A Village

All villages are not alike. Every village has its own distinct features. Villages do not develop as fast as cities develop. I never thought that I would be in a village for such a long period. I came to know that it is in our villages our traditions and culture are still alive more than in our towns and cities. It is in villages we come across more greenery and nature's splendor. Our customs and superstitions too are found there only. India being agriculturally predominant comprises of more number of villages than towns & cities. There are still thousands of villages in India that are as yet untouched by the complexities & comforts of modern civilization. Here people live simply, farming, raising cattle & practicing the same trades that their ancestors practiced working as carpenters,blacksmiths,washer men, barbers, cobblers, tailors, rope makers, potters, & fishermen. Thyavanige is one such village.

Thyavanige is a roadside village on Davangere Channagiri road in Channagiri taluk, Davangere district. I lived in Thyavanige village between 1978 and 1982. Earlier, it was in Shimoga District. It is nearer to Davangere than Shimoga. It is at a distance of only 28 kms from Davangere whereas the distance between Thyavanige and Shimoga is twice that distance. Now after reorganization of districts, Thyavanige is rightly brought under Davangere district . It requires about 45 minutes to reach Thyavanige from Davangere by bus. A number of private buses ply between Davangere and Shimoga via Thyavanige. On this route , we come across a number of villages namely, 7th mile stone, Hadadi, Kukkawada, Karignur Cross, Matti, Thyavanige, Doddaghatta, Kabbala, Kashipura camp.Kerebilchi, Shanthi Sagar, etc. These villages are situated in close proximity. The distance between one village and another village is a few miles only. At Kukkawada, we come across, Davangere Sugar Company. In view of proximity of Sugar Factory, we come across large scale cultivation of sugarcane crop all along. Davangere is a growing city. There are number of cotton mills, oil mills, rice mills etc at Davangere. Besides, it is a well known commercial and educational center too. Bapuji Educational Society is running medical, engineering and other educational institutions there.

Thyavanige is surrounded by villages called Nalkudre, Venkateshwara camp, Navilehal, Santhebennur. Miyapur is a part of Thyavanige where a tribe called lambanis predominantly live. There were Govt .Primary School, Govt Middle School and Govt High School at Thyavanige. Now it seems high school is upgraded to junior college. This is all about Thyavanige and its surroundings. Until 1971, Thyavanige was an unbanked area. In 1971, Corporation Bank opened a branch of the bank there. I had an opportunity to serve the bank there as a branch manager between 1978 to 1982.

Recently, I had been to a Government Primary school at Amrithahalli which is within Byatarayanapura municipal limits,in Bangalore City. The school was in the initial stages .Children who attended that schools were mostly the children of construction workers. The building of school was still under construction. The toilets were yet to be constructed. Govt. had sanctioned 3, 64000 rupees for the construction of school building. Two classrooms had been constructed and school was functioning in them with the sanctioned amount. One of the two rooms was used to cook the mid day meals provided by Government. In the other room classes were taking place. The classes were attended by 6 to 10 year old boys and girls. The students brought along with them kids who were either their younger sisters or brothers and who were 6 to 8 months old only.Unless, the babies were allowed into classroom the parents were not allowing their older children to attend the classes because they did not have anybody at home to take care of those kids. They could not lock their houses and go to work. Thus in the classroom, the students had to take care of little kids as well as they had to pay attention to lessons.The strength of the class was 40-45 inclusive of the kids. The kids urinated in the class room itself. There were no benches, why not even mats for the students to sit upon. They had to squat on the floor.The windows of classrooms were not made up of any wooden material but of iron scrap. The plastering of floor of the newly constructed class room was in such a bad shape that it was giving in. The teacher was always away from classes with one or another work. Mostly, the sub staff engaged for cooking mid day meals supervised the classes.

I could not bear the sight. A thought that this might be state of affairs at many of the Government run schools came to my mind. Thus I remembered Thyavanige. I recollected my life there. One by one scene suddenly appeared before my eyes. Except a few grocery shops, a drug shop, a tent cinema, a post office not even a police station existed at that place during my period of stay . Nearest Police Station was at Santhebennur. However there were a few telephone connections in that village provided by nearby Nalkudre exchange. There were no commercial complexes. Rainfall was scanty at Thyavanige. We come across dry weather there. We come across a number of thatched roofs, Mangalore tile roofed ,a locally burnt tile roofed and a few concrete roof houses at Thyavanige . It is a centrally located big village. Altogether, the total number of houses during 1978 to 1982 might not have exceeded a few thousands. Houses were spread in a few lanes. There was no drainage or water system at the place. Except the main road, the other roads were muddy roads. Majority of houses in a village do not have toilets and so too it was in Thyavanige. Local panchayats were not taking care of upkeep of roads and collection of garbage etc.

Majority of local people comprised of lingayats. There are two sects among them called sadara and banajiga. A few Kuruba families, a few Muslim families also existed at the place. The branch of the bank was functioning in a building belonging to a contractor named Mr. Venkatswamy. I was calling him as Reddy. He was a mason. He was an illiterate. But slowly picked up contract work and excelled in same. His wife was Venkatamma who it seems was a construction worker. Mr. Reddy was short and stout in appearance whereas Mrs. Reddy‘s personality was gigantic. Both were made for each other. It was said that theirs was a love marriage. Theirs was a big family consisting of ten children. Though couple was illiterate, the couple tried to educate all their children. They were happily married. Mr. Reddy was visiting nearby Davangere almost everyday, and in the evening while returning home he was bringing home some eatables invariably. He had so much interest in life. Reddy’s eldest was a daughter. She was married at a young age and was mother of six children. Consequently she had undergone tubectomy. Whereas Mr. Reddy was considering his wife as physically weak and had not allowed her to undergo any surgery.It was tenth time or so, Mrs. Reddy was pregnant. It was about 10 P. m. or so in the night Mr. Reddy was taping one door after another door in our locality to announce the arrival of his new born.Not even young couple would have had so much of enthusiasm. One of their daughters passed M.B.B.S. and another passed graduation staying at hostels at nearby Davangere.

The building was like a chawl. It consisted of nearly seven houses. In two houses Reddy's family lived. In one house a hotelkeeper called Srinivas, in one Hindi pundit named Mr Seetharam Rao, in another Sri T.K. Chandrappa, One was for branch and another was branch manager’s quarters. Besides there were two small apartments were attached to the building. In one Sowcar Malleshappa, a school teacher, in another our office clerk Mr. Rajanna was living. Village was not having tap water. But Mr.Reddy had provided us tap water by getting dug a bore well. Common toilets were there for the all the houses.

This Reddy's building was at the outskirts of Thyavanige village adjacent to P.W. D. colony. As the name indicates, the colony was meant for P.W.D. staff. There their office that was looking after repairs and maintenance channels in surrounding area, quarters of some junior engineers, assistant engineers, and other staff working at that office was there. All built according to their requirements. The headmaster of high school was provided quarters in that colony. L. F.Dispensary was also functioning in that colony.It was a well planned colony with trees and plants planted and having barbed wire fence all-around. Subsequently, branch of bank was shifted to a building near Thyavanige bus-stand. Roopa my residence was a decent house by village standard. It was adjacent to branch office. We were receiving cooking gas and other domestic requirements from Davangere by Ananda Motor Service. Incidentally ,Ananda Motor service was run by my relative.

Mr. T V. Chandrasekharappa, M.P.and Mrs. Lalithamma wife of Sri T.V. Chandrasekharappa, etc. were customers of bank. They were very simple unassuming rustic people unlike present day politicians. So too Sri T.K Basappa, V.H.Patel brother-in -law and brother of late Mr. J. H.Patel, Honorable chief minister of Karnataka, respectively from nearby Kariganur, who were all very nice were also customers of bank. I remember all of them. How can I forget A. R.Chandre Gowda, C. Jayadevappa, sons of Late Sri Adivappa, Halappa, taluk board member, K. G.Marulana Gowda, Jamal Sab, etc who helped me in one or another way and made my stay at Thyavanige comfortable and memorable. How can I forget Mr Shivappa , the headmaster of Govt High School. He was very popular. During whose tenure school was maintained well and there was discipline in it also.

I cannot forget Veerappa episode also.We were supplied milk by one Mr. Veerappa at Thyavanige. Veeramma was his wife. Mr. Veerappa was an old man. The poor fellow was mentally retarded. It was his wife and daughters who were dominating the household. His duty was to do whatever work that was entrusted to him by them. Generally if wife does something wrong, it is husband who takes her to task. But here it was quite opposite. Wife was taking Veerappa to task. He used to often shout “Veeramma is beating me” and poor fellow used to get lashes from his wife.

In villages, generally, those who can afford higher educational expenses send their children to nearby city or town for their studies. They generally do not send their children to local schools. Even in city parents give last preference to Government aided school for educating their children. They generally try to get their children admitted to convents, private management schools where percentage of passes in public examination are high. Besides,corruption has not even spared education system. All types of corrupt practices have made inroads into schools and examination. A degree can be secured by dubious means now-a-days. Due to these various reasons,classes were not having full strength of students at Thyavanige especially at high school level. Moreover, majority of them were from poor families. Medium of instruction in schools situated in villages in Karnataka is Kannada and so too is medium of instruction at schools in Thyavanige. There are no schools at rural places in Karnataka where medium of instruction is English. This affects the higher education of children very much.

As regards teaching staff we find many deficiencies at village level. Financial condition of majority of teachers is generally not good. Majority of teachers find it very difficult to make their both ends meet. They have to depend on other income for their living. This is not conducive for teaching. A teacher must have at least thorough knowledge of the subject or subjects which he or she teaches and must have enthusiasm to impart his or her knowledge to students. We find lack of both these requisites at village level. In addition to this many teachers lack punctuality and discipline. Most of them are not first class graduates instead they are those who secured their degree with great difficulty. Further the teachers are local or belong to nearby places.

They have agricultural properties or some other business to look after. Teaching is not a full time profession to them for livelihood. They enjoy the lot of holidays that teaching profession provides. A few do full justice to their job. As such syllabus are not fully covered in these schools sometimes and sometimes even if the syllabus are covered , the teachers do not put their heart and soul and try to make the students understand the lessons.

Moreover examination center for S.S.L.C examination was not there at Thyavanige at that time. Students had to go to Santhebennur to appear for S.S.L.C. That is why; we find that examination results of these village schools very discouraging. In a school not only teachers must be good but also the students. Schools at Thyavanige were lacking on both these counts. Examination results year after year reveal this fact. A school must be full of students who are interested in studies. There must be competitive spirit among students. If that is not there education of those students who are good at studies gets affected.

My wife had to devote herself fully for educating our children under those adverse circumstances. She was coaching them as far she could. She had passed S.S.L.C in first class with distinction in 1962 at Sringeri. Her as well as my son’s efforts bore fruits and my son secured first class and stood first among students who appeared for S.S.L.C.examination in Channagiri Taluk in 1981.

Prostitution, illegal relationship, gambling etc are not merely confined to big towns and cities, they are rampant in villages too and Thyavanige was no exception to them at all. B Maheshwarappa and D Channappa were brothers. Then question why they were having different prefixes to their names. It was clarified that mothers of them were different ladies. In case of Maheshwarappa, B represented his father’s name. He was legitimate son of Mr. B whereas in case of Channappa, D represented his mother’s name. But she was not a legal wife of Mr. B. Thyavanige being a small village, we come to know whatever that happens there in no time. We can observe how people lead life there. Some people get up early in the morning, finish their rituals, then, they go to their field along with their food to attend to the work there. They toil in their field. Some get their work done through coolies. Some lease out their lands. Some get ready to go to nearby city to spend their time happily there. They go to cinemas, hotels; clubs etc in the city and return home in the night only for supper only. Theirs is carefree life. Somebody in their house looks after their fields and manages the affairs or they lease out their lands. Ultimately, they lose their properties and become vagabonds.

In villages, we find lazy people in large number. They gather in somebody’s house, chit chat and play cards and wile away their time. Gambling dens exist in large number in villages and small unhygienic, tea shops too. Thyavanige was no exception in these matters . Many of the school teachers used to be found in the gambling den there too. Further, such people have a low morale. They do not command much respect from students. Students do not remain as mute spectators. It affects their conduct and character very much. As such, we find abusive language being used spontaneously by majority of students of these schools. Recently news about arrest of a lecturer working at a Govt. Junior College at Maradimata in Gokak Taluk, Belgaum District for playing card in the college campus appeared in a newspaper. It was reported that a lecturer who was paid for teaching children lessons had done that job. Then it was expressed what would be the standard of education in such a school or college? In fact, I used to feel similarly when I was at Thyavanige.

Cost of living was comparatively cheaper at Thyavanige than in towns and cities. Millets and jowar are staple food of villagers there. Because of availability of plenty of water from Tungabhadra Channels and Shanthi Sagar tank, agriculturists grow paddy and sugarcane extensively. As such, Rice was available at cheaper rate compared to cities and similarly vegetables like brinjals, ladies finger, green chilies, potatoes and onions etc. Children were not charged any fees at schools. Students were not prescribed any uniforms at schools . Except, our close relatives, nobody generally used to visit us at Thyavanige . Miscellaneous expenses are minimum in villages.

Chigateri General Hospital at Davangere was there to cater health care needs nearby. After my recent visit to Government School at Amrithahalli, Byatarayanapura in 2004, I could imagine the plight of my children at Government School s at Thyavanige during 1978 to 1982. What we save a little by way of less expenses, we lose more on account of low standard of education and suffering of children at school on other count at rural places. Rural education needs reform not only in Thyavanige but through out India. A village generally lacks many basic facilities. Some villages have no school at all. Sometimes one who is in villages has to catch a bus go to a school at a nearby place. Where buses do not ply, one has to walk the distance to attend the school. The distance varies depending upon the remoteness of the village which one belongs and the place where the school is situated. Sometimes there are no proper roads even. How much valuable time is wasted? Students get tired on account of strain. My children were fortunate in that respect. Schools were at stone throw distance from my residence at Thyavanige.

We find Camps in and around Thyavanige that are occupied by agriculturists who hail from Andhra Pradesh. Some parts of Andhra are cyclone affected especially areas nearby Visakhapatnam. As a result some of the agriculturists of those areas suffer heavy losses.They move to safer places. They belong to communities called reddys, kammas etc of Andhra Pradesh. They speak Telugu language but can converse in Kannada too. They are honest and hard working. They are generally found in large number wherever irrigation facilities are available. They come from their native places in Andhra, and buy lands at cheaper rates, develop them and take three crops of paddy in a year. They also obtain highest yield per acre too. As a result of their hard work the land price in those areas grows manifold. Some of them permanently settle there and some sell their lands at exorbitant rate, make profit and move to another irrigated area to carry on their venture. One of them was Balsubullabayee . He was residing at Kabbala. He was an illiterate. He knew nothing else other than working at his farm. He was hard working. He was ever smiling and humble. His wife was some what literate. If we ask Bullabayee anything, he used to say I don’t know. She was taking care of all his dealings, planning etc. She had extended their extent of land holding of lands. They had purchased a tiller. They were prompt in their dealings. We can term them as progressive farmer. They had kept their house clean and neat. But, only lacuna was that the couple had no children.

Why poor are poorer in village? One of the reasons for the same is private money lending. In fact, private money lenders are more in villages than in towns and cities.Every shop owner in a village normally does money lending. The private money lenders charge abnormal rates of interest to borrowers. Major portion of earnings of a poor man goes to repaying of debts which carry high rate of interest. Further,in private borrowing , besides high rate of interest poor borrower would have to remain obliged to lender.

I learnt something more about agriculture at Thyavanige. My knowledge about agriculture improved a lot at Thyavanige. I was fully aware how sugarcane is grown, how paddy is grown, various varieties of paddy, when are periods of planting, transplanting, harvesting, etc there. I came to know what first ratoon crop is, second ratoon crop etc. I was well acquainted with the terms yield per acre, urea, potash, pesticides, weeds, cost of cultivation,scale of finance, and direct payment to supplier of inputs, kind portion, and cash portion etc., I used to go through pre sanction report, appraisal, record of rights, tie up arrangements with Sugar Company, lien notification with Sugar Company and get post sanction supervision done also. It is always better for a branch of bank functioning in a rural area to confine its lending operations to its command area. Even in rural areas we come across dual or multiple financing. It is always better to obtain confidential opinions and no due certificates wherever necessary from banks functioning at nearby places in order to keep non performing assets at minimum level.

Banking has well spread in and around Thyavanige. Because of availability of bank finance agriculturists are going for farm mechanization. Agriculturists with small holding avail loans for purchasing tillers and those who have bigger holdings avail loans for purchase of tractors. In addition to these loans, they avail loans for purchase of motor cycles which help them to visit nearby cities for marketing their produce and purchasing domestic requirements. Fertilizer and pesticides are available with local dealers. Agriculturists now-a-days do not normally approach money lenders for finance. They avail loans against jewels at banks only. Similarly, they are canalizing their savings through banks. M Puttachari was jewel appraiser of the bank. Based on the valuation that appraiser does, bank advances loans against security of jewel. Appraiser is not an employee of bank. As per terms of appointment, remuneration is collected from the borrower and passed on to appraiser. It is a meager income. People were influencing Mr. Puttachari for higher valuation through tips. Fortunately, for me gold price was always on the rise and spurious gold was not got pledged. Corruption begins at village level. Whether it is village level worker, village accountant,most of them are corrupt but they are not as powerful as former shanbhags and patels. We have a few honest people at our disposal at village level. We come to know of grass root problems in a village .

If at all caste and communal feelings exist in a country, they exist more in their villages than in their towns and cities. Slowly and steadily change in behavior of rural people has been taking place. They are no longer rustic people. There is vast improvement in their manners and behavior. Majority of them are cleanly and neatly dressed these days. They are purchasing bank drafts, sending money by mail transfer. They are well acquainted with banking now. It was not designated as a hardship area when I was serving there whereas it is now a hardship area. I cannot forget Thyavanige. It added many leaf of experience to my life.