My visit to Ripponpete,Shivamogga district

    It was nostalgic. My visit to Ripponpet where I studied my class 4 in 1955.My uncle Dr.Srikantaiah was the Medical officer there. The town it sems was sleepy till 1980s but has grown now and looks like a small town with all modern facilities.The hospital which was a small nondescript building is now a PHC with wards and big.The present doctor is Dr Anil whom I met. No body remembers 1955 as they they say they were not born then.When I said I am going there I was asked whether I was going there to buy pickles.The place is famous for Appemidi mango pickles. These mango trees are natural for that place and are grown along the banks of river Kumudwati esp at places between Suduru and Arasalu.The mineral content manganese makes them very stiff and does not soften on pickling. The famous pickler sri Ramakrishna of RR Pickles was eloquent about all this. we bought a kilo of that.Appemidi is also found in North Kanara but Ripponpete is the best.The trees are very old 60+yrs and requires expertise to pluck tender mangoes along with stalk and is seasonal.Ripponpete is on the way to Hosanagar 20 kms from Shivamogga. The road is in a very bad shape for 10 kms and smoothens out later.Its worth a visit esp for those who goto Ramachandrapura math.