ALTER IDEM

Lakkinakoppa is a very tiny hamlet - about 10-15 km from Shimoga on the Shimoga- NR Pura- Koppa road. This deserted, aesthetic building in Lakkinakoppa had always made us wonder - 'Doesn't look like a house...what could it be?' Forever in a hurry, we had left it at that...until that afternoon 2-3 years ago. That day, we had plenty of time! Slowing down, we realised that the building was a museum called Amulya Shodha . Amulya means 'valuable'/ 'priceless' & Shodha means 'discovery'. Built on the boundary of a beautiful arecanut plantation and surrounded by a well maintained garden, Amulya Shodha is a private museum belonging to retired history professor, Mr.H.Khandoba Rao. We decided to check it out and were taken aback when the caretaker told us that entry was free! What we saw inside was a mind boggling collection by a single individual - of pots, pans, cutlery, utensils, lamps, weapons, musical instruments, indoor games, clothes, c...

Soon, the monsoon will turn heavier here & most of us will have nothing much to do outdoors. Time to catch up with our reading/ writing/ art/ needlework...... Time to play indoor games too. Computer games have already phased out board games like chess, scrabble & ludo, carrom, cards,.... And, to think that not so long ago, these games were blamed for phasing out the traditional indoor games like chennemaNe ! ChennemaNe is popularly thought to be a traditional game of the 'rain-rich' Malnad & coastal K'taka. But, it is not so. It is known in the west as Mancala and is believed to have come to coastal K'taka from Egypt (sea trade links) many, many centuries ago..... so long ago that we believe that we invented this game!! Actually, Chenne is the local name for a tiny, red seed ( Red lucky seed - used to play this game) & maNe means plank/ board. I won't be surprised if this game is known elsewhere in the country, by other names, of course! ...