The Hindu : Karnataka News : Rain or shine, this is his home

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Rain or shine, this is his home

Girish S. Pattanashetti

Some sticks tied together and covered by torn blankets
is shelter to
Pandappa Lamani

DIFFERENT: Pandappa Lamani in front of his home.

KADAMPUR (Gadag District): Some sticks tied together to form a shelter like structure, which is covered by some torn blankets that provide protection from rain and sun. This is the house of Pandappa Lamani, where he has been staying since almost three decades. Whether it is scorching sun, bitter cold or heavy rain, one can find him in his roadside home situated in Kadampur of Mundargi taluk in Gadag district.

Pandappa lost his parents three decades ago and since then he has been staying in his home next to the main road between Gadag and Mundargi.

Nobody knows why Pandappa, now 50, has been staying there and even Pandappa does not have a reason. However, Pandappa fondly remembers that his parents had their thatched house next to his present home.

He has an elder brother who lives at Singatarayanakeri Tanda situated close to the village where Ashraya houses have been constructed for the poor.

But Pandappa never goes to his brother’s house who is married and lives with his family. According to the villagers, Pandappa is not insane and except for his fascination for the place where he lives now, there is nothing unusual about him.

According to them, Pandappa is honest to the core. “If you give him any item and ask him to give it to a certain person in the village, he would promptly go there and deliver the article. Suppose the said person is not in his house, he would wait till he returns and would come back only after completing the work assigned to him,” said one of the villagers.

Pandappa works for his food. “If he wants tea, he would take a broom and clean the area around the tea shop and then stand before the tea shop. The tea would be served to him immediately,” said another resident of the village.

Pandappa also collects firewood and gives it to some of the villagers and in return accepts whatever money is given to him. Most of the times the villagers get their work done by him and pay him or feed him. If any villager sees Pandappa loitering in the streets during lunch or dinner time, he would invariably call him and feed him. Pandappa consumes liquor rarely but that is only when somebody from the village offers it to him.

Pandappa is of great help to the villagers especially those who reach the village late in the night and have heavy luggage with them. If Pandappa sees them, he would invariably help them.

Pandappa holds a ration card and has voted several times, but doesn’t remember whom he voted for. If somebody asks why he hasn’t married, Pandappa has a ready answer: what is the need for me to marry. Pandappa knows one thing for sure, that he would continue to stay in the same place till his death in the same manner.

A peculiar character, Pandappa has become a part and parcel of Kadampur. It is strange that nobody in the village wants to know more about him and even rarely thinks of him. However, help comes to Pandappa whenever he requires it.

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Karnataka