Protesters play volleyball, cook food at a highway connecting two main cities of Karnataka
In the middle of a highway connecting two of the main cities of Karnataka, food was being cooked in large pots on Wednesday and a game of volleyball was being played as protesters blocked all traffic to express anger against a court order that has forced the state to release Cauvery river water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Bullock carts were arranged across the road while a milk truck and other vehicles pleaded to be allowed through. Only ambulances were allowed to pass.
The protests are epicentred at the Mandya district between Bengaluru and Mysuru. The town is in the heart of the Cauvery basin, a fertile area irrigated by the river that flows from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.
The 140-km highway used to be a tree-lined avenue but these were cut down some years ago for a four-lane road to cope with the ever-increasing traffic between Karnataka's capital and Mysuru, the City of Palaces.
Dominated by the politically powerful Vokkaliga community, Mandya is volatile and flares up whenever the Cauvery dispute surfaces. Each time, protests start on the busy highway and traffic is severely hit in south Karnataka.
The people of Mandya feel worst-affected by Karnataka's decision to abide by the Supreme Court order to release extra Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. The number of farmer suicides in this district was the highest in the state last year. The crops grown here are water-intensive. A drive down the highway takes one past lush green fields of paddy and sugarcane.
Towns along the highway, including Bengaluru, Ramanagaram, Maddur, Mandya, Srirangapatna and Mysuru, all depend largely on Cauvery water for their drinking water needs.
Mandya is nearly 100 km from Bengaluru and from there, the highway heads towards the popular holiday town Ooty. For now, the entire town is shut down and so are roads connecting to it.