Sir,

We had a property adjacent to Glenlorna Tea Estate in Hudikeri, South Kodagu. In the year 1962, there was torrential rains. Schools and Colleges declared holidays for almost six months. During this time, the rain played havoc and affected our property also very badly.

Just one or two years before this incident occurred, our father B.A. Thimmaiah (Bottangada) had shifted our family from Bengaluru to settle in Mysuru as it was nearer to Kodagu and also for his children to continue their education. He often used to visit our property and had built a house there. A coffee nursery was prepared, pits were dug to plant them and arecanut trees were planted a few years back with pepper climbers on it to climb. Cardamom saplings were also planted.

When the rain started pouring continuously for days together, the water stagnated on the coffee nursery and they were submerged. There was landslide from the hillock which was beside the house, the mud from it floated and covered some of the pits which were dug. So walking around became difficult as the legs got stuck in them.

Since the top soil on the cardamom plants were carried away, the cardamom roots with cardamom were exposed while some were stuck inside the slush. Strange, the monkeys too came in and created menace by pulling the roots, plucking cardamoms, biting and spitting them.

Though it was time for arecanut trees to yield, there was no sign of it. The pepper climbers started falling down. The fence around the property was dismantled. In addition to all these, a portion of the house also collapsed. The rain water entered inside our house and damaged some of the household articles. Luckily all of us were safe.

– B.T. Neelamma, Vijayanagar, 10.8.2019

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