had either departed this world or were not in a position to hike to this place. Surprisingly, there were no photographs of the house, which we could have used to correlate with the ruins. I had asked about it to one of my uncles, and he told me nobody had thought about it. It looked strange, but the people were under a lot of trauma where they were uprooted forcibly by the Government. When their future was at stake, taking a photograph would not have been in their minds.

I recently read the novel “Punarvasu” by Dr Gajanana Sharma, which explained the suffering of the people during dam construction. Sitting in front of the ruins, I tried to imagine the pain my grandfather and others went through.

The water level was much lower this time, revealing more remains. Our heart was heavy, looking at the areca plantation submerged in water. Even after so many years, the dead trees were still holding on.

Jinagi temple

We then visited the Jinagi temple nearby. It is an old temple recently renovated. The structure of the temple looks different and attractive.

The priest was happy to see us. It was not an everyday sight to see outsiders visiting this temple.

Haamse plains

Our last place of visit was to the plains of Haamse. Haamse was the place where my Father did his initial schooling. My grandfather was also a teacher in that school for some time. Like Gundumane, the Linganamakki dam also submerged Haamse.

We went to Kanchikai temple and took the deviation towards Haamse. It was a narrow stretch of road with bushes covering both sides. My cousin used all his car driving skills to avoid getting scratches on the vehicle.

It took us nearly 10 minutes to cover this stretch of one km. Then the vastness of Haamse plain welcomed us.

The place was filled with the foundations of the houses. We could see several water wells which were still deep!! The old road connecting to Bellene near Talguppa was visible. We walked on the road until it disappeared into the water.

It was dark by the time we left Haamse. Though the experience was heartbreaking, this visit was a means to connect to the roots and understand the life of my ancestors who sacrificed for the benefit of others.