I live in a remote village in southern Kodagu in Karnataka. Kodagu, also known as Coorg, is a beautiful hill station and a biodiverse land, home to many types of plants and animals. Wherever you look, you see greenery, rolling hills and gushing waters. In the rainy season, the entire hill range is covered with mist except for the peak. The peaks look like castles on clouds. Now you’ve got the picture of where I live. But with good things, there is always something difficult to go through.
In the cities, you can order whatever you like at any time right to your doorstep, but our closest grocery store is at least 9kms away from my village. We go there to buy supplies for the week, crossing our fingers that we got everything we need. It is especially hard for my family because we live in a very remote place, where even internet connectivity is hard. In the harsh monsoon, strong winds and rains cause trees to fall, taking electric wires and poles down with them. We go for days without electricity. Our longest stretch was 57 days without electricity!
Even though we have an inverter and generator, it doesn’t last too long. Forget the internet, even our fridge doesn’t work too well, so we can’t store food for a long time. Sometimes we don’t even get to watch TV for weeks. Even the school shuts down! It would have been great, but just watching it rain with barely anything to do is boring. Luckily, books and indoor games with my family make time fly by.
There was an article in RobinAge called ‘One Day Without the Internet’, and reading that made me realise that I live like that most of the time. Of course, Kodagu is beautiful, and a nurturing place to live in. I am very thankful to live in an atmosphere with no pollution, flowing water bodies and surrounded by nature. That’s when I further realised how lucky I am.
Valley view of the Madikeri Hills, Coorg, Karnataka
