Badagas of the Blue Mountains

I had heard from by late brother Nanja about 50 years back, about ‘ a group of Badagas living in Chamarajnagar in a few “hattis” around Hasanoor, my curiosity to learn more about them kept growing. He had mentioned about the the Badagas there selling their milk products through the bus drivers/conductors.

That is the time I realised the true meaning of the proverb ‘Hasanoor haala gudippadhuna, Neelagiria neera gudiipadhu mel – Better to drink the water in Nilgiris than the milk in Hasaroor’. [The different interpretations of this proverb will be discussed in a future post]

Since, we travel to Bangalore from Nilgiris quite often till a couple of years back, we decided that we must take the Sathyamangalam – Nanjangud – Mysore- Bangalore route just to visit Hasanoor to learn first hand about the Badagas of Hasanoor and other nearby villages- hattis. So we undertook the journey a few years back in my ‘ever faithful’ Maruti van but could not reach Hasanoor as the road was under major repairs and it was too risky in my 1986 model van.

However, we did meet one Dhona, a Badaga at the junction of Hasanoor junction and I had written a post on that.

Though there was bits and pieces of information about these Badagas, as part and at the same time different from the main stream ‘Badagas of the Blue Mountains – Nakku Betta, it was only after reading Emerald Bhojan Hari’s detailed narratives mainly in ‘Badaga Mahajan Sangha’ and other forums, I learnt a great deal about these ‘forgotten’ kith and kin of ours. The wealth of information about these ‘countrycousins’ in MEL SEEMAY posted in Badaga Mahajana Sangha FB page is quite a lot. There are plenty of beautiful pictures posted by Raghu Joghee and others.

BMS has not just stopped with sharing the information but have taken the initiative of educating some of those deserving girls and boys belonging to Mel Seemay hattis; Hari and his friends in BMS, have donated liberally and adopted these villages. The great strides taken by this bunch of youngsters and their truly laudable initiatives and efforts are indeed both motivating and ‘educative’.

BMS – Badaga Mahajana Sangha – has not stopped with mere words, but shown what true Badaga Hospitality really means.

For all those who form the backbone of BMS, we are proud of you.

Update :1st Anniversar​y of my baby N.G.O celebrated on the 14th June, 2013

These Badagas are, an inspiration to all of us.

Lingan Krishnan  [I have never met him so far] is one such person. I was quite surprised but very happy to see his email to me in which he had mentioned that he is a practising lawyer In the Bombay High Court. Wow, a Badaga high court lawyer in Mumbai, was my first thought. Surprise did not end there when I learnt that he is also an ex-fauji. He has started a Trust that can  be of immense help to Badagas.

Thank you L. Krishna. You make us proud!

Email from  Lingan Krishnan [lingan.krishnan@gmail.com], a Lawyer in Mumbai High Court

Hello Sir,

I belong to Adigaratty Village and was  born on 10 May,1946. I do not recollect my father’s face since  he breathed his last  when I was 8 years old. My mother, a poor soul, brought us  up (one elder brother and two younger sisters) and she too passed away  this year ie on 26th April, 2012. Every year, Theer Festival used to be celebrated in our village in a grand way, which continues even today. My mother used to compel me to attend the same but never I was able to do so.

About 20 years back, one day while discussing about the festivals, Mom was bit up set for  my not visiting the Hatty at least  once  a year, and requested me to at least contribute the Theer Festival expenses fixed by our village Gowdars every year.That particular day I decided to keep her wishes alive and promised her that I would  contribute for the festival not only for one year but till my mother’s last breath.

As per my mother’s wishes, my little contribution towards the festival has been going on for the last twenty years and now. My Mom is no more now, hence I decided to continue my contribution till my death. While going through your web site I felt my mother was sitting with me and forcing me to do something for the common needy people.. Thanks for the unforgettable memories flashed back in my mind while going through the wonderful initiations and inspirations exposed vide your web site.

With regards to my education and experiences.   have done M.A and LLB. Had put in 15 years service in the Army, In the Regiment of Artillery.  Joined  as Manager Administration in Lupin Laboratory and left Lupin after 13 Years of service to take up  the responsibilities of a GM with Cybertech Systems and Software Ltd through which I could visit US for six times.  I retired from Cybertech in the year 2007 after rendering 12 years of service and then started practicing Law.

In Bombay, we started Bombay Badaga Association in the year 1990 and I was the President for 7years. Under  my command, we conducted quite a number of Tours and Picnics beside various programmes.  We released a Souvenir in the year 1995, and the interesting things to be  noted here is that, our Souvenir had the messages of celebrities of Politics, Cricket, Films, Police Big Vigs and even Gazal Singers.

This combination  was my personal test and I had taken a month holiday from my job  to meet all those famous people ultimately with the aim of releasing an excellent Souvenir. Subsequently, the Souvenir got appreciated by Badaga Associations of Chennai, Balgalore, Coimbatore, Erode an many more individual personalities of our Baduga community.

Some how due to various exigencies of services, my service to the community  could not  go further.  Now, after 15 years of interval, my mind again started revolving round the Social Welfare Activities and as such I got a Trust named    SENIOR CITIZEN WELFARE ASSOCIATION,THANE (WEST) registered,  under which, I have plans to help the aged people in various grounds.  Further details on this will follow.

Based on this NGO I want to do some favours to the Badagas  staying abroad. Any thing required from Bombay like, transportation
facilities, escorting relatives, children and even sight seeing
arrangements can also be arranged by my NGO at Bombay. Any investment part in Moumbai or educational activities including placement etc can be arranged if any one needs it.

The support extended from our N.G.O is listed below.

  We plan to assist seniors in the following areas:

 1.       Supporting and escorting the seniors during exigency
2.       Medical  assistance through NGO doctors
3.       Creating opportunities for the Seniors to engage themselves
4.       Classes for Yoga and Meditation
5.       Providing hygienic food at reasonable rates
6.       Financial assistance to the seniors
7.       Assisting in legal matters
8.       Anything related to real estate
9.       Arranging Mumbai Darshan/ Visit to Essel world

The extension of our NGO is to support the needy youth (will be executed at the later stage)

1.   Public speaking / Language classes
2.   Hostel facility for working class (ladies and gents separately)
3. conducting coaching clases for appearing in the IAS/IPS/Service selection boards.

I really need your suggestions and guidance in this regards.

Regards
L.Krishnan

Dear Sir,
 Greetings, I am glad to inform you that our NGO has done a year and is deeply penetrating into the hearts of people, this appreciation we could learn from our first anniversary celebration, an event conducted on the 14th June 2013 and also we could feel the love towards our NGO on this day when Mumbai was flooded with rain waters a lot of fellow citizens and bureaucrats turned out to the event and blessed the occasion.
I would like to share with you a few moments from the event, its limited due to gmail limitations, pretty soon we shall be ready with our website and facebook page, will be glad to share more pictures then.
Regards
Adv L.Krishnan

Dr ARK Pillai [ Founder President,Indian Development Foundation-Mumbai]comments :

To-Day,28 June 2013 is the 42nd death anniversary of the greatest Badaga Leader H.B.Ari Gowder.

We pay our humble homage 

From the book ” A BADAGA – ENGLISH DICTIONARY ” by Prof.Paul Hockings and Christiane Pilot-Raichoor

For more pictures and to read ‘All about Ari Gowder’, go here   or here

The story of Ariya Gowda

by Sriram V [The Hindu – Chennai, May 1, 2012]

Ari Gowder was President of the Backward Classes League and leaned towards the Justice Party

The chances of anyone travelling down Ariya Gowda Road in West Mambalam, and stopping to wonder about the identity of the man who gave the thoroughfare its name, are slim. For when you are on Ariya Gowda Road, you are focused on getting out of the road alive, given its traffic.

He was not Ariya Gowda. He was HB Ari Gowder, a great visionary and leader of the Badaga community of the Nilgiris. And his life, as gleaned from various sources, including a 1935 Who’s Who and the internet, makes for interesting reading.

Rao Bahadur Hubbathalai J Bellie Gowder, made his fortune in laying the tracks of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, which was completed in 1908. His wealth made him a leading member of his community, and his clansmen came to him for advice on several issues. Bellie Gowder founded a free school in his native village, Hubbathalai, an institution that still functions. He passed away in 1935.

Bellie Gowder’s son, Ari, was born in 1893. His father ensured that he was educated in the modern sense and he graduated from Madras Christian College. Though he was to consider himself a contractor and a planter, it was in politics and social uplift that Ari Gowder was to make a mark. In 1923, he became the first Badaga to be elected to the Madras Legislative Council of which he was a member until 1934. In the 1940s, he was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly. When the Rajaji government introduced Prohibition in 1937, he led the challenge of enforcing it in the Nilgiris, of which area he was also the first non-official to become District Board President. Ari Gowder was also active in the Scouts Movement. Another contribution of his was the establishment of the Nilgiris Cooperative Marketing Society, which eliminated the stranglehold middlemen had over the simple mountain people. He was also a Director of the Badaga Land Mortgage Bank.

While the sympathies of most of his community lay with the Congress, Ari Gowder, given that he was President of the Backward Classes League, leaned more towards the Justice Party, which was active till the 1930s. That probably explains the road in Mambalam being named after him. Neighbouring Theyagaroya Nagar or T Nagar, developed in the 1920s when the Justice Party was in power and most of the roads, parks and streets there are named after its leaders. Legend also has it that a large chunk of land adjoining the Mambalam Railway Station was his, which he donated for developmental work. Like his father, Ari Gowder too received the title of Rao Bahadur from the British Government, in 1943.

In 1946, Ari Gowder was defeated in the Assembly elections. But in 1952 he contested successfully as an independent. He was to remain an independent for the rest of his career. He passed away in 1971.

How did Ari Gowder Road morph into Ariya Gowda Road? And should it not be just Ari Road?

The Hindu : Cities / Chennai : The story of Ariya Gowda.

I am in agreement with you about Badaga Script. Unless we follow the principle of KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid/Sweety – we are bound to create confusion.

Saddest part is that Badaga is slowly but surely losing out its originality with too much of Tamil and English getting mixed up in everyday conversation.

I am, along with plenty of your ‘fans’, looking forward to the publication of your new book “So Long a Saga: Four Centuries of Badaga History” . How I wish that “The Badaga-English Dictionary” is available at an affordable price for I am convinced that it deserves to be in every Badaga household.

With warm regards,

JP

K.R.Arjunan [photo from Dinamalar]

Will he be the First Badaga to become a M.P (Rajya Sabha)?

Congratulations to Arjunan.

Read in the news papers about the announcement of General Body Meeting on 21-07-2013 of the Young Badaga Association and elect NEW office bearers. This General Body Meeting is being held after many years, in fact many decades, instead of being an annual affair.

Hope this Young Badaga Association will elect really new apolitical, young and dynamic Badagas instead of the same old elders who claim to be ‘forever young’.

By the way, why can’t we have a great and grand meeting of all Badagas, spread all over the world, on the same day to elect a NAKKU BETTA GOWDA [leader] in a truly 100% democratic way like in a general election?

Is it not high time?

Deepak from Nanjanadu asks :

At my age I am not very well aware of the BADAGA GENERAL BODY or the politics.After the scrutiny of our website I am in a doubt whether such a mass election is possible.If so then who will undertake such an enormous election.Well if happened, I will be very glad for such happening.

Hello Deepak, good questions. There are two issues involved here.

One is about YBA – Young Badagas Association that was formed some 50 odd years back with a few hundred members and now, as per THE HINDU, there are about 3800 members. It was started with some very good intentions aimed at improving and enlarging awareness of ALL Badagas and for better interaction with other communities. YBA successfully obtained land at a prime place at Ooty, next to Breeks School, Charring Cross and built a hall with a a few shops. This hall is being rented out for marriages and other functions.

As is the case with most of our affairs, politics crept into running the association; many factions emerged and there were/are serious allegations of financial irregularities. Annual General Body Meetings [AGM] were not held and it became a ‘personal fiefdom’ of some persons with affiliation to a particular political party. Over a period of time, it resulted in many factional fights and took some ugly turns and police had to intervene. The recent one being as late as 24-5-2013. Truly shameful.

The million dollar question is – who is the governing body of YBA now? In the absence of AGMs, can some people elected decades ago, claim to be the true representatives of Badagas in general and YBA in particular and hold on to the chairs for ever?

In that respect, I welcome the announcement of the much delayed meeting to be held in July. Only hope is that, this meeting will be held in cordial atmosphere and elections held in a democratic way.

Again the doubt is, whether there is a proper record of the members? If so, YBA should come out with a list in the open – news papers or online in a website.

Since, YBA does not seem to have a website of its own, I can publish the list of members in my websites like http://www.badaga.co, http://www.badaga.in etc. if it is sent.

Lastly, what is the criteria for becoming a member of YBA and its rules and regulations?

The second issue involves in conducting a sort of General Election for choosing a Nakku Betta Leader – will write about that in detail soon.

Badaga Songs on the Web

Listen to some fantastic streaming music as you browse:

Here’s a question that was posed to the Dalai Lama: “What thing about humanity surprises you the most?”

His answer is : “MAN – Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn’t enjoy the present,

And as a result he doesn’t live in the present or the future. And he lives as if he’s never going to die and then he dies having never really lived”.

Is it NOT true with every Badaga-  male or female?

I found the following information given by E.B.Hariharan very interesting and educative. The initiatives and efforts of Badaga Mahajana Sangha are greatly appreciated. 

This article/info raises some hitherto unknown facts. Was there a ‘reverse migration’ of Badagas from the Nilgiris to the plains [of Karnataka]? Apart from the four [Nilgiri Nakkubetta] Seemays known to us, Mel Seemay seems a completely new and geographically different one.

Of course, we have all heard of Hasanur but not much about Punajanur and other Badaga Hamlets in Chamrajnagara. The famous Badaga Proverb [Dhoddaru Shloka] – “Hasanuru haalu kudippudhuga, Neelagiria neera kudi (The water in the Nilgiris is better than the milk of Hasanur)”- Wg Cdr JP

Punajanur and Mel Seemey.

Punajanur is a Badaga Village, about 45-50 Kms from Chamrajnagar town, falling within Karnataka State, Chamrajnagar Taluk and District. It has got about 50 Badaga houses and about 15 Wodeya houses (Lingayat Clan). Some other castes like Nayaks and others live nearby as well.

All the Badagas in Punajanur trace their heritage to Ebbanad and Kookal villages in the Nilgiris, a few of them are from Kadanad and Kottanalli as well. 300-400 years ago they moved from the Nilgiris and settled there, in search of better pasture for their Buffalo herds. Life was good until the last 15-20 years, their main source of income was supplying milk to the Co-operative milk societies, mainly NANDINI in Karnataka. After Veerappan issue cropped up, the people were stopped from grazing their herds at HEMMATTIES (in Badugu meaning Buffalo Grazing Villages) and most of them were sold. Thus started their economic decline. Their overall socio-economic condition is in bad shape, education is at abysmal levels, health is an area of serious concern. In our view, they seem to be atleast 30-40 years behind mainland (Nilgiri) Badagas. Hence, we, a group of volunteers across varied age groups having genuine love towards the Community, decided to take up the challenge and work for the betterment of our own people in Punajanur.

Similar to Punajanur, there are 8 small villages in an area called as Mel Seemey which is about 40 Kms from Punajanur, but falling under Erode District, Sathyamangalam Taluk, Hasanur Panchayat of Tamilnadu. Mel Seemey has about 200 houses in total and our work is going there in full swing. We have successfully paved the way for upgrading the school in Kotada (The biggest village with 80 houses in Mel Seemey) upto High School level (10th Std) spending Rs.100000/- (One Lakh), helped change the bus timings for the school going children, created a pool of Rs.300000/- (Three Lakhs) towards agricultural funding at no interest. We paved the way for 3 young students to join an Engineering Degree with full fee waiver for all 4 years of their study. We successfully conducted a medical camp in both Punajanur and Mel Seemey on 28/04/13 for the benefit of our people residing there in association with KBGA Bangalore. Four prominent doctors conducted a marathon medical test for nearly 300 people in one single day.

There is much more to be done and we are moving one step at a time. Together, we believe we can do wonders……..