Why brides say no to youths from Karnataka's Kumta village

KARWAR: The village of Medini in Kumta taluk of Uttara Kannada district is known for its fragrant rice, ‘Medini akki’, used in payasam and other sweets. But it’s becoming a bitter and lonely harvest for the youths of this village, cosseted by the Western Ghats, as prospective brides turn them down for living in the boondocks.
Medini, with just 53 houses and about 400 people, is situated near the Kumta-Siddapur highway but involves an 8km trek through the deep forest. The Kumta and Siddapur towns are each 38km away and there is little by way of infrastructure in the village itself.
“We have to walk about 8km on a kaccha road in the thick forest to reach Kumta-Siddapur Road,” says a villager. “It is just a trail in the forest created by the villagers a few years ago. Now it has been widened and a jeep can pass by in summer. But there is the danger of falling into a gorge if the driver loses control. Many such incidents have been reported but there has been no injury to anyone or damage to vehicles.”

If that doesn’t send a chill up one’s spine, there’s monsoon, when the road is not motorable. One can only walk in the slush to reach the highway and it can be dangerous. “Public representatives visit the village only during elections and make promises which are never fulfilled,” says Shivaram Gouda, a villager. “No wonder then that most families turn down marriage proposals from the village, saying they will not endanger their girls’ lives,” says a villager.
There are about 28 men in the 25-45 age group who are yet to find brides. “No girl comes forward to marry them because of the lack of infrastructure,” says Rama Mudnalli, a homoeopath. Barring a primary school and power supply, there are no facilities here. And during monsoon, with tree branches falling on the road, the village is cut off from the state. “The people here are mainly dependent on collecting and selling forest produce. They grow a special type of rice with good odour but they cannot sell it in the market as they can’t transport it,” says Mudnalli.
Villagers complain that chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, who had stayed at Gokarna during the last assembly elections, had promised to visit Medini during his Grama Vastavya (village stay) campaign. But Medini is not on the list of 11 villages chosen this time. “The CM should fulfil his promise and provide infrastructure in the village,” says a villager.