It was during my last visit to my hometown that my friends brought me the news of a single family living all alone on an islet. People accustomed to an urban lifestyle do not necessarily like living in villages, let alone living on an islet, far, far away from the civilised world.

A small islet, inhabited by a lone family! This is no summer retreat but their daily lifestyle for the past seven decades, filled with dreams and desires. Seems incredible, right? Three kms on the highway to Kochi from Kasargod (which once belonged to Karnataka), a dirt track on the left takes us to the banks of River Chandragiri. A couple of shouts later, a small boat trundles up the river. About 100 metres later, we touch land, on the opposite side. We have reached Turti!

There are other islets on the river as well. Chandragiri rushes by, eager to join the sea. The moment one sets foot on land, it is all green as far as the eye can see. Areca, coconut, banana, lime and guava trees laden with fruit greet the visitors. The weather is mildly cold too. A short walk leads to the Turti House, where a single family of four resides!

The islet, measuring 36 acres, belongs to Turti Krishna Bhat’s family. Up to 1920, two-three families eked out a living here, cultivating about 3-4 acres. Frequent floods in the river and loneliness forced them to sell the entire Turti to Krishna Bhat of Perla for Rs 2,000 and go to the mainland. Krishna Bhat, then in his youth, set out to make the islet habitable and worked hard with the aid of a few others. The entire islet was transformed into fields and groves of coconut, areca and banana. A two-storeyed house came up, to lend protection against floods. The five Bhat children completed their education, ferried to and from Kasargod. During floods, however, the entire family was cut off from the rest of the world for weeks together.

Krishna Bhat passed away in 1967, after having tried out printing and publishing a newspaper, while based in Turti. Later, Jagadish Prasad, Krishna Bhat’s youngest son, left the islet in search of a job. He was followed by three other siblings. Now, Subrahmanya Bhat, Krishna Bhat’s eldest son, lives on the islet with his wife and two sons.

Even to this day, boats are the major link between Kasargod and Turti. At the same time, one cannot complain of lack of modern amenities. Turti has a telephone connection and is electrified too. Newspaper and other posts are collected from the shore. However, as the river water is saline, the water in the well is also salty. There are 8,000 coconut and 3,000 areca trees on Turti. The nuts are transported to the Moodalakatte market on boats. So far, not a single incident of theft or robbery has been reported in the islet. Mounds of fruit and nuts lie safe in fields and plantations. “Turti is among the safest places in the world,” says a proud Subrahmanya Bhat.

There are a few cattle as well; they too crossed Chandragiri to come to Turti. But Kalappa strikes a lonely figure as he is the sole representative of his kind on the islet. He is not friendly with anyone and roams the entire place ceaselessly. He is scared of the river and nobody has bothered to cure him of it by taking him on a joy ride on the boats. But, who is Kalappa? The dog of Turti!

Labourers love working on the estate of Turti. For, they can indulge in their favourite pastime of fishing during breaks. Besides, they get a boat ride to and from the river! Living away from the civilised world has not been a problem at all, say the Bhat family members. And with reason too, as in the past decade the Chandragiri floods have not reached alarming levels. It is interesting to note that the family does not use motorboats for the fear of disrupting twittering birds’ peace!

A man has been appointed to look after and run the two boats while all the family members are familiar in steering the boats. Whatever the case maybe, the Turti family sure leads an adventurous life. As for me, the attraction of city life is not strong enough to prise me off  the islet easily. Life in Turti has a charm of its own.

Translated by B S Srivani

Ready for tourists?

Literary stalwarts Shivarama Karant, Ta Ra Su and Govinda Pai have all stayed weeks together at Turti, enjoying the solitude it offered, during the time of Krishna Bhat. Besides, the islet’s beauty has mesmerised tourists from the US, UK, Italy and Switzerland.

Jagadish Prasad wants to convert the place into a sought-after tourist destination. Now, his dream is getting translated into reality; related works have been taken up. The emphasis is on developing Turti into a tourist spot that showcases rural culture, while imparting training in cultivation.

Naturopathy treatment will also be made available.

To sum up, the islet’s modernisation will in no way hamper its original beauty.