Day 24 : 29 Jan 2014 : Karwar to Kumta : 71 kms

Outside the house of Dr Kumud and Mr Nayar before we cycled off early morning...

On the way to Kumta

In Principal Hampiholi's office

Smitha addressing the students

Prof Shanbagh, Principal and the team.. Students sitting behind..

Maj Ashwini's presentation on her climb up Mt Everest

After the presentation.

The differences that we saw as soon as we entered Karnataka: 

1. The people were much more curious about us. Everywhere we stopped, and even on the road, people kept asking us what we are doing and why we are cycling. 
2. The children in Karnataka are much more proactive. They are waving at us even before we can wave at them. We found that the kids in Maharashtra refused to wave at us (especially groups of girls) even when we waved at them. Here, almost all children looking at us are smiling and waving. 
3. We found a big difference in the way people give us instructions about slopes. In Maharashtra, people would say, ”Road is flat. No uphills at all”. And we would find that there is one uphill after another. In Karnataka, people said, ”Very steep slope is there ahead”. And we found that it was just a small slope that was over before we could start sweating... 

The route out of Karwar is one of the most picturesque that we have encountered so far. The view of the ocean, the greenery of the hills and the winding roads transported us to a completely different world. As the days progress, the heat is increasing gradually and it is getting more and more difficult to cycle after 10 am. But we are on a mission. So we just put our heads down, drink more water and continue cycling.

We stayed at the AV Baliga College of Arts and Science and were looked after by the NCC Cadets of the school. We were greeted on the main road (at around 2 pm) by Professor Shangbagh and his team of NCC Cadets who then escorted us to the college. As we entered the college, we were very surprised to see that they have such a huge campus – 32 acres of space. Unfortunately, the land that the college stands on is not really conducive to plants and trees, and most of the space is barren. The college is attempting to make the place greener so as to provide more shade to the students, but it will take a while.

We spent some time with the Principal Mr Hampiholi, and had a presentation at the college for the students in the afternoon. It is always nice to meet with the students and share thoughts and ideas with them and we hope that more of them will take up the cause of the environment. We had some lovely food at the college canteen and a nice stay at the campus.