Hot White Sand

Born in a farmers family in a remote village, land and nature was our sole means of livelihood. The farmers in the village relied mostly on paddy farming. The main source of irrigation was wells and the beautiful river Nila, also known as 'Bharatha puza'. To me Nila is much more memorable because as a teen I crossed this river by walk at least once every month on my routine visit to my mother's home. The distance between my father's home village and mother's home village is approximately six kilometers. It is a good walk from under the foothills of the small mountains in Kodumunda(my father's village) through the relatively less mountaneous Mezhathur(my mother's village). In between the two village flows the beautiful river Nila. Nila is beautiful because of the lush green little mountains all through its course. Nila is beautiful because of the crystal clean water that flow all the way to the Arabian Sea.  Nila was beautiful because of the fertile paddy fields on its both banks. The paddy fields in Akkara had the benefit of canal water and some farmers grew three crops in a year. The golden colored paddy, almost ready to harvest, is a scenery that never fades from my memory. Nila was beautiful because of its white sand. Nila attains unique beauty by the time it reaches our village. It gets wider than any of its course in east or west of us. I would think it is almost a mile wider. During monsoon, it's like an ocean, one can hardly see the other bank(called akkara in local dialect). During summer, the flow will be reduced to a thin stream, mostly in the middle. However, there were years, the river shifts side. The rest on both sides will be full of white sand. I have never seen such a wide and clean sandy river beach anywhere else. 

The nearest bridge used to be six kilometers away and distance to my maternal village by bus is 13 kilometers.  Also there wasn't enough bus service in this route in those days. Therefore, most often villagers crossed the river by foot or boat.  During summer the water level will be low and one can cross the river by walk. All other times, we crossed the river by boat. The place where we board the boat is called Kadavu, a local name for the boat jetty. There was only one country snake boat at service and one boatman in all the seasons. The boatman used to be very friendly to the passengers and very honest. I don't remember his name, I only know that he was a Muslim from a nearby village. Getting seated on the edges of the boat is a boon as one can play with the river water. Looking back, I wonder how unsafe were those boat rides when the river used to be full and strong in current. However, I have never heard of a boat mishap in our village. The boat only operates between sunrise and sunset. The fare used to be ten paise and return on the same day was free. I vaguely remember the fare going up double during monsoon, genuinely because of the effort for the boatman is much more. I remember so many trips we rushed back on same day to get the free return boat ride.

Journey during summer used to be more thrilling for children. The bare foot walk in the mile long stretch of sand and the opportunity to play with sand was a lot of fun. Swimming in the clean water with light current and watching the small fishes used to be a bonus attraction. Summer walk, however, posed another challenge. One has to plan the trip either early in the morning or late evenings otherwise the sand gets very hot in the sun. You can't use slippers, sandle or shoes on dry sand. If for any reason you get late, it will be a nightmare reaching the other side. 

I left my home village 39 years ago but returned at least once almost every year. A visit to Nila, Bharatha puzha is how it is known mostly, and a bath in it used to be one item in our itinerary even in the shortest of trips. It reminded me of the daily bath before sunrise and at sunset during the Mandalam (Sabarimala pilgrimage) season, the trip to my Dad's Guru's Ashram, the bathe to clean the mud on us and our Bulls after ploughing the wet paddy fields in the sowing season, the summer trips to bathe our cattle when the nearby village ponds dry down, watching the elephant taking the bathe and the memorable trips to my maternal home. 

The Nila I discussed is not there anymore. There are no more sand in the river bed. White sand is replaced by slit and wild grass. The grass and bushes are infested by snakes and makes it unsafe to walk.  The golden paddy fields are replaced by big concrete mansions.  No one crosses the river any more.  The boat and the boatman is gone.  There are more roads and public transport which made the commute easy and faster. There is development and urbanization. The overflowing beauty of Nila is shrunk and now lives in the memories of a few.