The town I grew up the first seven years of my life. I still remember every street... old town & new town. The railway line was the boundary between the two towns and was almost parallel to River Bhadra. New town consisted of Paper town and VISL town. My dad used to work at Mysore Paper Mills and hence we lived at Paper town.
The colony was not big but had most facilities for the time and little away from main town… it was kind of peaceful. The sloping roof tile house we lived in was constructed sometime late 60s. Jayanth was my neighbor… our houses shared a wall and we met in the backyard almost everyday. We used to face each other on our houses' backyard steps early mornings, both us straight out of the bed and…. Guess what??
There was a garden, officer’s club and an open field across our street. I still remember seeing misty mornings and a very big cream-colored full moon on full moon days. The factory was just a kilometer away and dad used to walk up & down most days and some times took his Lambretta scooter (MYS 9524).
Once in a while we used to walk down to Bhadra river … a 2.5km stretch. We got to see fields full of paddy and sugarcane. We used to come to the river every year to send away Ganesha. Dad used to tell there are crocodiles in the river. There was a foot bridge to cross the river over to Sunnadhalli, small village. There were two temples in Sunnadhalli; Anjaneyaswamy temple and a Shiva temple. Close to the bridge was an aalemane, place where jaggery is made. I used to like watching the bright orange flames under the huge pan filled with cane juice. The walk to the river and back home was always fun… got to see and learn so many things.
My school, St. Charles Borromeo was in Steel town and we used to go there by bus… those colorful buses with names of Hindu Gods… Anjaneya Swami, Siddeshwara Transports, Mallikarjuna Roadways, etc. It was a stone building and Father, Mother and Sisters were pretty strict but I liked the school. It had huge open place for kids to play around. It also had a hostel for out-station kids. The church was close to the convent, just minutes walk and I remember the decoration for Christmas… cotton and little dolls of sheep, Mary, Infant Jesus, and many more.
That's Jayanth and Praveen in 1991, in the background is the school building.
Dad used to go on picnics to near by places. I can name a few- Kemmangundi, Gajnur Dam and Lakkavalli Dam. I’ve visited the first two and yet to visit Lakkavalli… Hope to do that one day.
That's Kiran, me, Venkatesh, Arvind and Rajesh Arya (standing below) on a goods carriage at Bhadravathi Railway Station. This picture was shot during our trip to Jog Falls and Kemmangundi. We stayed couple of days at Jayanth's home. I remember watching The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin and Sangliyana.
Even now, I close my eyes and bring back the memories of those days at Bhadravathi.
………
The colony was not big but had most facilities for the time and little away from main town… it was kind of peaceful. The sloping roof tile house we lived in was constructed sometime late 60s. Jayanth was my neighbor… our houses shared a wall and we met in the backyard almost everyday. We used to face each other on our houses' backyard steps early mornings, both us straight out of the bed and…. Guess what??
There was a garden, officer’s club and an open field across our street. I still remember seeing misty mornings and a very big cream-colored full moon on full moon days. The factory was just a kilometer away and dad used to walk up & down most days and some times took his Lambretta scooter (MYS 9524).
Once in a while we used to walk down to Bhadra river … a 2.5km stretch. We got to see fields full of paddy and sugarcane. We used to come to the river every year to send away Ganesha. Dad used to tell there are crocodiles in the river. There was a foot bridge to cross the river over to Sunnadhalli, small village. There were two temples in Sunnadhalli; Anjaneyaswamy temple and a Shiva temple. Close to the bridge was an aalemane, place where jaggery is made. I used to like watching the bright orange flames under the huge pan filled with cane juice. The walk to the river and back home was always fun… got to see and learn so many things.
My school, St. Charles Borromeo was in Steel town and we used to go there by bus… those colorful buses with names of Hindu Gods… Anjaneya Swami, Siddeshwara Transports, Mallikarjuna Roadways, etc. It was a stone building and Father, Mother and Sisters were pretty strict but I liked the school. It had huge open place for kids to play around. It also had a hostel for out-station kids. The church was close to the convent, just minutes walk and I remember the decoration for Christmas… cotton and little dolls of sheep, Mary, Infant Jesus, and many more.
That's Jayanth and Praveen in 1991, in the background is the school building.
Dad used to go on picnics to near by places. I can name a few- Kemmangundi, Gajnur Dam and Lakkavalli Dam. I’ve visited the first two and yet to visit Lakkavalli… Hope to do that one day.
That's Kiran, me, Venkatesh, Arvind and Rajesh Arya (standing below) on a goods carriage at Bhadravathi Railway Station. This picture was shot during our trip to Jog Falls and Kemmangundi. We stayed couple of days at Jayanth's home. I remember watching The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin and Sangliyana.
Even now, I close my eyes and bring back the memories of those days at Bhadravathi.
………