Haniyur – A village with simplicity

It was a visit due for a couple of years now… Subbanna uncle is a family friend of ours and after repeated invitations from his family; the long pending plan had finally materialized. Mom woke up early that morning and prepared sufficient food for the two families. The idea was that the two families- Subbanna uncle’s and our’s, ate lunch together. We left home around noon towards Haniyur, a small village located at around 10kms away from Rajanukunte on Doddaballapur road. That’s where the Subbanna family lives, a little away from their farm.

As we entered Haniyur village, we were welcomed by fragile houses with mud smeared walls, dry- unpaved roads which had never seen Asphalt, dusty animals and open drainage running up to their brim in front of the houses on both sides of the road. When we arrived at his house, the door was locked and the neighbors informed us that the family was off to their farm. So, we decided to meet them in their farm itself rather than troubling them to walk back home in the hot sun.

A warm welcome laid by the Asters’ garden

Their farm extends to a very large area that has been divided into several portions depending on what crop is grown. The crops are largely short term and comprise of fruits, vegetable and flowers. This time around they had Asters’ flower garden and a grape vineyard. While the elders in the family were busy with the labourers, the youngest member of the family- Uncle’s grandson was busy playing with the water pipes that were laid for drip irrigation. They were all excited to see us in their farm and some welcome drink (Tender coconut water) was sanctioned immediately. We told them that we would be having lunch with them in the farm itself and opened all the packages we had carried with ourselves. For salad, we had fresh tender cucumbers from the garden. Main course was ‘Kodava food’ from my mom’s kitchen and some nice ‘Ragi-Mudde’ from the Subbanna family’s large lunchbox. Yummy lunch ended with fresh chikkus, guavas and plantains- all from his farm. No restaurant could make up for the cool, fresh and pleasant ambience under the grape vine, in spite of the scorching sun seeming ruthless just outside.

Clockwise from top left: Onion farm; Grapes vineyard; Gerkins farm; raw grapes

Later, we walked around their farm and the village and breathed in the rusty country side as much as we could take in. After having a hot cup of chai from the fresh milk from the cattle in the family’s backyard, we decided to bid good bye to this wonderful family.

Some kind of a place for worship of the Local deity

It was still around 05.00.p.m, when we started from there. We decided to take a small deviation from our road and visit a temple located at around 4kms from Haniyur before heading towards the city. I’m not a temple kind of person, but for my parents’ sake, we went to the “Madurai- Shaneeshwara temple”. We were done with the darshan in 15mins or so… and headed back to the grind.

Conclusion remarks: There was no set agenda, just catching up for lunch with some old friends in the shades of a simple village and farm. The simplicity of the people who live there and the simple, yet tastiest food from their kitchen, with fresh and chemical free vegetables from their own garden… It’s a different feeling. We the city souls will never understand what money can’t buy. ‘Keeping it simple’ is the way of life!

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