Sharadamma, 85, went to her family-owned farm a few metres away from her home at Sadagal village in Hosanagar taluk, looking for cattle on November 5 afternoon. She took the wrong path and did not return home that day, leaving her family members worried.
She was traced about six kilometres away from her home in the forest nearby two days later, on November 7. By then, she had spent two nights and almost three days braving heavy rains. The local people, with the help of the police and forest officials, did succeed in tracing her and bringing her back to the village.
One of her relatives, H.K. Mahantesh, suspected she must have taken a path to her ancestral home, where she spent her childhood. The construction of the Madenur dam (Hirebhaskar dam) and Linganmakki dam across the Sharavathi river to generate electricity inundated many villages, forcing thousands of people like Sharadamma to move to different places. However, the backwaters that submerged physical structures failed to erase the memory of the people who underwent the agony of displacement.
