My Lottery

I am in Union City, which is in California State of United States of America. There I am living with my youngest son namely Arun. His residence is in a residential area called "California Rose Crest" which is off the road named Alvarado Niles. If we enter California Rose Crest through a road called Kitayama Drive and proceed about a furlong or two, we come across Mirabella Drive at the end. My son's residence is 1820 Mirabella Drive. In U.S.A .all cities are well planned and developed. There is absolutely no digging of roads every now and then for one or another purpose which is very common in our cities. All basic amenities exist in every area and even their maintenance taken care of from the day one. Each street bears a name. We find adequate number of street lights in every street. Every street is wide enough for comfortable and easy movement of two vehicles at a time. Right hand side is meant for vehicle to move out of a street whereas left hand side allows a vehicle to enter in. Besides, there are footpaths on every street. Instruction to driver of a vehicle to stop the vehicle is invariably found while moving out of a street. But no house bears any name or bears nameplate of occupant in U.S. Houses are identified by the number that they bear. California is prone to earth quakes. As such most of the houses are primarily made up of wood and cement plastering here. Aluminium partitions and glass windows are extensively used in the construction of the houses. In the front of every house, beautiful landscaping could be found with timer set sprinklers. In the backyard and as well as in front of every house, we find flower plants bearing colorful flowers of enormous size especially that of roses of many varieties. Similarly, we find trees in the front and back of every house to give it a grand look. Either owner takes care of the garden or maintains the garden with the help of a gardener. The maintenance and development of surroundings are taken care of either by local administration or by residents.They are never left to take their own course at all. Weeds are never allowed to grow at all. Machinery is used extensively for maintenance. Further, in front of every house we find a post box bearing house number for receiving as well as sending mail. Gardener, garbage men and everyone has a vehicle. Everybody accepts payment by cheque. Everybody pays tax here . Every street competes with the other street in its elegance. Especially spring season is a treat to watch to eyes. Everywhere America's richness pierces eyes.

The value of a house depends upon ranking of school in its area. Depending on the value of house local administration collects house taxes, which are fully utilized for providing school, library and other amenities to the people. They maintain public places, and roads also.

In every area waste management companies operate, they provide bins separately for collecting thrash, recycling items, agricultural items etc to every house. On the early morning of an appointed day in a week, trucks of waste management company empties the bins. In this way every area is kept neat and clean.

Now it is nearly seven years since I retired from my services in Corporation Bank. At the beginning retired life was boring. It was hard to spend a day. I knew not how to spend time. Now I have fully reconciled to my retired life.At present, I have no worries or any regrets whatsoever. I am quite relaxed and happy. I spend my time playing with my grand children, surfing the net, going for a walk both in the morning and evening times, watching cable TV and recollecting my past, which spanned over six decades.

Instead of facing rainy season and summer at Bangalore, I have come to California this year. Last year also, I had been here. I am fortunate that I have not come across either extreme cold or heat here. On both these occasions the climate has been very pleasant. There is not much difference between climate of this place and that of Bangalore at all.

This area is also known as bay area as well as Silicon Valley too. It is second week of September 2003 and winter is slowly approaching. There is no snowfall in this area. As usual, I am on my evening walk on Alvarado Niles. Generally, I walk for one and half hours at snail's pace on the pedestrian path of this four lane beautiful road which has a separate lane for bike riders. The lanes are well bifurcated and marked. We do not find even a single pothole on the roads here. All the pedestrian paths are made up of concrete slabs. Traffic signals are well laid .We find beautiful landscaping and trees on either side of every road here.

Every city is first planned and then built here. People ply their vehicle at high speed here despite very stringent traffic rules being there. Public transport is scantly used in U.S. for majority of people own vehicles. I have come across a number of times half empty transit buses. Bart also runs between Union City and San Francisco. There also we find commuters in less numbers. There are some industries and cold storage in Union City. As a result we find a number of huge gigantic trucks fitted with 18 Tyre moving on Alvarado Niles.

Postman, policeman, are all provided with vehicles to carry out their duties. Police catch hold of people who violate traffic rules and levy high penalty on spot. We come across only a few people on foot during our walk. It is vehicular traffic that is more intense here. One peculiar aspect of vehicular traffic is that nobody makes use of horn. There is absolutely no sound of horns. Further, every vehicle keeps always right. Generally there is a little scope for head to head collusion of vehicles. Every year vehicle tax is being collected from the owner of vehicle without fail based on the cost of vehicle and it is used for the maintenance and development of roads.

U.S. is the richest country and only super power in the world at present. U.S. population comprises of a small percentage of local Indians, but a large chunk of other people like Europeans, Chinese, Koreans, Indians, Mexicans, Pakistanis, Afghans etc Geographically U.S. is thrice as big as India in area but in population it accounts only for one third of Indian population. I always envy size of U.S.A. and its vastness. In U.S.A., we come across beyond every freeway another freeway, beyond every city another city, hills beyond mountains and mountains beyond hills ,and, beyond those, more cities and more people.

My wife seldom accompanies me in a walk because she prefers brisk walk whereas I walk at a slow pace. Mostly, my walk is a solitary stroll spread over two and a half miles. It really provides me with an opportunity to make a survey of my surroundings and also to recollect some of the past events of my life. I commence my walk from our residence 1820 Mirabella Drive. I pass through Kitayama Drive, Alvarado Niles, Dowes Avenue, Atlantic Road, Central Avenue, Whipple road, Liston Way, Foxglove, and reach Mirabella Dr. from other side. It is a complete circle. We find often glass pieces scattered here and there at many places along the busy Whipple Road and Alvarado Niles. This is on account of speedy and reckless driving by many people. However, local administration maintains the roads well by periodically getting everything cleared. It is machines do the job rather than men here. Everything is systematic.

A recollection always relates to past. A recollection is sometimes a happy memory and sometimes a sad memory. Three decades ago, I was serving Corporation Bank as a branch manager at a village called Moka in Bellary District, Karnataka State. In fact, I opened the branch of the bank there. It was an unbanked area. It was a one-officer branch. Bank was neither providing a second officer nor a part -time attender or a part-time sweeper in those days. Moka is situated at a distance of about 10 miles from Bellary. On our way to Moka , we come across a place called Sanganakallu. Sanganakallu belongs to Neolithic period (3000 BC – beginning of Christian era), complex of hills (peacock hills) is 8 km from Bellary. It is One of the earliest village settlements in South India spread over 1,000 acres.

Moka is near the border of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka on the bank of river named Hagari. Hagari is a rain fed river. Hagari is also a name of a village too on Bellary Ananthapur road. There is a railway station at Hagari. Some of the villages that are in and around Moka are Bhairadevanahallii, Gotur, Basarakodu and Yerragudi. Basarakodu is famous for its brinjals. On the banks of river Hagari people grow watermelon and such other fruits on a large scale in summer. Besides, there are numerous mango groves too in and around Moka. Moka is known for its Malleswara Temple. There is also another beautiful Shiva temple near Moka in a tree trunk. It is worth seeing. It is a rare amazing sight. It is Muddu Mallikarjuna Temple.

Moka is a firka headquarters. Yet, it was not at all developed in those days. A slum in a city was far better than it in many respects at that time. There was not even tap water available in that village in spite of it having plenty of irrigation facilities through Tungabhadra Channels and drinking water was supplied to nearby Bellary City through a water works near Moka . There was no telephone connection at that time except one at post office. A lot of crimes used to take place in that part of Bellary district. Hence, a police station was quite essential at the place and it was there. Of course, a primary heath centre an agricultural farm, and K.E.B. office existed there. The road between Moka and Bellary was a kutcha road. And only a few busses were plying between Moka and Bellary in those days. Sanitary conditions were very poor in the village. Villagers used to go either to their paddy fields or to the bank of river Hagari to answer the calls of nature. The main road of Moka was a muddy road.

We had to get drinking water from ponds, which one had dug on the beds of river Hagari. The muddy water oozes out at first in those ponds. After throwing out muddy water with a help of a plastic can, we had to collect fresh water in our pots. The approach roads to these ponds which were source of drinking water were also not there. We had to tread our way through thorny bushes and slippery, marshy earth. Sometimes, we used to come across cobras and other poisonous snakes too on our way to ponds.

Hardly, there were about 1000-1500 houses in that village mostly made out of mud. Panchayath office was in a mud building just opposite to our branch. . One Mr. Kolli Ramaiah was Panchayat president. He was an illiterate.Almost all villagers were farmers. People were very backward and uneducated. A high school, which was there had to be closed down for want of adequate strength of pupils. I had to leave my daughter & a son aged 4 & 7 years respectively with my mother in far away Shimoga for schooling. People of that place were old fashioned and superstitious. The climate was very hot. Scorpions used to be found in large numbers in every house. Once, my wife had a scorpion bite too. Thereafter, I brought some effective medicine from Bellary and had the same in my first aid kit for the use of other villagers as well as my family.

Whenever there were incessant rains, the village used to be flooded by Hagari river water and people used to remark “Hagari has come" There used to be water on the main road as well as inside our bank premises to some extent. The people used to ask me "Whether bank would remain? People of Moka, were very good ignorant people. We must learn hospitality from them. I enjoyed their company for about two and half years. In fact, I had become one among them. Situations might have changed and the place might have improved a lot by this time at Moka. At that time, I had never imagined that I would be blessed with long life and would be in America.

Life is a gamble.I could not win even a single rupee from Karnataka State Lottery till date.Any lottery means now my mind rolls back to 1967. At that time my salary was a few hundred rupees.I was finding it difficult to make my both ends meet. I had bought a lottery ticket. I was offering prayers to Him for my success in the lottery every day. I did not succeed. I never left trying . I was always optimistic.

There are many types of a lottery. Now, I have won a lottery that too without buying a ticket. I have won this lottery with His blessings.My children made all my dreams come true. They could pursue higher studies in America because of the educational loans provided by Corporation Bank- my bank. In this regard, my family and I are indebted to Corporation Bank always. I am having a happy and peaceful contented retired life.