JOIN USA hero came along...
Kodagu came under British rule in 1834 and was administered by a Chief Commissioner. William Pell Barton was the Chief Commissioner of erstwhile Coorg, now called Kodagu from 1920-1925. Those days, the residence of the British Chief Commissioner used be within the Mercara (now Madikeri) Fort premises and it overlooked the main road where the Kodava Samaja building is now located. This edifice, built on the ramparts of the fort, is a landmark in Madikeri.
William Pell Barton, newly married, had brought his young wife after a few months’ furlough in England. Mrs Barton was much impressed. The accommodation was palatial compared to her modest home back in England. Social life with a large number of coffee planters was quite good, and the North Coorg Club was just a spitting distance away. Besides, she now had several servants waiting hand-and-foot on her.
However, amidst this near-idyllic lifestyle, there was a recurring nuisance that kept bothering Mrs Barton. After a few months, this irritant became unbearable for her. As for Mr Barton, his domestic bliss was in jeopardy.
The cause for this crisis was the umpteen noisy bullock carts that used to ply on the main road. The winding up-and-down roads in Madikeri were especially hard on the animals pulling the carts. All the requirements for Madikeri came very early in the morning so that the needs of households were made available to start the day. The carts were laden with groceries, vegetables, fire wood, etc.
What a racket!
Those vintage bullock carts had a device known as beeri used as a brake. This was a simple contraption with two logs of wood fixed across the steel rim of the large wooden wheels of the bullock cart. The two logs were tied to a rope which was tethered to the front of the cart and lay below the driver. When the driver stepped on the ropes, the logs pressed against the steel rim and slowed down the cart. The primary use of beeri was to prevent a fully laden bullock cart from moving uncontrollably down a sloping road. The steep decline after North Coorg Club required the driver to literally stand on the ropes in order to help the animals gently move forward with the weight of the cart falling squarely on their necks. This manoeuvre produced a loud grating noise as the logs pressed hard against the wheels.
Madam Barton could not take this annoyingly jarring racket early every morning disturbing her sleep. Her objections became so vehement that Mr Barton had no option but to ban bullock carts ‘under the Police Act’ from plying on the main road. This action put the entire population of Madikeri to great inconvenience. Now the town’s requirements had to be carried on foot by hordes of labourers and the cost of every item shot up. No one had the courage to question the Chief Commissioner. But an eight-standard student, N K Ganapayya of the Government Central School, was infuriated and he took a bold decision.
Ganapayya wrote a letter to the editor of Sri Kanteerava, which was published from Mangalore, about the arbitrary actions of the Chief Commissioner because of which an entire town was suffering. Sri Kanteerava published the letter and that created a real flutter. Ganapayya became an instant hero at his school. Students of the school were full of admiration at the courage of his senior. Among them was this writer’s father, C M Poonacha, who experienced the first stirrings of nationalistic feelings in him then. Everyone in school and the residents of Madikeri were worried about what dreadful actions would be taken on young Ganapayya.
Punishment and warning
As feared, the editor of ‘Sri Kanteerava’ and Ganapayya were apprehended by police and produced at the Court at the Madikeri Fort. My father and his friends bunked class that day to be at the courtroom to see what would happen to their friend. The Magistrate levied a fine of Rs 50 on the editor. Because Ganapayya was a juvenile, his punishment was to remain standing in the courtroom till the Court adjourned! He was let off with a stern warning. After this incident, the British administration built a separate bungalow for the Commissioner away from the ‘plebeians’ as it were. This colonial dwelling in Madikeri now serves as the government guest house.
Poonacha and Ganapayya became life-long friends after this episode. Ganapayya grew up to be an ardent champion of freedom, free enterprise and community service. He went on to establish a large coffee estate in Sakleshpur. He joined hands with C Rajagopalachari and was a leading light in the Swatantra Party. When the Emergency was declared in 1975, he was incensed. He shot off a series of letters to the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. Seventy-year old Ganapayya was arrested and had to spend two years in jail.