Mounesh Vishwakarma
Pics: Kishore Peraje
Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Aug 25: A number of perverse minds have been trying to vitiate communal harmony that has been deep-rooted in the twin-districts. In spite of these attempts, communal harmony has genuinely thrived and remained unaffected in rural places where people are not bothered by the artificial demarcations like caste, religion etc, as evidenced by the story of Wilfred D'Souza.

Wilfred belongs to Pachinadka in Kallige village in the taluk. In coastal districts of Karnataka, both Hindus and Christians celebrate 'Thene Habba' to celebrate nature. This is celebrated by Christians on Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8 while Hindus celebrate it during Dasara.

Progressive farmer from Pachinadka, Wilfred D'Souza, has contributed immensely to cement communal harmony. During the 'Thene Habba', there is lot of demand for ears of paddy corns. Many are not aware that the ears of paddy grown in the field of Wilfred D'Souza are in great demand,not only from inside and outside the district, but also from other states and people living in foreign countries.

People from Dakshina Kannada and nearby districts carry bunches of paddy stalks harvested from Wilfred's field for celebrating 'Thene Habba' of Hindus apart from Vinayaka Chaturthi, and for Nativity of Mary festival by Christians. People hailing from the region currently living in foreign countries too collect them from him. It is also interesting to know that stalks of paddy with ears of corn intact from his field are also supplied to various temples for 'Thene Habba', Vinayaka Chaturthi, and also to different churches for 'Monti Fest'.

Wilfred is 65 now. He has been growing paddy in an acre of land since the last ten years for the specific purpose of meeting 'Thene Habba' needs. He has been supplying the crop so grown at the rate of Rs 30 per a bunch (soodi) of paddy stalks. He takes care to see that the ears of corn are ripe at the time of Thene Habba. Wilfred says that for a paddy stalk to bend at the weight of its ears of corn, the paddy should be about 110 to 120 days old. For Vinayaka Chaturthi, he planted seedlings on May 3. For the 'Monti Fest' falling on September 8 also he says he plants seedlings exactly by counting days.

Although he follows organic method of farming,in certain cases he finds it necessary to use chemicals to handle pests and diseases. "I use 'Bili Jaya' variety of paddy seed as its growth can be perfectly predicted, and it bears mature ears of paddy corn that is predictable. As it has longer stalks, it is better suited for festivals," he explains.

Wilfred has currently received demand from 14 temples in the district including Lord Vinayaka Shankaranarayana Durgamba temple in Nandavar, Maroli Lord Sooryanarayana temple Mangaluru, Lord Ganesha Mandir in Katoipalla, and Konchady temple. Puttur Lord Mahalingeshwara temple had sought them last year and this year too. This time, he has been requested for paddy stalks by Polali Rajarajeshwari temple, Ulal Somanatheshwara temple and Naguri Daivasthana. In addition, he has been a regular supplier to various Bhajana Mandirs, and public programmes being organized to celebrate 'Thene Habba'. Local approach him in large numbers for 'Thene Habba' at their homes.

The paddy stalks are harvested three to four days before they are needed to be used. For Vinayaka Charurthi falling on August 25, stalks have been harvested on August 22 and 23, cleaned and converted into bunches of similar size. As harvesting, cleaning and making bunches requires two to three days time paddy is harvested in advance, he informs.

Growing paddy for festivals is profitable as compared in normal agriculture. But rather than remaining dependent on rain for raising paddy, we should use agricultural pump to ensure that the paddy stalks are ready on specific days, he feels. He also says as this paddy is ready for harvest a few weeks before normal paddy, it needs more care and protection. Diseases, birds including peacock would be waiting to eat up grown corns. Therefore, fire crackers are used to scare away birds occasionally, he explains.

Among Hindus, 'Thene Habba' is celebrated either on Chowthi day, Nompu which falls ten days after Chowthi, or during Dasara (Navaratri). Christians celebrate it on 'Monti Fest'. Wilfred D'Souza treats all his customers as the same and testifies that celebrating festivals together is a message that can achieve communal harmony.

Wilfred revealed that Sevanjali Trust Farangipet was the first one to contact him for ears of paddy corn for Ganesha Chaturthi as paddy crop was not available anywhere as else, and he had standing paddy crop in his field. After they began to take paddy stalks from him, others too followed. Although Sevanjali stopped taking paddy from him later, other customers continued to keep the demand up. He says that in addition to centres within the twin-districts, people from Madikeri, Mysuru, Sakleshpura and people from here who have settled in other states and foreign countries have been his regular customers.