Driving through the placid countryside of Kundapura, a coastal taluk in Udupi district, Dr Satish Kamath says he feels deeply fulfilled on seeing a restored kere brimming with water. “It prompts me to revive another,” he remarks. A kere is a manmade earthen tank.
For the past seven years, Dr Kamath, a reputed gynaecologist in Udupi, has been on a water mission — restoring one kere every year. Villages have witnessed derelict tanks turning into lakes and dried-up wells filling with water after a long time. The doctor’s diligent self-effacing work has turned his solo mission into a community effort with citizens joining in.