My Ancestral Village – Yadahalli - Sena Desai Gopal

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Home
The 86th Village
Events & Media
Note from the Author
Other Work
Contact the Author

Home
The 86th Village
Events & Media
Note from the Author
Other Work
Contact the Author

Home
The 86th Village
Events & Media
Note from the Author
Other Work
Contact the Author

My Ancestral Village – Yadahalli

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My Ancestral Village – Yadahalli

When Indian families celebrate, it’s a feast for thousands. And for me, a feast for the heart.

When Indian families celebrate, it’s a feast for thousands. And for me, a feast for the heart.

March 20, 2025/

YADAHALLI, India — It is a monsoon morning, which means torrential rain, breaking a dry spell that has persisted since...

When the Krishna River rises

When the Krishna River rises

December 26, 2024/

This summer I returned to Yadahalli, where 18 generations of my family have lived in a 300-year-old house. It will...

Drowning Farms

December 23, 2024/

Drowning Farms A flooded dam means washed-away farmland for a Southern Indian village. Appearances, however, can be deceptive. Submerged in...

Where one family’s kitchen is the heart of the village

Where one family’s kitchen is the heart of the village

December 23, 2024/

YADAHALLI, India — It is barely dawn in my home village and the cowherd has already brought fresh milk into...

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The Durbar

A courtyard

The summer tower

The front entrance of the family quarters

The new house my parents are building

Another view of the backwaters

Waterlogged fields

This is how our backyard looks at the peak of monsoon

The traveling sari saleswoman

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Village in ruins 2

View of backwaters from a hilltop

A man gazing at the rising waters

Water buffalo walk through the flood, looking for green pastures

The old stone well

Village in ruins

They return to the village late afternoon

the-86th-village

A-kerosene-lantern

The backwaters come closer and closer to Yadahalli during the monsoon

Sunflower fields

An unused road

Some people are staying on

A child’s tricycle under a banyan tree

Anya with her friends

An eerily quiet street

Bullock-cart-race

Dam backwaters are almost at our doorstep. That is the roof of the summer tower

Almatti Dam

This is our family graveyard. During monsoon, most of it submerges. It will eventually be underwater around the year.

Harsha playing chess with a village kid

Anya petting a newborn water buffalo

Drone shot of Yadahalli

Surya preparing to cook for a small family feast, about 70 people

Marigold fields

Tailor birds

A farmer harvests grass for his animals

A village festival

Cobra shrine

Going into the forests

Shiva Temple

Family arms

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