M'lore: Students Imbibing Spirit of Religious Harmony at Kottari Camp
 
by Melka Miyar - pics: Dayanand Kukkaje  
for Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (NR)

Mangalore, Jan 31: With the sun awake and already peeping out over the glorious horizon, mother earth in the midst of her morning welcome song and birds chirping and singing starting their daily chores, Kottari Island, located near Kannur was singing in unison an all religious prayer. Different groups of students who had camped in the island were leading the prayer songs of different religions. Their underlying motto however, was the same, namely, to spread the message of communal and religious harmony. This message is more pertinent and relevant to district like Dakshina Kannada, where communal clashes have now become a common occurrence.
 
Thursday January 31 is going to be the last day for the Scouts and Guides who had come to Kottari island for a three-day camp. They have gathered here from various parts of the state to commemorate the Brownsea island camp in Britain, which was the first camp of the Scouts held a century ago. Here at Kannur too the young scouts and guides have learned how to live and mingle with nature. They played in water, sand and were completely lost to the outside world for the past few days. In fact away from civilization the children spent their days here without luxuries like TV and computers. However, they unanimously opine that it is their very own island. Hence they are very reluctant to leave this place although well aware of the fact that they have to go back once again to their day-to-day life.

These youngsters will most definitely be going back home with several lessons learnt. The one important lesson the camp will hopefully have taught them is a deep abiding respect for other religions. In this context one question which may crop up and most probably even remain unanswered is what would happen to the lessons imbibed by the children on religious and communal harmony, if a fundamentalist government comes to power in the state? Only posterity and the children themselves can best answer this hypothetical question.
 
The huge efforts put in by the local organizers to make this camp a success, has now reaped good dividends. Participants and localites are warmly praising the arrangements done by the organizers. Making provisions for the best amenities in an island where there are no basic infrastructural facilities available is no mean task. It is a challenging job indeed. But the organizers have admirably risen to the occasion, overcoming several hurdles through dint of sheer hard, dedicated work, sincerity and precision.

One significant point to be noted is that with this Scouts and Guides camp, the fortune of the Kottari Island too has changed forever. Till date although the island was located barely around 7 to 8 kms away from the city, close to the national highway, it was no where on the radar of any tourists or sightseers or even so familiar to the locals here. Now the locals have begun showing a deep interest about this island, thanks to this Scouts and Guides camp.
 
Few plans are now in the pipeline to make this island a popular tourist destination. Maheshwar Rao, district commissioner of Dakshina Kannada has declared his intention to convert the island into a tourist spot. As all are aware it includes about 100 acres of land and 70 acres of land which is owned by the government. This virgin island with its gleaming pure sparkling sand spread all around, lush greenery surrounded by soft beautiful flowing river Netravati has definitely got the potential to attract hordes of tourists in the days to come. In addition there are plans in the offing to host many more similar camps in the coming days and hopefully teaching many more youngsters the lessons on living in harmony with nature in all her natural glory. That is the mighty power of nature … after all we  human beings come from nature and one day are going to merge with her forever.