We headed back to uncle's house, stopped for a benne dose on the way. At the house, we bid bye to Dr.Nagappa and then left to an aunt's place where we had lunch and slept off. Evening over tea uncle and my 3 aunts told me about the good old days when they were kids. It was time for me to go to Shamnur, my grandfather's place. Outside, it was time for these kids to play after a nice after-lunch sleep. The little fellow in blue tee is my nephew and the rest are his friends.
I went to Shamnur village, now it's a part of Davangere city. I had to wait for few minutes for my cousin to come ...meanwhile I met Siddesh who showed me the 'Buddha' temple. I told him it was Mahaveera. The statue is definitely ancient and people have maintained it well ...except for the glazed tiles :( This little temple is right next to my uncle Basavaraj's house.
Shivu, my cousin, and I went to Hanuman temple. On the way I found this stone inscription. I've seen such stones in many other places too ...like the ones at Thenginkalbetta and near Savandurga.
My next point on my agenda was to see Neelamma Bindapla alias Neelajji. She's my grandfather Dr. B Siddappa's eldest brother's wife. She's the only surviving member of that generation and she's supposed to be 105 years old. There are no records to prove her age but she definitely looks 100+. She can see, hear and speak well but her memory is not so good. It seems she was very strong woman in her younger days.
That evening I had dinner at one more aunt's place and retired pretty early since we had planned to go for a morning walk at Kunduwada lake. As a kid I never liked Davangere because of it's dry weather and lack of greenery. However the place has changed and it's much more greener. Uncle and I walked around the lake ...the place is pretty interesting we could spot few water birds which migrate to this place during this season.
This stone caught my attention. Uncle explained that it's called 'tugu'. The stone supports the ball-valve mechanism to control the out-flow of water. Water from this lake is used for irrigating agricultural lands and also drinking water for a part of Davangere. Uncle said that some of the dried up wells have revived because of this lake.
That's Kere Choudeswari temple and the young man in the picture is the archaka. It seems his grandfather installed the image and worshiped it many years ago and local people helped build the temple we see now.
The hill seen in the picture below is Bathi hill, that's where our home deity is.
The walk built up a good appetite and we headed to another aunt's place where we had churmari ...a satisfying breakfast. And it was time for me to pack up and catch my train back to Dharwad. On the way to the station uncle told me the story of why donkeys make sound the way they do. It was a very funny one. I'll share that story some other time.
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