Keralapura is my mother’s hometown. I visited Keralapura, a village in Hassan district of Karnataka every year during my summer holidays when I was in school. Just like me, my friends would come to see their grandparents and we all had a great time together.

I began mapping the roads we explored eating raw mangoes with salt and chilli powder, the school grounds and paddy fields we played Test Cricket together, the bridge from where we jumped into the stream and the Kaveri river where we swam.

The top-down approach of mapping larger/longer objects like roads first before going into the details of mapping buildings worked for me. I also mapped temples, vegetation, hospitals, bus stops, theatre, schools, etc. I particularly enjoyed mapping Ashoka trees planted symmetrically in two rows near the Government school.

I am planning to visit Keralapura this summer; to meet family and friends, swim in the Kaveri river and improve the map. :-)