“My father had couple of small sailor boats ( called machave in Kannada) with some expert sailors for shipping our betelnuts .They used to go to Karachi in Pakisthan( then India ) on those boats full of betlenut and come back with good money ” When Ratnakar Bala Balagi told this in a cold tone it could shock anybody from current generation . He added ” it used take months for them to return ” .
Ratnakar Bala Balagi is one of the largest betelnut wholesale dealer from Kumta , Karnataka. Born in 1940 Mr Balagi went on explaining how his father started the whole sale dealership of betelnut in Kumta and how it turned out to be a big family business. But what is fascinating is social lifestyle of those days.
During 1940-50s Kumta was a major port for coastal region. Many agricultural products such as betelnut , coconut , spices and cotton grown in nearby villages were being shipped from Kumta to Goa, Mumbai and all the way up to Karachi. But as transportation system improved after independence there was no need of boats . Slowly th bney sold all their boats and started hiring vehicles.
He recalls an incidence happened in those days. One of their boat offloaded all the goods in Mumbai but even after waiting several weeks they had no goods to sail back to Kumta. It was rainy season and boats need to be heavy while sailing in such conditions. So the sailors wrote a letter to his father and father immediately travelled to Mumbai by trains and busses. He bought 1000 pieces of copper sheets for Rs 40 each which are enough to make the ship heavier and sailed back to Kumta on the boat. Their family made good money later selling these sheets in Kumta to the local copper vendors. And this whole incidence is about time span of 4-5 months!
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