A new journey through the golden landscape with new experience

By Dr. Eugene DSouza, Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

Mumbai, 23 October 2010: Journey through the Konkan belt at any part of the year and during any season presents a feast to the eye. During the monsoon season, the rain drenched land with sprouting grass covering the landscape and agricultural activities present  the most  exciting experiences. While travelling through this route during the month of August or mid September one can see the paddy fields with full bloom and streams and rivulets gushing with water.

 

During my recent trip to Mumbai during the beginning of the third week of October I had an opportunity to savour the beauty of the golden colour stretching across the landscape on both sides of the railways tracks as the matured paddy has been waiting patiently to be harvested.  One can see at intermittent intervals the hybrid dwarf paddy standing erect in fields giving a look of patches of golden colour.  Most probably by the end of October the entire area would be cleared as the paddy reaches its optimum maturity.  At two places I could observe pitched tents probably belonging to labourers from the upland beyond the ghats who would be available for the harvesting season. Only in a few isolated places I could see the paddy being harvested.  Unlike in Udupi taluka where the harvested paddy is  tied in bundles as it is being harvested, I could see the paddy being just  left to dry by spreading it without tying in bundles in Kundapura taluka and even in Uttara Kannada district.

 

Beyond Byndoor as the train approaches Bhatkal one can see the paddy fields on sloppy hillside. As the paddy ripens,  the wild animals encroach upon these paddy fields to feed themselves causing  immense damage. Hence, the farmers use various methods to scare off these wild animals and birds by erecting sticks with verities of plastic bags or cloth pieces on the edges of the paddy fields.  In these regions it is a common sight of a temporary shelter in the midst of the fields where someone from the farmer’s household would keep vigil  during the night time to ward off pests till the paddy is harvested.

 

 

It is indeed a photographer’s delight to capture in his camera not only the golden coloured landscape but also the structures such as small temples, farm-shelters, verities of dwelling places and even the rivers and the small island like formations on the river-beds and if lucky enough some scenes of human beings  indulging in agricultural activities.

 

As the train proceeds beyond Bhatkal, the landscape provides the sight of ranges of hills towards the eastern horizon. On the day I travelled to Mumbai, as the clouds began to hover over these  hills it began to get darker by five o’clock in the evening and rain disrupted the view of the landscape. After some times the sky became clearer before it rained again by the time the train reached Ankola and became dark by the time it reached Karwar.  However, by that time I could capture some pictures of the golden coloured paddy fields and other scenes which, like earlier occasions would like to share with the readers of Bellevision.