While people line up outside Mannat to wave at Shah Rukh or try to get a glimpse of Virat Kohli at the airport because they are the “heroes” for us, we stay painfully oblivious to the stories of real heroes. In the state of Karnataka, lies the Malavalli taluk of Mandya district where an unsung hero was born. Living in a modest half-built home set on a two-acre land beside the Kundinibetta hill is our hero, the 82-year-old shepherd Kamegowda.
Over the last 40 years, this man has been selflessly digging and maintaining ponds that have turned the barren hillside of Kundinibetta lush green. It all started when this compassionate man took his herd to the hillside to graze and found them to be overwrought due to the lack of water. Kamegowda refused to either sit and complain about the situation or ignore it. He sold two of his sheep and bought basic digging equipment.
He has dug 14 ponds since then and takes great pride in their maintaining them. These ponds which have been named after his grandchildren remain filled throughout the year, even during the scorching summer. Not only have they turned the almost barren hillside lush green but also provide animals and people with life-sustaining liquid throughout the year.
Kamegowda never received any formal education but that did not stop him from developing the unique design wherein the ponds are linked by a waterway that ensures when the upper ponds on the hill are filled, the surplus water flows into the ponds below. Even though it was the best possible idea and something even trained personnel’s wouldn’t have done, the society never supported him. He was called a “madman” for spending all his time and fortune on these water holes.
“After I started digging ponds and spending all my savings on them, I started losing my relatives. But the trees, ponds, birds, and animals became my relatives. Some made fun of me … some opposed me for using government land. But I did not stop. I can challenge anyone! Wherever I take up 5-6 ft. of digging, there will be water which will not dry up … even during summers.” Says our environmental hero. Kamegowda does not remember when he exactly started working on his project. He has however spent 15 lakh rupees on his ponds. The cash came from the various awards he received as well as his own earnings were invested into making the Earth a better place.
Even at his age, the octogenarian visits his ponds daily to maintain him and has never once complained about the obstructions faced or the money involved. Kamegowda says, “If I give my children, grandchildren money, it will be spent and they’ll become bankrupt. Instead, if I give them these ponds that has water throughout the year, they will be the richest,’’ says Kamegowda, who resides in a small incomplete house. “When some people give me cash for my personal use, I will say yes, and like a drunkard who spends all that money on liquor, I spend the money on the ponds. It is an addiction!’’.
If only more people had the same addiction as him, we wouldn’t be dreaming of heaven, we would be living in it.
