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you can stay in my room so that we can talk.’ I preferred that, rather than staying all alone
in the first-floor guest room. I have always wondered why people in South Canara are so

much more educated, compared to any other district of Karnataka. I asked Kuttamma,
‘Did you study when you were young?’

Kuttamma sighed as if she was in pain.

‘No, unfortunately I did not go to school. When I was young we were extremely poor and
I was a coolie in the garden of a school teacher. I always felt education is essential. If you
can read and write you can secure a better job. In my case it was not possible. So, I was
determined that my only son Aithappa should study as much as he could and I would
work hard for that. My husband also felt the same way, but he was killed by a snake-bite

when my son was only five years old. It was my promise to him that I would educate
my son.’

I tried to imagine life six decades back—the social pressures, the great poverty, and no
help from the government. I have met many women of that age group who have told me
more or less the same story. Kuttamma continued.

‘My son did not disappoint me. He went to Bombay as a hotel boy. He cleaned the plates in

the morning, and in the evenings went to Moghaveera night school and studied there.’

‘Yes, I know this school. It is in Worli and is the oldest Kannada school in Bombay. Many
children have studied there.’

‘Once he finished his schooling he became a clerk at the counter of a hotel and went to
night college. He got his degree and started his own hotel in Bombay. He became very
successful.’

‘Then why is he here now?’

Kuttamma smiled. I could see she was proud.

‘He started many hotels in Bombay but I remained in my village. I never felt comfortable
in Bombay in spite of all the money he had because nobody spoke my language there and
I love this village.’

‘Yes, I know there is a saying in Sanskrit:
Why do you Just a Minute!
Janani Janmabhoomischa think Kuttamma’s

Swargadapi gariyasi son was in the
village?
It means “your motherland is always a heaven”.

‘You are a learned lady so you can recite all this in Sanskrit
but my intuition told me to stay here and do something for intuition: the ability to understand
something naturally, without the
our own people. My son became very wealthy and handed need for conscious reasoning

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