ಹೆಂಗೆ ನಾವೂ! Henge naavoooo! (We are pro!) I remembered this slang from the movie ‘Love Mocktail’ when we saw the Ganapathi temple more noticeable as the fog was getting cleared on the lush tea plantations which were widely spread in the mountains.
Earlier, the day at 9 am we started from Horanadu to my native place Udupi. I had already planned to drive through the Kudremukha forest and reach Karkala. As we took Kalasa road towards Kudremukha every mountain you see, is part of the western ghats of India. I had to stop at the entry to the Kudremukha forest to get the pass from the officials. As we continued our journey entering into Kudremukha, within a couple of Kms, we sighted a train station just next to the road. I quickly pulled over a rush and stopped to confirm that what we saw is just a ‘train’.
As I turned right, this station had a gate and a metal arch. With a vast area for passengers to enter inside the station. The blue & very clean Indian railways train is clearly visible from the platform. The train engine was almost facing towards the gate and the track was ending only till there. The Aluminium pillars of the stations were very clean and the signboards were clearly visible till the road. As it was Sunday, the gates were closed and there weren’t any people inside the station. I believe this is the only station in India that is closed on Sundays. This is the exact picture that you see when you glance towards the compound (fence) of this station at that one instance.
I stepped out of the car and went near the gate to see what is this beauty is all about. The arch on the gate was written as “ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಹಿರಿಯ ಪ್ರಾಥಮಿಕ ಶಾಲೆ, ಸಂಸೆ” Govt Higher Primary School, Samse. The locomotive name displayed as “ಜ್ಞಾನ ವಿಕಾಸ ಎಕ್ಸಪ್ರೆಸ್” “Jnana Vikasa Express” on top and GHPS SAMSE express at the bottom. This train which is clearly seen from the station platform is the painting on the walls of this school. One of the train coaches was written as ನಲಿ-ಕಲಿ / NALI-KALI in yellow as if, this train is traveling from ನಲಿ/NALI station to ಕಲಿ/KALI station. Another coach was written as GHPS SAMSE Express. Overall, with that sunny and cool foggy weather, it was very clean compared to the real blue train. We wanted to explore inside the premises of this school but the gates were closed. This “ಜ್ಞಾನ ವಿಕಾಸ ಎಕ್ಸಪ್ರೆಸ್” “Jnana Vikasa Express” of SAMSE was a surprise we got from this trip.
You might be wondering why would be anyone gets so impressed by this school or the creativity on the walls of this school. It is because the children or students who come here with lots of dreams to travel to various destinations in their life. It might be smaller for urban people, but for the small SAMSE town it is nothing but a dream to get into and reach their destinations. For a moment, I felt “I should have studied in this school which might have made me dream more creatively. Probably, these dreams might have more value than the dreams I had studying in the schools of Urban Bangalore.”
It would have been the same govt school if there wasn’t any painting on it. The “change” in the thoughts of this school’s management made them display creativity to attract students. Anything in life which continues for a longer time will be monotonous. This monotonicity can only be broken when there is a change. The change which will lead towards greater heights can be achieved through creativity. When there is no creativity or imagination then there is very minimal or no progress. To mention some facts, Kudremukha has an 80% literacy rate, which is way higher than the literacy rate of the nation. If you are travelling towards Kalasa or Udupi via Kudremukha don’t miss to step out of your car to see this beauty. This has to be a Sunday though!
We then continued for more kilometres in the foggy morning to see the beauty of Kudremukha. You will surely hear a silent voice coming from the breeze of these mountains saying ‘Henge Naavu!”
Very beautiful
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