Kakkada is a month in the Kodava calendar falling between July 17th and August 16th during the monsoon season amid heavy downpour, biting cold and dark cloud cover.

The Monsoons in Coorg

In times bygone, people extensively prepared themselves prior to the onset of the month of ‘kakkada’. They cleaned their homes and cattle sheds. Dripping roofs, clogged drains, murky ponds and leaky faucets were all mended. Tools were repaired for the harvest season which follows ‘kakkada’. Ample firewood and food was stacked in the house as was hay for the cattle.

Back in those days, bus facilities were absent, which meant that there was absolutely no mode of conveyance during the rainy season owing to the overflowing rivers and flooded roads. It also meant that people couldn’t go out to buy produce of any sort, forcing them to stack, store and preserve food.

Each house had a convenient loft that was filled to the brim with various assortments like pumpkin, ash gourd, dried jack seeds, bean seeds, dried fish, dried meat, honey, pepper, prepared kachampuli (homemade vinegar) jaggery, matchboxes and so on.

People almost never saw family and friends during this grey season. Even up to this date, no celebration, festival or gatherings of any sort occur during this period. Weddings, engagements and so on are avoided to the extent possible.

It's Kakkada!

Until a few decades ago, there wasn’t much money in coffee, pepper or cardamom. Instead, people grew ginger, lime, banana and turmeric around the house, and vegetables like beans, cucumber, and pumpkin on the edge of the paddy field. Rice was grown in plenty and the rain greatly benefitted the paddy crop.

On the 18th day of kakkada, a sweet dish is prepared using the juice of a particular variety of plant called ‘maddh thopp’ which yields a dark purple juice when crushed. The juice is darkest during ‘kakkada’, indicating that its medicinal value is at its height. The dish is called ‘maddh kool’. It is believed that the plant has 18 kinds of medicinal values on the 18th day of ‘kakkada’. It is a tradition for every household to make ‘maddh kool’ on the 18th day of ‘kakkada’.

Sanjna Achayya

Sanjna Achayya is a student at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. Being born into a Kodava family gives her an insight into the hopes and ambitions of this beautiful district neatly tucked away near the Karnataka-Kerala border. An avid reader and writer, Sanjana is guided by her own experiences and interactions with relatives from Coorg.