Hulisandra festival (ಜಾತ್ರೆ) after two decades

Doothraya and Kenchraya

Hulisandra is my mother's native village. It is a very small secluded village situated off state highway (SH) 19 in Turvekere taluk of Tumkur district of Karnataka. It is about 140 Kms from the city of Bangalore. One can reach Hulisandra by road via Tumkur and Gubbi or via Kunigal, Yediyur and turuvekere. By train, the closest railway station is Banasandra. Hulisandra is about 5 kms by road from the Banasandra railway station.

The last time i went to Hulisandra was in 2006. It was a casual visit with parents. However, the last time i saw the village's annual festival, locally called jaatre (ಜಾತ್ರೆ) was in the year 1992 or 1993.

I do not have much memory about Hulisandra or my maternal grandparents. Since i was born and raised in Bangalore, i do not even remember going to Hulisandra for more than 2 or 3 times. Also,my maternal grandparents left the village long long back. So there were hardly any opportunities for me to go there. 

For the last few years, in an effort to reconnect with the native, my maternal aunts have decided to participate every year in the village's annual festival, Jaatre (ಜಾತ್ರೆ). They are participating by feeding the gathering (ಅನ್ನದಾನ ) on the first day of the festival. This is done every year in remembrance of my maternal grandfather. 

So for the last few years, my aunts and cousins have been going to the village for the festival. I was never interested in joining them. 

My only memory of the festival (Jaatre) was that of the Chama dancing aggressively and people walking on the Konda (Hot coal). I think i was  9 or 10 years old when i saw the jaatre for the first time. I clearly remember that i was very scared after seeing the Chamas.  

It was only a few days back that i was reminded of the jaatre again. My cousin Aravind called me to ask if i would be interested in joining them to the jaatre this year. Since there was a shortage of transport as well, i could take my car so that all of us (Aunts and cousins) could travel comfortably. Since i am always looking for an opportunity to get out of this polluted city, i readily accepted the invitation. 

This year the jaatre was scheduled between 27 and 29 of March. Since our family's Annadana (feeding) programme was on the first day, we decided to go there on the 27. My aunts left in the morning in Arvind's car to make necessary arrangements. 

Myself, Aravind and another cousin of mine Karthik left home at 8:00 PM. We were joined by one of Karthik's friends Shibha. 

Since we were running late, another set of cousins Adithya, Anjali, Ashok and my maternal grandmother left an hour before us. 

We took the road via tumkur and Gubbi. Since we were hungry, we stopped at the cafe coffee day near tumkur for some snacks. We left Tumkur by 9:30 PM and we were at Hulisandra by 11:00 PM.

Route to Hulisandra from Tumkur

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Goddess Lakshmi at Hulisandra 

The main deity of the place is goddess "Lakshmi". For some strange reason, the goddess is called "ಕೊಲ್ಹಾಪುರದ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ " , That is Lakshmi of Kolhapur. Kolhapur is more than 500 Kms from Hulisandra. So there is no plausible story on how the goddess is named after Kolhapur Lakshmi. However, one story told by the locals is that many many years back, a lady was spotted near the lake in this village. On inquiry of who she was, she told the villagers that she is the Lakshmi of Kolhapur and that she would be staying in the village henceforth.

The festival had not yet started by the time we reached there. The first day's festival is called "Konda" (ಕೊಂಡ). Konda is a layer of hot coal freshly made by burning firewood. Devotees walk barefoot on it. It is customary for the Basava (bull) to take the first walk, followed by the Kalashagithi (young girl who carries the kalasha). Finally the devotees walk on the Konda. The second day is called "Teru"(ತೇರು). This is the procession of God in a manually drawn chariot on the streets of the village. In the morning, the Brahmins pull the chariot and in the night, the other castes pull the chariot. The third day is called "Bai beega"(ಬಾಯಿ ಬೀಗ ). Here people who have made wishes (ಹರಿಕೆ ) will lock their mouth with a pin in case their wishes are granted. This is an old absurd practice. I was told that this is being stopped now. But still some dogmatic groups are involved in this practice. The last day is called "Madalakki"(ಮಡಲಕ್ಕಿ) where people dressed like gods visit individual houses and receive the offerings made to them. 

We went there for only the first day. The first days's festivities starts at 11:30 in the night and goes up to 4 AM. Konda is the last activity which starts at about 3 AM and finishes by 4 AM. Before the Konda , the Uthsava moorthi (Idols of goddess Lakshmi and Ranganatha) is taken on procession on the streets of the village. Each idol is carried by four people. Anybody can carry this. My cousins Aravind and Adithya carried it for about an hour.   

My aunts asked me to carry it as well but i did not. 

Dootharaya 

From 11:30 in the night to about 2:00 AM, the god is taken in procession on the streets of the village (There are only three streets). The procession is accompanied by a set of drums, the kalashagithi (The young girl, yet to mature , who carries the kalasha), the hogala battaru (A man who keeps praising the goddess at regular intervals) and the Chamas.   Chamas are two people dressed in a tribal attire believed to be sons of goddess Lakshmi. They are called "Doothraya"(ದೂಥರಾಯ) and "Kencharaya"(ಕೆಂಚರಾಯ). Doothraya wears the brown mask while Kenchraya wears the red mask. They dance to the beat of the drum in front of the goddess for almost 3 hours. 

On demand, the people who carry the goddess Lakshmi on their shoulders visit individual houses in the village. The chamas and the drums accompany them. It is a tradition that the Kalashagithi visits the house followed by the chamas and then the goddess. 

Kencharaya 

The chamas dance vigorously for almost three hours. It requires a lot of energy to do that. Earlier, i was told that only two people (One for Dootharaya and the other for Kencharaya) dance for the entire duration. However, of late it has become a practice to change midway. 

The last time i saw the chama was way back in 1992 or 1993. I was very scared of their looks. They were dancing very vigorously with weapons in the hand. Back then, the atmosphere was intense and the gathering was huge. 
However, this time all that was missing. The percussion which accompanied the procession was pretty lousy.The energy levels of the chamas were not really high. However it was good to see them again after almost two decades. 

After the procession on the streets, there will be a small break when the drummers and the chamas take a breather for about 10 minutes. In the break, a bull (Basava) is decorated with flowers and drums, locally called "Nagari". From here, the Basava leads the procession all the way till the temple. Two drums are tied on either side of the Bull. Two strong men take charge on beating this drum till the end of the day. Once in a way ,hands are changed. Me and my cousins tried our hand at beating the drum for about 20 minutes cumulatively. 

Basava 

The last hour before the "Konda" has relatively high energy levels. Two additional drums are added. A group of women carrying flowers and lamps on their head join the procession. They are either the women of the village or of neighboring villages. So now the convoy is lead by the bull, followed by the Kalashagithi, the Chamas, The goddess and the women with lamps on their head. It is a colourful sight. 

The convoy reaches the Konda by 3:00 AM. After the rituals associated with the konda is completed by the local priest, the bull takes the first walk. The bull is followed by the Kalashagithhi. Since, the Kalashagitthi is a young girl, few people just carry her so that her feet does not touch the hot coal. The Kalashagitthi is followed by the Chamas, the goddess (People carrying on their shoulders), the women with lamps on their heads. Finally the konda is thrown open for the general public. 

There is no compulsion and any desiring individual can walk on it. Roughly 50 percent of the crowd dare walking on that. None of us except my cousin Aravind dared walking on that.

Sunrise near Gubbi

The festivities end by about 4:00 AM. We headed back to our cars by 3:45 AM walking in the pitch dark mud roads of Hulisandra. We took a nap in the car till 5:30 AM. We started back to Bangalore by 5:45 AM. After a round of sunrise photography at Gubbi and a coffee break at Tumkur , we reached Bangalore by 9 :30 AM. 

Though i have personal reservations on some of the practices followed in these regions, from academic perspective, it is good to see and understand these cultures and practices. It was nice to visit a village after two decades equipped with a good camera and more importantly equipped with a better mindset of appreciating people, cultures, practices, tribes and places. 

Some pictures of the trip are here

Navavrindavana Darshana

Normally i refrain from writing about religion and my views on it. Religion is a matter of very personal opinion and practice. In my opinion there is nothing like an "Absolute religion" or the "greatest religion".

Even here, though the title of the blog has a reference to religion, i am not writing about my religious views about the places we visited during our trip. This blog is just about the travel experience.


Onward Route
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Last week, myself and couple of my friends, Kiran Rao and Sameer set out for a pilgrimage to Mantralaya. En route we decided to visit Hampi and few temples around it. None of us had seen Hampi in spite of staying in Karnataka for about 28 years. We thought it is a matter of shame that being born and raised in karnataka, we have not seen Hampi. So it was a good chance to visit Hampi since it is on the way to Mantralaya.
Our initial schedule was to leave Bangalore on 6 of March and get back on 7 of March. But due to some unavoidable reasons we had to reschedule the trip to 9 and 10 of march.

River Tungabhadra near Hospet

I got up at 2:30 AM on Thursday,  9 of March. After my bath and prayers (ಸ್ನಾನ , ಸಂದ್ಯಾವಂದನೆ),  i left home at 4 AM hoping to pick up Sameer at 4:15 AM. Sameer stays in Rajajinagar which is about 14 Kms from my place. Thanks to "Metro" work and some diversions on the ring road, i managed to reach his house at 4:30 AM. From there we headed towards Kiran rao's house, picked him up at about 4:40 AM and headed towards Hampi.


We reached Hampi at about 11 AM. We then walked (trekked) upto the Yantrodharaka pranadevaru's (Hanuman) temple located on the Anjaneyadri hills at Hampi.  The Hanuman idol here is installed by Sri Vyasaraja theertharu (The rajaguru of the Vijayanagara empire). After the darshana of Pranadevaru, we headed back to Hospet for lunch. We had our lunch (theertha prasada) at the uttaradhi matha in hospet. The food at the matha was delicious. Since it was holi that day,the menu had some festival delicacies like Holige and paysa. The whole city had people playing with colours. 

Crossing the Tungabhadra river

After the prasada at Uttaradhi matha, we set out for Navabrindavana near Anegundhi. There are two routes to get to navavrindavaha from Hospet. From hospet, one can reach anegundhi via Gangavathi and take a boat ride (ತೆಪ್ಪ) from there. The other route is to get to Hampi, from hampi to Kamalapura and get to Vijaya vittala temple. From Vijaya vittala temple, one can drive for about 2.5 Kms (If there are no rains). Then one has to walk for about half a Km to reach the banks of river Tungabhadra. One can take a boat ride from there to reach Navavrindavana. The former route via Anegundhi involves two boat rides while the latter involves only one. But getting a boat is little difficult.

Road to Navavrindavana 

We decided to take the latter route. We reached Vijaya vittala temple and started driving towards Navavrindavana. After a few hundred meters, the road got really bad but we continued to drive. After about a kilometer or so the road ended abruptly. We encountered a huge ditch. By this time the car chassis had already taken a few blows. It was just impossible to to cross the ditch and we were in no mood for further adventure. We tried backing up the car but it was near impossibility. The width of the so called road was just about same as that of the car.

Finally back  

So we were at a point with no road ahead and almost impossible to reverse or turn. So three of us got a little worried and started wondering what to do. I took a few steps back and found a slightly marshy patch of land. A vague thought crossed over my mind to maneuver the car over this small piece of land. So Sameer and kiran rao stood in front of the car and guided me with distances. The rear sensors and its bizarre beeps guided me on the rear side. The other problem was the slightly slippery land. But thank god, i somehow managed to turn the car with a few maneuvers. The last turn was barely a few millimeters away from touching the tree on my right side. The whole exercise took nearly 45 minutes and the car escaped unhurt.


I drove the car a little distance and parked it. We walked from there for about half a kM to the banks of river Tungabhadra. We dint find anybody there. After a while a man showed up there but he was not the boatman. He started shouting for the boatman on the other bank. But no one was at sight for good 15 minutes. Finally the boatman arrived . He crossed the river with his boat and took us inside. He took us to the other bank.


Again from there, the navavrindavana is about 400 metres. I walked barefoot (since i had no patience to put on the shoes) on the hot sand and rock to finally reach the Navavrindavana.

Navavrindavana 

Navavrindavana is the abode of 9 disciples of Sri Madhvacharya . It is a peaceful holy place on the banks of river Tungabhadra. It was late afternoon when we reached there after our "circus". It was still hot and the sun was twinkling on the tungabhadra river. Absolutely no one was there near the vrindavana. Since the Aradhane of sri Vyasaraja theerta was just a few days away, some temporary shelters were erected on the periphery of the vrindavanas.


There must be something about the place. The solitude and tranquility of the place was something special. Nice cool breeze was blowing across the river and there was strange calmness around (normally not associated with the Mathas). We spent about 30 minutes there and started the trek back to the river. Our boatman was waiting for us. On our return journey, we tasted the sweet waters of Tunabhadra constantly sterilized or rather purified by the hot sun blazing on it.

Vijaya Vittala temple, Hampi

It was almost 4 PM by the time we reached the Vijaya vittala temple. There was no way we could see Hampi. So we had to settle with the Vijaya vittala temple. We took a buggy ride to the temple. Vijaya vittla temple is a treat to any art lover. The magnificence of the place is just beyond words. So one can imagine the grandeur of the Vijayanagara empire during its heyday. We were totally consumed by the place. We spent two hours around the temple before the security people asked us to leave.


Vijaya vittala temple is a very small portion of Hampi. We could not see the entire Hampi. We decided that we will come back again with more time at our disposal so that we can spend quality time to appreciate the grandeur that Karnataka was.


We left for Mantralaya at about 6 PM from Hampi. Next round of our romance with bad roads started right away. Our lifeline "Google maps" showed us the road to Mantralaya. No doubt the road was present as per the map. But it was the road only on paper (rather phone). In reality there was no road there. The state highway connecting Hampi to Adoni via Bukkasagara, Kampli and siruguppa was just pathetic. There was hardly any patch of asphalt all the way till Adoni from Hampi. At certain sections, water had inundated low lying bridges. It was quite a task negotiating those roads.


Awful stretch of state highway. 
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One savior for me while negotiating those awful roads was the discussion i picked up with Sameer.   We discussed truth, God, lust and a host of other philosophical and metaphysical matters. It was a captivating discussion. Kiran Rao meanwhile had decided a nap would help during the discussion.


I was tired of driving by the time we reached Adoni. I handed over the keys to Kiran Rao and he drove till Mantralaya. We reached Mantralaya at 12 in the midnight having driven for more than 6 hours from Hampi.


The next day after the pada pooje to sri Guru Raghavendra,  we had multiple darshanas to sri Guru Raghavendra . Since the temple was not very crowded, we could easily get multiple darshanaas of sri Guru Raghavendra. 
After theertha prasada (Lunch) at Mantralaya, we left for Bangalore at about 1:30 PM. We hit the national highway soon near goothy. From there we just zipped through the awesome four lane highway to reach Bangalore by 8 PM. 


It was a very satisfying trip.


{Some photos of the trip are here}

Few lessons from last week

Last week was an eventful week for me professionally and personally. A professional task which i had assigned was delayed to the point of disgust and frustration by the agency handling it. It culminated with me showing insane outrage at the concerned person. My frustration was vented out by a crazy and irresponsible action. 

My knowledge of tax and taxation is not good ,rather nil. Hence i have hired a CA (charted accountant)  to look into the tax matters of my company, advise me on the tax matters, file IT returns and other statutory tax papers of the company on time.And also file my personal income tax on time. 

I had submitted all papers, bills and bank statements to the CA on 16 of April 2011 to complete the tax filing, issue share certificates to the stake holders and complete the VAT and service tax formalities by the end of May 2011. He agreed to finish everything. I also instructed him to file my personal income tax on time. 

I normally do not follow up with any agency or person after i assign a task to them. I only go back on the committed day and take acknowledgement of the tasks completed. I make 100% payment in advance and expect the work to be completed on time professionally. It was the same procedure with the CA. I made him 100% payment and also paid the tax amounts that needs to be paid. 

But it turned out to be a bad decision. This was my second year of business with the CA. This year he turned out to be extremely unprofessional and awfully unethical. Not only were the tasks incomplete but the CA did not have the courtesy to inform me that the tasks were not completed. He was not receiving my calls and never responded to my e-mails. 

He dragged on for three months. Thankfully he filed the IT (income tax) returns of the company on time after my repeated follow up calls and E-mails.  But he missed the last date for my personal income tax return and i finally had to pay 3 months interest on the income tax. So by the end of November 2011, only company IT and personal IT filings were complete and all other tasks pending 

I was already disgusted with the CA. This was by far the most un-professional attitude i have ever seen .(hopefully will never see it again).

I can understand if someone is busy with lot of professional assignments and more important work. But keeping the client/customer in dark is not the right thing to do for any professional. So our CA not only delayed the work much beyond any conceivable level of acceptance but also did not bother to at least receive the phone call from the customer. 30 September was the last day to file my income tax but my CA had not done it and he did not even bother to inform me. . 

So the story by the end of November 2011 was "Pending". So our CA was sitting on all our papers for almost 6 months. My anger and frustration was just growing and i had to give him a mouthful one day. In response to that, he asked me to come and collect the share certificates. This was sometime in the middle of December. When i reached his office, he was not there and as usual did not answer my phone call. It repeated the next day and when i finally got him a week later, i was told that it was not ready. He asked me to come a week later. When i went there after a week, the story was no different. Only change this time was instead of not receiving the call, he had switched off his phone. 

So by the end of year 2011, the status was "No progress" but for filing IT returns. 

I had given up on this man and did not bother following up in January. On his part , he was at his un-professional best by not making any suo-mottu attempt to inform me about the status. 

By mid February i was driven to the tipping point. Either i take back my papers and forget my money or use some other tactics to get my work done. There was no way i could use bad language on anyone. I can shout at people but cannot bad mouth them. So i wrote a strongly worded e-mail. To my surprise, there was a reply by him saying he would complete the work by 22 February (The first committed date was 30 May 2011). 

So it was 22 February and i gave him a call in the morning to ask what was the status of my work. As usual he did not answer my call. So that day evening i gave a call from my landline and shouted at him. He told me that that only VAT (Sales tax) work is pending and everything else is complete and that he would give my papers on the 1 of March. I had no choice and i banged the phone. 

So it was 1 March 2012, almost a year of delay. My CA called me in the morning and asked me what time i was planning to see him. I told him that i will be there at his office by 10:45 AM. He told that he has some urgent work and he will see me at 6 PM. I said fine and showed up at his office at 6 PM. But he messaged me that he would be half an hour late. So i went to the nearby Raghavendra swamy mutt and returned at 6 :30 PM. He was still not be seen. I called him at 6:45PM and he did not receive my phone call. I called him a few more times but he did not receive the call. I called him 10 minutes later and he had Shamelessly switched off his cell phone. I was frustrated and disgusted. Here is someone who accepts a work, delays it for almost an year, shows horribly disgusting attitude and shamelessly and cowardly switches off his phone unable to meet his commitment. I was waiting for him for almost two hours and was outraged by his action of switching off his phone. Out of sheer anger, i banged the main door of his office with all my strength that one glass pane broke. 

One small glass piece flew and made a small scratch on my left palm. Within a fraction of a second, my anger cooled down and attention shifted on the bleeding palm. I walked to the nearby medical store, brought some cotton, one vial of tetanus and a syringe and got the tetanus shot from the doctor. 

I was very ashamed of myself and regretted my behaviour. I went to the stationary store, brought some card board and fixed it to the broken pane. To his luck, the CA called. After giving him a mouthful, i apologized for my action. I dropped a 2000 rupees check (though the CA pleaded not to)  in his office and left the place.

The VAT papers of the company is still not ready and the story is just going on. 

There are some important lessons for entrepreneurs in this sequence of events.  

First and foremost is to be professional. We have to own our words and we have to keep up our time. In other words, we have to be punctual. There may be situations where things are beyond your control. In such situations, it is very important to keep the customer informed and updated with the progress. Keeping the customer in dark is sure to earn you some fury.

Secondly, own up your faults. Its cowardly to escape if you are at fault. Never be like our CA who does not receive phone calls or switches off the cell phone unable to answer the client. Explain your problems to the customer. If your concerns are genuine and if your problems are reasonable, customers will understand and empathize with you. But if you try to take the customer for a ride, be ready to get a few glasses in your office shattered (do not take it literally) .

Always value people's money. Like it or not, Money is the most important thing in business. When someone pays you for a service, it means you are entrusted with a responsibility of meeting the customer's expectations. Be it one rupee or 10 rupees or 1 crore rupees or 1000 crore rupees, respect and value what one pays you for a service you render. 

Most importantly, have control over your anger. My action was very spontaneous. I regret it ,but what i did was a big mistake. I had to pay a price for it. I was ashamed in my own eyes. 

We have to devise ways of diplomatically handle situations. Venting out anger in foolish ways like how i did is not going to achieve anything and does not convey the right message. Even after all this drama my work is incomplete. 

"Never get Angry". It is only going to make things worse and not help anybody. Anger causes collateral damage and worsens your case. Its going to have negative effects on your mind and body.