On way to Rajahmundry, I had a feeling that I should visit the actual native place of the Kocherlakota clan, Ooonagatla, Nidadavolu’. So I suggested to Vissu to divert the taxi via Nidadavlou and after several enquiries and mentioning that we were looking for the house of Kocherlakota Subbarao resident in early 1940s. After mentioning he was the ‘karanam’ for as many as 6 villages. The response was instantaneous and we were provided a string of instructions to reach village Oonagatla via a bigger village Chaagallu. We were very well received the current residents of the original and were even shown the village well dug by ‘geddam thathayya’ in 1912 that served not only for nidadavolu but also surrounding villages for the needs of drinking water. It was amazing that I could make a connection to father’s birth place and the heritage of Kocherlakota’s allies. The current residents even gave a georgette sari and a blouse piece to Indira, a visiting Kocherlakota adabaduchu from distant lands! That speaks of the Hindu Culture – ‘athithi devo bhava’. The man renting the house showed us the property with great reverence. He runs a school on site. We saw a hundred year old Amla tree. The tenants gave us a bottle of pickle made from Amla which we carried to Guntur and gave sister Seetha.
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