My memories of River Arkavathy - Part 1

It is said that 'you can't be unhappy in the middle of a big, beautiful river'. As I dialed the numbers 80009 80009 for Rally for Rivers campaign, my thoughts wandered back to those happy 80s & 90s. 

I personally have fond memories of River Arkavathy during my childhood. The prospect of playing in the river was the biggest motivation for an otherwise tiring bus journey those days to my native village of Harobele near Kanakapura. 

I am sure my friends and cousins who were born brought up there have fonder memories than me.Our visit to the village used to be twice a year. Once in summer and another in October.

During October Arkavathy used to over flow and there was no chance of playing. But, the rain water and the overflow created number of small streams and water bodies for us to play. In summer, we used to rush to the river as we got down from the bus. My grandmother always wanted us to visit the church first after freshening up. But our devotion was with Arkavathy. 

‘Thore’, as it is called in villages used to be covered by trees and was not visible until we were a few yards from it. We could however hear the flowing sound and that added to the joy & mysticism. Hence River Arkavathy will forever remain in my memory as a small river with which we grew up and now sadly seeing it gradually disappearing too.

For a small introduction, Arkavathy originates from Nandi Hills. Passing through Ramanagar, Kanakapura finally joins River Cauvery near Mekedatu. Smaller Rivers Kumudavathi & Vrishabhavathi are (were) its tributaries. About 20% of City’s drinking water used to be from this river. 2 reservoirs,each at Hesaraghatta & Tippagondanahalli were built on it.

The history of Harobele & many adjacent small villages or ‘Doddies’ as they are called fondly remembers River Arkavathy has their life line for centuries. The main source of water for thousands of villages en-route its union with its elder sister ‘Cauvery’.

The water used to be clean and clear. There were specific places for children to play-swim, for ladies to wash clothes- utensils, for youngsters to catch fish-crabs. In fact until three decades back, Arkavathy used to be the main source of drinking water too.

Small holes to a size of a vessel used to be dug up on the bank of the river. The crystal clear water used to surface and would be collected after filtering with a piece of white cloth on the mouth of the pot or vessel. Though bore-wells and small wells provided drinking water, the sweetness of the river water was always preferred.

(to be continued....)