ಮರಳಿ ಮಣ್ಣಿಗೆ - ಶಿವರಾಮ ಕಾರಂತ

ಮರಳಿ ಮಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಲೋಕಕ್ಕೆ ಒಂದು ಅಧ್ಬುತ ಕೊಡುಗೆ. ಶಿವರಾಮ ಕಾರಂತರಿಗೆ ಇನ್ನೊಬ್ಬರು ಸರಿಸಾಟಿಯಿಲ್ಲ. ಇದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಶಿವರಾಮ ಕಾರಂತರೆ ಒಂದು ಕಡೆ ಹೀಗೆ ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾರೆ “ನನ್ನ ಊರಿನ ಬಡತನದ ಬಾಳ್ವೆಯೆ ಕತೆಯ ವಸ್ತುವಾಗಿದೆ. ಈ ಬಾಳ್ವೆಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಮೂರು ತರೆಮಾರುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಗೆ ಪ್ರತ್ಯುತ್ತರಗೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂಬುದು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಚಿತ್ರಿಸಲ್ಪಟ್ಟಿದೆ. ೧೮೫೦ ರಿಂದ ೧೯೪೦ರ ನಡುವಿನ ಸುಮಾರು ೧೦೦ ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಅವಧಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕರಾವಳಿ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಒಂದು ಹಳ್ಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನೆಡೆದ ಬದಲಾವಣೆಗಳನ್ನೂ, ಆ ಬದಲಾವಣೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಕಾರಣವಾದ ಸಾಮಾಜಿಕ ಪ್ರಕ್ರಿಯೆಗಳನ್ನೂ, ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣ ಕುಟುಂಬವೊಂದರ ಚೌಕಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಕಾದಂಬರಿ ತುಂಬ ತಾಳ್ಮೆಯಿಂದ ಚರ್ಚಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.

ಇದು ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ಅಚ್ಚಾಗಿದ್ದು, ೧೯೪೨ರಲ್ಲಿ. ನಾನು ಓದಿದ ಪ್ರತಿ, ಸಪ್ನಾ ದವರು ೨೦೦೭ ರಲ್ಲಿ ಮುದ್ರಿಸಿದ್ದು. ಕಾದಂಬರಿ ಮೊದಲೊಮ್ಮೆ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಲೈಬ್ರರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಓದಿದ್ದೆ, ಆದರೆ ಏನೊ ಕಾರಣಾಂತರದಿಂದ ಮುಂದೆ ಓದಲಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಈ ಸಲ ಸಹ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತಂದಿಟ್ಟು ಎರಡು ಮೂರು ವರ್ಷಕ್ಕೂ ಮಿಕ್ಕಿರಬಹುದು. ಕಾದಂಬರಿ ಒಂದೆರಡು ಬಾರಿ ವಿದೇಶಗಳಿಗೂ ಹೋಗಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ. ನನಗೆ ಓದುವ ಸೌಭಾಗ್ಯ ಬಂದಿದ್ದು ಇತ್ತೀಚಿಗೆ.

ಕಾದಂಬರಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಸಾಗಿದರೂ ಎಲ್ಲೂ ಓದುವ ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ಕಡಿಮೆಯಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ, ಅದು ಶಿವರಾಮ ಕಾರಂತರ ಕತೆ ಹೇಳುವ ಶೈಲಿ. ಕೊದಂಡರಾಮ ಐತಾಳರ ಮಗ ರಾಮ ಐತಾಳರಿಗೆ ಪಾರ್ವತಿಯ ಜೊತೆ ಮಳೆಗಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಮದುವೆ, ಅವರ ಕಾಲದ ನಂತರ ಐತಾಳರು ಪೌರೊಹಿತ್ಯದ ಕೆಲಸ ನೆಡೆಸಿ ಸಂಸಾರ ನೆಡೆಯುತ್ತಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ತಂಗಿ ಸರಸೊತಿಯು ಗಂಡ ತೀರಿದ್ದರಿದ್ದ ಅಣ್ಣನ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲೆ ಇರುತ್ತಾಳೆ. ಈ ನಡುವೆ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕೆ ಎರಡನೆ ಮದುವೆ ಐತಾಳರಿಗೆ. ಹೀಗೆ ಬಂದ ಸತ್ಯಭಾಮೆಗೆ ಜನಿಸುವ ಮಗ ಲಚ್ಹ. ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಮಗು ಸುಬ್ಬಿ. ಲಚ್ಚನ ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಶ್ ವಿದ್ಯಾಬ್ಯಾಸ, ಅವನು ತುಳಿವ ಕೆಟ್ಟ ಹಾದಿ, ಅವನ ಹೆಂಡತಿಯಾಗಿ ಬರುವ ನಾಗವೇಣಿ ಪಟ್ಟ ಪಾಡುಗಳು, ಕಷ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಗನನ್ನು ಬೆಳೆಸಿದ ಬಗೆ.  ಮನಸ್ಸಿನ ಮೇಲೆ ಒಂದು ಅಳಿಸಲಾರದ ಗುರುತನ್ನ ಮೂಡಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.

ಇದು ಮೂರು ತಲೆಮಾರುಗಳ ಜೀವನ ಚರಿತ್ರೆ, ದು:ಖವೇ ಜಾಸ್ತಿಯಾಗಿ ತುಂಬಿದೆ. ಕಾರಂತರ ಕೋಟ ಕನ್ನಡದ ಲೇಪ ತುಂಬಾ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದೆ. ಓದುವಾಗ ಓಂದು ಬಗೆಯ ನಂಟು ಬಾಷೆಯಿಂದ ಬೆಳೆಯುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದೆ ಅವರ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳ ವೈಶಿಷ್ಟ್ಯ.

ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕಡಲ ತೀರದ ಜನರ ಜೀವನವಿದೆ, ಅವರ ನೋವು ನಲಿವುಗಳಿವೆ, ಆಚಾರ ವಿಚಾರಗಳಿವೆ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಮುಖ್ಯ ಕೃತಿ. ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗನು ಓದಲೇಬೇಕಾದ ಕಾವ್ಯ, ಅದರಿಂದ ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕಾಗಿರುವುದು ಸಾಕಷ್ಟಿದೆ. ಅವರ ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಂದು ಕಾದಂಬರಿಯನ್ನೆ ಅದ್ಯಯನ ಮಾಡಿ ಅದರಲ್ಲ ಪದವಿ ಪಡೆವಷ್ಟು ವಿಷಯಗಳಿವೆ. ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಾಲಕ್ಕೂ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತವಾಗುವ ವಿಷಯಗಳಿವೆ.

Malpe Beach and Saint Mary's Trip

Out of all my trips till now, this was the most un-expected and better enjoyed trips as in comparison to the time spent in planning. It was a lazy Friday morning, I got call from Milan, asking if I could join him in his car, as he is driving alone to native, and he would like to have someone with him while going. I was kind of not sure if I should go, just because it’s so unexpected that I cannot immediately decide on that, I told him, I will call him in the evening to confirm if I am coming. I thought a while, and I had no pending work to do, and I decided that I can go and come back with him; just two days out of time would be a better feeling to get relaxed.

So I called him, before saying anything, he said, I have the plan cancelled as his mother is not letting him to bring the car, but he was very eager to take the car home. He said, I will inform you beforehand next time, if I am going. Both were fine with me, as it does not matter if I stay here or go on a road trip for no reason.

Again in the evening, he called me, and says “Let's go! I have made up my mind, and don’t say no now!”. I was like “Ok, Let’s go then!” But when he said, I will need to come back in Volvo, as he is coming back after a week, I was bit worried, as it is kind of unnecessary headache to go there in car, and then come back in Volvo for no reason. He was just not letting me say no, so I had to say yes! I told him we will start early morning, come to my house at 4.30 AM.

I was wondering what I will do when I am there for two days. Anuj was always wanted to visit Mangalore, so if they join we can have a party on the beach in malpe, and next day we could visit Saint Mary's and would be fun. I called Milan and checked if he is OK with two of my friends joining with us, he had absolutely no problem. When I checked with Anuj he said He would love to join but if we have one more person then it would be more fun, so he asked if someone from our gang could join. No one except Rajneesh would dare to join in an unplanned trip like us; others are very lazy to go out on a trip like this. So when I called Rajneesh, he said, he needs to get permission from his wife. Meanwhile Anuj had some work at office, and wanted to go to office on Saturday, He said, he will go now and finish it, so that we can start early morning on Saturday. We wanted to leave early morning as otherwise we would get stuck in traffic and take about 2 hours to cross city limits. After a while I received call from Rajneesh and he was all set to go to the beach.

Next morning, I got up very early, at 4.00 AM, it was very cold out and wasn’t feeling like getting up from bed, and moreover it was late when I slept, and I had to pack up things for the trip. Best part is I don’t have to drive, that feeling made me breathe easier. I called everyone and woke them up. Milan took a little more time than expected and arrived by 4.45 AM to my house, from there we picked Rajneesh and Anuj who stay close to my house. Rajneesh picked an awesome DJ music which we played all the way until afternoon, and it was awesome, and every one enjoyed it thoroughly.

Milan was driving at 100+ all the time, and within few hours we were near Hassan for breakfast. I remembered a best hotel near a HP petrol bunk, and we could not find it until Hassan and later went to Kamat’s near Hassan. Later I found that this is also one of the restaurants I had visited before, and the restaurant I was talking about was on Tumkur route and not on this! We had Idli-Wada, and all set to cover the rest of the distance before we take our lunch. Milan opted to go via Charmadi Ghats, so we took that route to explore the beauty of the nature and in fact it was beautiful. There were few bad stretches and some places we found it little difficult to find the route, so somehow I felt we could have taken the best known route via Chikmagalur and Agumbe, but anyways, it was a different experience, and it was little longer, but the speed at which Milan drove on the Ghat made us reach to udupi by 3.30 PM. Charmadi ghat is considered very unsafe, because it is little narrower and people drive little faster because of flat stretches in between. We had almost hit a tempo traveller at one junction. So take your risk when you take this way next time.

We had not yet had our lunch, not because we did not had good hotels on our way, but Milan insisted he want to have lunch at his house as they would be waiting for him, it was little inconvenient for us, as for him we also stayed hungry, and when we reached Udupi, we first thought of checking into a hotel, and later going to have some lunch or snacks whichever is available, as it’s already 3.30 PM chances of us getting lunch was very less.

We checked with Udupi Residency and we found a shocking news as to some conference of doctors is happening in Manipal and all rooms in their hotel are booked and chances are that the other hotels are also booked. This was a surprise for me, as it was least expected to have rooms booked at this day of the year. I had already called “Paradise Resort” near Malpe and found that except Suites all other rooms are booked for today there too. When I checked with one of my known hotels in Brahmavar, the rooms are not available there too! With this info, we just wanted to try our luck in nearby hotels in Udupi as if we stay in Udupi it would be convenient to go to Malpe and come back.

Just in the centre of the city is the Hotel Sidharth, and we found the a/c rooms are available, checked the rooms and found it to be satisfactory, prices were a bit on higher note, but then we just want to get fresh as early as possible, so checked in. Now the plan is to go and have some snacks / lunch and make ourselves comfortable, get bath and go to the beach in the evening before sunset.

We came down and there is a shanti-sagar, and had snacks there. He suggested us to go with “Paper Masala”, a variation of masala dosa which is very huge. It was covering half the table, and we could not finish it, but we are full. Had quick bath, and came out to book the return tickets for tomorrow. I had called my cousin yesterday to book the Volvo for us, but somehow all the buses were full too, and it was a difficult to scene even to get 3 semi sleeper tickets together in one bus, we roamed here and there, called many of the agents i knew and in vein.

Finally Rajneesh found a place where he got 3 tickets in a bus called CPC, the agent promised the bus to be new and we took the tickets. We purchased all that is needed on beach and left to beach in auto. It was already late and we were not sure if we could reach before sunset.

To be frank, I was under the impression that the auto people would ask for random fairs to go to Malpe, and it was a pleasant surprise when I heard that it would be on meter from the auto driver in the stand, he said it would be same with every auto person, and you don’t have to worry about it. The meter fair was little more than the Bangalore fair, but then who comes in meter in Bangalore?

The auto fellow started asking about us, from where we had come etc, he cautioned us as to not to stay on the beach for late in the night as recently there had incidents where people were robbed and murdered, but he said it would be safe to be closer to the resort, and may be better to be inside the resort hotel if we want to stay late near the beach. We found his advice useful, but we were not ready to come back early. One of my friends works in Udupi, I called him and asked him if he could join us in the party. He agreed and promised to reach there by 7.30 around in evening. It was indeed a favour for us, as we were not sure about the way to come back to Udupi late in the night. Now that he can drop us back, we were completely relaxed.

We were all exited, when we got down from the auto it was about 85 bucks, I asked the driver to keep the change, he wasn’t ready. Anuj has given his bag to Raj, and I had kept it in the back. When we got out we left the bag in auto, and no one remembered. Later when we came near beach, Anuj remembered about bag, immediately we ran towards the auto, but then by that time he had left. We don’t know anything about the driver, all we knew that we took auto from Mythri Complex, and when checked with the auto drivers there, they said go back now, and try to give a complaint in the auto stand; you may get your bag. We were totally hopeless. It had Anuj’s Camera, Wallet, my camera and Anuj has enough cash and all his cards on his wallet. If we lose it, the whole trip is ruined. There was an emergency auto, and we took that and left back to Udupi. Not even few meters we had gone, we saw the driver who dropped us walking bag with the bag searching for us. It was a heart touching moment, he had saved our day. We said thanks, and he denied the money we offered. All is well now, and all set for the party, it was already dark a bit, and sun had already set, and we went to the corner of the beach.

As it was already dark, I called Prakhyat again and asked him to come at the earliest; he had already left his place and was on the way. We were sitting right below the moon (^_^) enjoying the cold breeze from the Arabian Sea. As we were warned by the auto driver about the late night dangers in the beach, we were moving closer to the resort every hour. It was one of the memorable evenings on a beach side with friends, after some time Prakhyat joined us, and everyone enjoyed the evening to the most, and it was about 10.30 when we decided to have some dinner.

We went to the Paradise Isle Resort, the outside restaurant was closed, and to our fortune the other restaurant was open, the crowd was good and decent, and we weren’t sure about the prices as it looked high on stars. We loved the food there; especially the Pomfret fry was awesome. I and Anuj still recall its taste whenever we talk about the trip. It was fun time inside the hotel too, and no one seemed to have bothered with others talk. Prakhyat was named Siddharth after our hotel where we stayed, Anuj still remembers him only by that name (~_~), he dropped us back to hotel.

Next day was planned for Saint Mary’s Island. Rajneesh wanted to go to the other beach in Kaup as well; he was talking about getting up early and going there before sun rise. But then I was sure that, if we go there whole of our plan will be screwed as it’s not easy to come back before 11.00 in the morning, and we also need to enjoy in the island and return back to hotel at around 3.30 to check out. The fortunate thing was that the hotel was a 24 hour check out one; otherwise we had to check out before 11 or 12, which makes our life difficult as we need to find a place to take bath after the coming back from island. I went to the in charge person of the hotel and asked him to give little extra time for taking bath as we were not sure of coming back before 3.30, in fact we got up late because of tiredness. He agreed for the same.

We headed to the beach after having breakfast at Shanti Sagar hotel at the basement of that complex; it served us as the food joint for the whole of our trip. It looks like hotel people have got familiar with us. It was already late for the first boat which leaves to Saint Mary’s and they were not giving tickets to the second boat until the first one leaves the shores and people might get into the same boat even with the other ticket. We waited a while and got tickets for the second boat, it wasn't too late, just 15-20 minutes after the first boat. One thing I liked about the boat ride this time was that, it wasn't very noisy as last time. It was kind of more arranged and could see some professional touch to it, even though they can improve it further. We need to change to a smaller boat when it gets closer to the island, as it is not possible to take the bigger boat till the shores of the island.

The first thing we saw is the bad attitude of some of tourists, who were not giving enough time for the boat to stop at the shores, instead they were jumping into the water. Anyways, forget about them. I was very exited to show the clean water and the clear beaches of Saint Mary's to my friends but I had some disappointment to it, as the place where we entered the island was not so clean as expected, or as it was few years back, as we can lot of empty bottles and papers have been thrown near the bushes. My friends were very exited as in most aspects it was awesome and clean.

We decided to walk on the shores to a location where there is no crowd so that we can enjoy the pure nature experience away from all uncivilized people ^_^

I was very thrilled as its still my second visit, even after its so close to my house, less than ten kilo meters. I was delighted to the crabs coming out of water on to the sea rocks, they disappear after me trying to get more closer, and did not come out for a while after that. Raj waited to see then, but they were not ready to show up.

We did not find the place so suitable for getting into water and moved a little further, and found a kind of private beach. Dropped our bags on the stones and got into water with sun glasses on! It was fun lying in the water and taking sun bath ^^. We believe there was team just outside the private beach were waiting to get us out of the water, so that they could occupy the place, but unfortunately they dint get a chance till the end of the show

I have to mention an incident of an uncivilized person caught red handed while trying to spoil the beauty of the beach by carelessly throwing wastes all around. We were on our way to find the private beach, and this person aged about 40, dressed not so good, with all his shirt buttons open with few of his kids was sitting on a rock in the beach, and lying around him was waste thrown by him, so he was sitting there as if to show case how one should handle the waste in the island. I asked him if it was to him those waste belong, he said "yes" proudly, and I gently requested him to not to throw waste like this on the beach and spoil the beauty of this place.

Instead we should drop the waste in the waste bin kept for that purpose. He said, yes, I will do it. May be he was thinking his job is done when he said, he will do it. I went to pick the waste to give to him, he was shocked by my act, he asked me "Sir, What are you doing?" I said, "Please keep all the waste you have thrown in a pouch and and do not keep it lying here" He then came and picked all the wastes. I seriously hate these people who spoil our nation. If everyone takes their responsibility there would not waste lying around like this, most importantly we must teach out kids not to do so, as it would carry to the generations next.

We had very nice time in the sun, after about an hour we came to a place where one person was selling fried fish and beer. It wasn't legal to sell beer in the island, but then as long as we have not more than 2 cans, it's moral ! what is fun when you don't get to drink in such an awesome place. There was not much choice for the fish so we had to settle down on 'Bangada'. We took the beer and fish and went to other side of the island where it was plain and we can go deep in to the water. There was already a group who were trying to occupy that place, and they did occupy before we go there. We did go there and sat on sides drinking beer and having fish for our lunch. They were playing volleyball in the water, and it was kind of entertainment for us who were sitting and watching. The crows were trying to join the fish party, but we did not allow them.

After enough of fun with the empty beer cans we got in to water and joined them in playing volleyball. It wasn't so fun in water so we came on to the sand and started playing. The real fun was on the beach sands. We played for a while, but it was getting late for us to check out the hotel, as we need to check out before 3.30. We had taken permission from them for another extra hour, but we were worried if we could keep our promise, as three of us need to take a nice hot water bath before we leave. Otherwise life will be miserable after salt water bath in the beach.

After the bath, we checkout and went for evening snacks at the same restaurent below our hotel, and we had some dosa, and went for an evening walk to Krishna temple near by. We did not have to take out the shirt while entering the temple, may be because it was evening. We got Darshan, took some photos outside, and came back to the hotel to have dinner. By now the hotel guy was familiar with our faces, and he said "I think this would be your last visit to the hotel" by seeing our bags on the shoulders. We smiled and got in to the eating mode and finished the dinner.

We waited on the stairs of Mytri Complex till the bus arrived at Udupi, to our surprise the bus was very good, and it was pretty new, the journey was smooth with out any bumpy rides, and we did not realize how fast we reached bangalore, we were in bangalore by 6.00AM. And not to forget, Thanks to Prakhyath, Who made our day at Malpe wonderful.