Hanumanthappa Tarnal "The  Soldier Who Battled  With Mycobacterium leprae" 53, works in the Paper Works. Twenty years ago he left his village Ranebennur and settled down in Hubli . He is the youngest of the five sons of late Jyothappa and Sidamma Tarnal. Haumanthappa cannot remember his father. He died when he was just one year old. He cannot either recall the date and year of his birth. The family belonged to Kuruba community – the community of shepherd.

In November 1963 Hanumanthappa was recruited into the Army Supply Corps of the Indian Army as a Sepoy. He began his formal training in Gwalior. But his stint in the Indian Army lasted just few months. He was discharged from the service in July 1964. He was never told the reason of his discharge from the Army. In his discharge certificate the cause of his discharge is mentioned as ‘Not Known’.But Hanumanthappa does remember that his discharge from the Army followed soon after his prolonged sickness for which he was admitted in the Military Hospital for more than a month. In sixties leprosy was the most dreaded disease in the subcontinent.He left Gwalior and went to Belgaum, 125 km from Hubli. There he worked in a restaurant and bar called Ramdeo Bar & Restaurant as a dishwasher, cook and as a waiter. It was here that the ulcer in his right leg kept tormenting him.
                  Tarnal
The proprietor of the restaurant, a pious man, as Hanumathappa recalls him, took him to a doctor. When the routine treatment did not yield any result he was referred to the Civil Hospital where he was diagnosed as the victim of mycobacterium. Then, in Mangalore, 300 km from Hubli, Father Muller Hospital for the care of leprosy patients was the only one such hospital in the vicinity. Hanumanthappa was admitted in the hospital and the treatment of the leprosy began. The pious proprietor kept sending him Rs.150 every month, recalls a nostalgic Hanumanthappa. After seven months he was discharged form the hospital. Hanumanthappa went straight to his village Ranebennur and joined his family. From Father Muller hospital he also carried a letter for his mother which stated that he was under treatment for leprosy and that he must continue to take the prescribed pills without interruption.
The new development offered the toughest challenge in his life. His disease was kept under secrecy. With much difficulty he found a work as coolie in Agricultural Product Marketing Cooperative (APMC) Society. He toiled day and night to support his mother and himself. Meanwhile, a proposal of marriage came from his mother’s sister who had two daughters. Shanti and Gangi. He was to choose any one of them as his wife. Hanumanthappa chose not to marry at all. His mother persuaded him to accept the offer. But he was determined. The reason of refusal was his disease.
The struggle for existence has its own fall-out. Success or failure, - the battle always leaves scars which remain forever. In his struggle for survival Hanumathappa forgot that the dangerous bacteria still lurked in his body and discontinued the prescribed treatment! His mother died. The secret of his disease was no more a secrete and was spreading the village. People were afraid to cross his path. Life was certainly getting unbearable. This time he left his village for good. He traveled to Hubli.In Hubli he went back to his old profession of dishwashing, cooking and serving customers in a place called Sapna Bar & Restaurant.
The money was good, recalls Hanumanthappa. In those days he used to earn Rs.20 a day from tips. But what he was unaware of was that the dormant bacterium was spreading its tentacles all over his body. The old ulcer in his right leg worsened and one day he discovered all his fingers twisted. He rushed to Hubli Hospital for the Handicapped, which was already established in 1975 to cure leprosy patients. He was admitted and the long treatment began again. Now for Hanumanthappa there was no going back to the mainstream life.
He joined in the carving section in 1990 and was later transferred to the Paper Works. He works on Calendars, Greeting Cards and Presentation labels. Today he has no one in the world. But he has RTU for him and the people in the workplace are his only friends.