Chikkamagaluru: He may not be a typical cowboy wearing trendy western attires, wielding a gun or riding horses! But his travails and achievements are nothing short of action or adventure. From a self-satisfying cattle grazing to a self learner Ekalavya; from a 10th pass to TCH and Graduation- his journey and destinations have been versatile. Cowboy, teacher, writer, scholar, journalist, social worker, organic farmer……..the list just keeps getting bigger and bigger. That’s our Karunaada Cowboy for you – Chandrashekar.
Limited resources never deterred him from achieving his seemingly far-fetched dreams.
Born in Narayanapura village in Ajjampura Hobli of Tarikere Taluk, the constant companion apart from cattle for Chandrashekar was literature. During his leisure, he read books written by well-known Kannada litterateur Dr Shivaram Karanth and drew lot of inspiration from them. Livelihood and ambitions made Chandrasekhar migrate to district headquarters Chikkamagaluru.
In the year 1998, Chandrashekar started circulating a Kannada local daily titled “Geleya” which helped him to develop innumerable social contacts. He eventually ended working as a journalist for the same newspaper. He also utilised this avenue to satiate his inclination towards social service and did so for 15 years without even looking back at his antecedents. But this was not going to be the “be all and end all for him”!
The scholar in him was constantly nagging him to do something indigenous and academic in nature. He quit his profession and took to research. He toured Karnataka’s 28,000 villages visiting countless religious shrines across the state. His study revolved around the causes of formation and progress of the Hindu Matts in the early part of last millennium. He wrote a book on his research earning adding the”Historian” title to his bouquet of mixed flowers.
Well, no matter where and how far an individual will travel and stop over, the call from the roots never stops and very few chose to answer it. The versatile cowboy took his call and it came in the form of “Green Revolution”. Chandrashekar took to organic farming, where he discovered his true passion.
He purchased a 13-acre barren land and dedicated his three years to make it cultivable. Now a pioneer of green revolution, he is exhorting the youth to shun going to cities in search of jobs and get back to agriculture. He has not only cultivated commercial like cocoa, coffee, areca, coconut, orange plants but also growing Napier grass as fodder for cattle. Having strictly prohibited chemical fertilisers in his farms, his crops rely on urine and cow dung as the primary sources, aided by vermicomposting. Chemical fertilisers have not been used for eight years in his farming activities. The local folks are by Chandrashekar and after witnessing his progress, at least eight people following Chandrashekar’s footsteps as a progressive farmer..
Chadrashekahar rues over statistics which indicate drop in the number of agriculturists in recent past from 85 percent to 45 percent and says efforts are needed to reverse the trend. Confident of reaping tenfold profit by sticking to organic farming, Chandrashekar’s future is “evergreen” for sure.
