The Monsoon in India, showcases nature in all her glory. This rainy season, we visited Katapadi.
This is the first of a series of posts on Katapadi's Monsoon splendour.
Katapadi is a small sleepy village in Karnataka's Udupi District. It is 5kms from Udupi town.
It is my father's home town and has our ancestral house called 'Dodda Mane';
(which in kannada means Big House - it was the largest house there, in its time) it is over 300 yrs old.
It is designed in the old style and built with mud ( no reinforced concrete or bricks ).
These strangely beautiful growths are about an inch in height. I chanced upon them, when I chased a centipede
with my camera over the compound wall of the house. Any help in identifying these little plants would be greatly appreciated.
Shot was taken just after an afternoon downpour, in S3's Super-Macro mode.
I placed the camera with its tripod-rest directly on the water soaked wall.
This is the first of a series of posts on Katapadi's Monsoon splendour.
Katapadi is a small sleepy village in Karnataka's Udupi District. It is 5kms from Udupi town.
It is my father's home town and has our ancestral house called 'Dodda Mane';
(which in kannada means Big House - it was the largest house there, in its time) it is over 300 yrs old.
It is designed in the old style and built with mud ( no reinforced concrete or bricks ).
These strangely beautiful growths are about an inch in height. I chanced upon them, when I chased a centipede
with my camera over the compound wall of the house. Any help in identifying these little plants would be greatly appreciated.
Shot was taken just after an afternoon downpour, in S3's Super-Macro mode.
I placed the camera with its tripod-rest directly on the water soaked wall.
Posts
15 comments:
Dear Ms Rohini Kamath,
Where exactly is your ancenstral house "Doddamane" located in Katapadi? Is it anywhere near the Venkataramana Temple? Who built the house and when? Please name a few prominent members of Doddamane to help me revive my childhood memories of Katapadi. I am an old student of S V S High School, Katapadi (Class of 1951), now upgraded to a full-fledged College.
Dear Mr Krishnananda,
Thank you for visiting and your kind comments. I'm delighted that my blog is helping you revive old memories.
"Doddamane" is located on the old road between Katapadi Bus Stand and Venkataramana Temple. Btw, the house is currently being built anew.
Our house temple (Maha Sati Temple) is open to public, it was built around 25yrs ago. It is within the Doddamane compound. The temple is well known in the area and can help you locate the house.
Original house was probably built by Grandfather of Annai Kamath ( who is my great-grandfather ). Approx. 300+ yrs ago.
My grandfather, Raghavendra Kamath was the first trustee of the Venkataramana Temple.
My father, Vishwanath Kamath was also an alumni of SVS (Class of '62)
Best wishes,
Rohini
Dear Ms Rohini Kamath,
While I could fairly guess the location of your Doddamane on the old road to Venkataramana Temple, I am unable to locate the Maha Sati Temple you have mentioned. (I shall look for it when I visit Katapadi next time.)Moreover, the nomenclature "Maha Sati" sounds unfamiliar to me because, as I understand, Konkani Gowda Saraswats worship mother goddess in the form of Maha Mayi and not Maha Sati, though both are one and the same. They inherited it from their ancestors in Goa.
Incidentally, my younger sister Geeta Hegde was perhaps a contemporary of your father in SVS in the Class of 62. My two younger brothers, Sachidananda Hegde and Satyodaya Hegde were both School Pupil Leaders in SVS in the mid-fiftys and late sixtys.
I must add that we do admire the excellent quality of your photographs posted on the web, capturing the magic of the flora and fauna of our dear Katapadi and its environs including Manipura, Kunjargiri, Mattu and Kaup. Good job. - Krishnananda Hegde
Dear Mr Krishnanda,
I have not visited Katapadi in over a year, I do plan a visit next year, hopefully there will be more photos then.
Best wishes,
Rohini
Hello there,
My name is Arvind Kamath and my ancestors are also Kamath’s from Katapadi. During a search I landed on your site and read the correspondence. I need to thank you for the good photograph on your site.
As I remember my mother telling me there is another group of Kamath’s in addition to the Dodee Mane Kamath in Katapadi and I believe I am associated with that Kamath family. I have seen our ancestral house which is just opposite the Pangal Nayak house on the temple road but after crossing the bus depot.
My father’s younger brother is Sheshgiri Kamath and they own the post office building in Katapdai. Both my father and his younger brothers are no more.
I live in Toronto Canada and my visits to India are more of once in 5 years. But I have an urge to get back some time and do more research to understand how and when my ancestry came to Katapadi.
King regards,
Arvind Kamath
Hello Arvind,
Delighted to know so many people from Katpady are meeting up due to this blog post.
I have been to the Pangal Nayak house many times, they are our family friends. I will forward your comments to my Dad and his brother Yeshwanth (Dr. Y. K. Kamath)
They have done a bit of research on this subject and I shall quiz them about it and update you on my findings.
A visit to Katapady is long pending and is delayed since our house is under construction.
Thanks very much for visiting this blog!
@Arvind:
I had a chat with my Dad and it turns out that we may be related to you. My dad's elder sister (Rama - she is no more) was probably married into your family.
My Dad asked me to check if the family you speak of is "Pigin Kamath" (Im spelling it as he pronounced it).
Pls let me have your mail id, so I can forward to my Dad and Uncle. My Dad says he might know a Sheshgiri Kamath.
Hi Rohini,
My email id is kamathag@yahoo.ca. I will be glad to correspond with your dad.
I think in the big joint family that resided in this house in kadapadi one branch was under Pijin Kamath (may be a short name for Padmanab Kamath). I have a small family tree that based on my discussions with my dad. I will share with your dad in the next email correspondence.
BTW what camera do you use for such precision in your photos? Further the birds that you have captured in and around Bangalore is phenomenal. My perception was that with all the pollution and infrastructure in the city that birds may have moved out the city area.
Here in Canada we had our first snow fall of the season yesterday and everything is white on the ground and on the trees. At the next available opportunity I should buy a good camera to capture the beauty of nature.
It’s a pleasure to view the flora and fauna through your camera lens.
Regards
arvind
WOW!!!. Nice pics, I came here accidentally when searching something on Katapadi. I thought these pics were taken using SLR, never thought with Cannon PS S3 you could get such Incredible pics...
BTW I am non-resident Katapadi(an) too:)
@Srinivas: Thanks for visiting! Glad you liked the pics here, S3 and S2 are both great cameras and good value for money. Although, I am not very pleased with the Manual Focus feature, I can fault with little else.
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from dodda mane....join this group...http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117255026633
hi rohini
im from katapadi and was delighted to read the comments from fellow katpadikars.
are you still active with this blog i would love to exchange some notes regarding doddamane kamaths. my mother is from that family
regards
chandrakant
Hi Chandrakant,
Very much active on this blog... :) Thanks for visiting. A post on the ancestral house is long pending... ( it was renovated a year ago )
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