Out to fulfil 70-yr-old mom’s wishes, Karnataka man takes her on a scooter-pilgrimage across India

Harsha Raj Gatty
November 24, 2018

Leaving the comforts of his marketing job, this 39-year old man is taking his aged mother on a religious pilgrimage across the country. Interestingly, the mother and son duo that has already covered nearly 28,000 kilometres so far has been travelling on a scooter.

Kerala, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra; D Krishna Kumar and his mother 70-year old mother Choodarathna have been making a stopover at each and every temple in the region. "Not many may believe, but in the last 10 months we have covered over 40,000 of such religious places, big or small we surely make it a point to visit those places," Kumar says.

Having lost her husband in 2015, in a casual conversation, Choodarathna confided to her son over her inability of not being able to see many places, especially Belur and Halebidu. "I felt terrible when she said that, having travelled across Karnataka due to my profession, I felt guilty for not being able to accommodate such small request of my mother," Krishna said.

He adds, her entire life Choodarathna had dedicated herself within the four walls of the 10 member joint family in Mysuru, without any friends or social life of her own. Though she is qualified as a Hindi teacher, yet she did not take up a job, and instead decided to dedicate herself to her family. Krishna adds that he received her utmost care and attention when he grew up.

"It was her selflessness that triggered me more to do something for her, so after 13 years being thoroughly employed, I decided to call quits from the job and decided to fulfill her wishes," Krishna says. On January 15, this year, Choodarathna decided to venture on the religious pilgrimage from Mysuru. "Initially we started with Kerala, later we moved towards other places," he says.

Incidentally, during the course of the journey, Krishna Kumar sprang a surprise to his mother by taking her to the house of her childhood friends, whom she was out of contact.  “I am so thankful for my son for getting me in touch with Chandramathi (Sagar, Shivamogga) and Kaje Jayalaxmi (Vittal, Dakshina Kannada). Have never seen them since the teacher training course over 47-years ago. Unlike these days, we didn't have phone or internet to remain in touch," she adds.

Besides fuel, Krishna says there is no major expense incurred on them, although for close to 10 months now a little over a lakh has been spent on the journey. “We are never at a hurry, depending on our interest we move from one place to another, therefore we cannot exactly say how much time we will take to complete our journey and destination,” he says. All through the journey, Choodarathnamma says that they did not stay in a hotel and usually consumed fruits and prepared curry out of vegetables that were made available to them. "We stay at mutts or temples, sometimes locals invite us at their residences. We consume food from the temples and even take water for consumption. By God’s grace, I never had health issues and we never fell ill during the journey," she adds.

On being asked, why they preferred scooter, Krishna says that it was his father who gifted him the scooter in 2001. "I am very emotionally attached to this Bajaj Chetak. I feel that my father is along with me and I am only like a charioteer taking both my parents for the place of their liking," he says.

Comments

MOHAMMED SHARIEF
 - 
Sunday, 25 Nov 2018

Really, its a pricless bound 

SD
 - 
Saturday, 24 Nov 2018

Wow! One lucky mom...

God bless the young man

Joseph Stalin
 - 
Saturday, 24 Nov 2018

Inspiring. Lovely don and mother

Reshma kodialbail
 - 
Saturday, 24 Nov 2018

Such a nice son. His wife is the luckiest wife. One who care his mother will care his wife also. He will respect women

Subbu Acharya
 - 
Saturday, 24 Nov 2018

man.. You did great. Always care your mother. make her happy. God bless you

Vinod
 - 
Saturday, 24 Nov 2018

Wow.. great.. son should be like this. 

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News Network
March 15,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 15: Former Karnataka chief minister and senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act on Thursday for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor at his residence in Bengaluru last month.

Yediyurappa, 81, was booked after a woman lodged a complaint saying that she visited his residence on February 2 seeking justice in a rape case against her daughter and sought that a special investigation team (SIT) be formed to look into the case.

According to the first information report (FIR), Yediyurappa allegedly took the minor to a room, closed the door and sexually assaulted her. The woman further alleged in the FIR that when she confronted Yediyurappa, he said that he was checking if the girl was raped or not. Yediyurappa later allegedly apologised and asked the woman not to reveal the matter to anyone.

The Sadashivanagar police in Bengaluru have registered a case under Section 8 (commit sexual assault) of the Pocso Act and Section 354 (a) (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Reacting to the allegations, the former CM said that around one-and-a-half months ago, they (the victim and her mother) had come to his house seeking help and he had taken them inside. 

“After listening to her, I called the city police commissioner B Dayananda over phone seeking to address her problem. Later, they spoke against me and I then suspected that there is some health problem with her. I sent them to city police commissioner’s office. I even gave her some money as they were in distress. I came to know that an FIR has been registered and will look into it. But this is what I get for helping someone,” he added.

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News Network
March 25,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 25: Former Karnataka Minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy on Monday rejoined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The Gangavati MLA, who is an accused in an illegal mining case, had formed the 'Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha' (KRPP) ahead of the state assembly polls last year, snapping his two-decade-old association with the BJP.

Reddy today merged his KRPP with the BJP as he, along with wife Aruna Lakshmi and some family members, joined the party in the presence of its veteran leader and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, state President B Y Vijayendra, and others.

Reddy had recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.

However, in the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls he had extended support to the Congress candidate.

Calling it a "home coming", Reddy explained that the move to merge KRPP with the BJP is to "make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister a third time".

"Amit Shah had invited me to Delhi and told me that -- there is no question of extending outside support (KRPP supporting BJP in LS polls) and instead I should join the BJP and work for it, as I took my political birth in the party. Accepting it, I'm joining the party," he said.

Praising Yediyurappa and the leader's contribution in his political growth, Reddy said he is happy that he will be working in the party now with the veteran leader's son Vijayendra.

"I will work as a common party worker along with other leaders under the leadership of Vijayendra. I have not come with any conditions or expectations. Whatever responsibility the party gives me, I will honestly work.

"BJP was always there in my blood, but due to some reasons I had gone out, but today I feel I have come back to my mother's lap. Looking at my brothers here, I don't feel like I'm coming back to the BJP office after 13 years," he added.

Welcoming Reddy back into the party, Vijayendra said his joining will strengthen BJP in the Kalyana Karnataka region.

"Liking Narendra Modi's leadership and accepting BJP's ideology, Reddy has rejoined the party. Reddy has said that Karnataka should have a larger contribution in making Modi PM once again -- to ensure that BJP and JD(S) alliance win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state, he is merging his KRPP with BJP and is joining the party," he said.

Before the assembly polls last year, Reddy had been largely politically inactive for nearly 12 years since his arrest by the CBI for an alleged role in a mining scam. During this period, he had a brief stint ahead of the 2018 assembly polls when he campaigned for his close friend and former Minister B Sriramulu in Molakalmuru Assembly segment.

In the run up to the 2018 assembly polls, the then BJP national president Amit Shah, in response to a reporter's question, had distanced the party from him and stressed that "the BJP has nothing to do with Janardhana Reddy." Accused in a multi-crore illegal mining case, he has been out on bail since 2015. Several conditions were imposed by the top court in its order which includes prohibiting him from visiting Ballari in Karnataka and Ananthpur and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.

Because of these restrictions, he had to contest the 2023 Assembly polls from Gangavati in Koppal district.

Expressing his displeasure about the way BJP had ignored him, Reddy had announced a new party last year and also took a dig at his brothers -- Karunakara Reddy and Somashekar Reddy -- and Sriramulu, as they remained with the BJP.

The three of them had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly polls, with Reddy's new party said to have impacted their performance in the election.

Sriramulu, a ST community leader and former Minister is now the BJP's candidate from the Bellary (Ballari) Lok Sabha constituency.

Reddy had played an instrumental role in strengthening the BJP in the Ballari district and is still believed to enjoy a considerable clout there as well as in adjoining districts like Chitradurga, Koppal and Raichur, which could be useful for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, managing director of Obalapuram Mining Company (OMC), were arrested by the CBI on September 5, 2011.

The company is accused of changing mining lease boundary markings and indulging in illegal mining in the Ballari Reserve Forest area, spread over Ballari in Karnataka and the Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Reddy first came to political limelight during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, when he campaigned for BJP leader, the late Sushma Swaraj, who had contested against Congress' Sonia Gandhi from Ballari.

Former Congress Minister T John's son Thomas John also joined the BJP today.

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News Network
March 17,2024

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Beltangady, Mar 17: A three-year-old boy was crushed to death under the wheels of an auto-rickshaw in front of his house at Panakaje Mundadi in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada. 

The gut-wrenching tragedy took place on Saturday, March 16 morning when the boy ran out of home to the road. 

The victim has been identified as Kaushik, the son of Chandrashekhar and Usha couple. Their home is situated adjacent to the main road at Panakaje.

It is learnt that the auto-rickshaw failed to notice the boy who suddenly darted towards the road and hit him. 

Even though the injured boy was rushed to a private hospital in Ujire and later to Mangaluru, he breathed his last. 

The Beltangady traffic police have registered a case in connection with the incident.

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