Exploring Coorg!

This is a continuation of my previous post "The Home stay experience in Coorg"

July 18th Saturday 10:45 am. After our breakfast, we were just having a walk amidst the coffee plantations. Our plan was to go to Thalacauvery. It was around 50 kms from the estate where we stayed. We started our trip around 11 am. On the way to Thalacauvery, we witnessed the natural scenic beauty of this Coorg district. On our way, it rained heavily. Thalacauvery is located at a hill which is 4000 feet above the sea level. Bhagamandala is a place at the foothill. We reached Bhagamandala around 12 pm and to our excitement, the road to Thalacauvery was blocked. We were all very disappointed. It was because of the heavy rains, Cauvery is overflowing above a low leveled bridge and this was the only way to head to Thalacauvery. I thought our 50 kms travel would end in vain. Thanks to a local, he said that there is a boat service sponsored by the temple to cross the river and from there we can hire a jeep to and fro to Thalacauvery. It was really a different experience.

July 18th Saturday 12:30 pm. We stopped the Qualis, walked a few distance and crossed the river using the boat service. On the river bank was the temple. It was of Kerala style. I guess most of the temples in Karnataka and Kerala are of similar architecture, unlike the ones in Tamilnadu. We then hired a jeep. It was an eight km travel in hills from this place to Thalacauvery. As we started, it started to rain and gradually it turned heavy. On the way, we could see small waterfall and the natural Cauvery water flowing down all over. As we headed further to a higher altitude, the presence of mist couldn’t be avoided. The area was fully covered by mist. It was a very refreshing scene – full mist, raining and chill – all at the same time. The jeep driver stopped at one place and said that we reached the place. I couldn't see anything but mist. The whole temple was hidden. It’s a nice experience. I felt I am in Kulu or Shimla, though I have not been there. This place was believed to be the origin of river Cauvery and a temple was built and now it’s a tourist place. There is a view point as well above the temple. But we could view nothing except the mist. We clicked a few photographs, of course to fill our personal portfolios. We returned back using the same jeep, took the boat, crossed the river, returned to the Qualis and started our journey towards Madikeri.

July 18th Saturday 04:00 pm. We had our late lunch in one of the hotels in Madikeri. After that, we headed towards Abby Falls, which is around 5kms from Madikeri. Since it was monsoon time, Abby falls was overflowing. There is a hanging bridge which is built approximately 50 metres from the falls. The water fell with such a force that the water splash has made us completely wet, when we stood on the bridge. It was again a must visit place in Madikeri.

How is it possible for us to return Bangalore without getting Coffee Beans? So it was purchase time then. We stopped by a shop – “Ganesh Coffee” recommended by one of my room mate’s colleague. My father has specifically asked me to get the Coffee Bean from Coorg. Each of us got a kg of it and we headed towards our next spot – Raja Seat.

Raja Seat was like a park similar to the conventional parks found in other hill stations. Except that it had some historic identity. It seems that in the olden days, the king used to sit there and watch the sunrise and sunset. We could only see the mist. We returned to our home around 7 pm. We had already ordered for our dinner. As you know, Coorg is famous for its variety of dishes using pork. I did not have pork, instead had asked to prepare Chicken. We had a simple but awesome dinner – A few chapattis, rice and curd with Chicken curry. It was very cold outside. The rest of the night was spent chatting, listening to music. I had a very good sleep, really!

I will end my scribble here. The return trip would follow soon.

The Home stay experience in Coorg!

Coorg as already known, is famous for Home stays. This is an idea where in people stay in homes and the house owners provide food and all the other facilities. Its like a feeling that we have a holiday house somewhere in a remote place. This is the continuation of “The Road Not Taken – An exciting journey to Coorg!” I thought I should describe my experience of one such home stay in this space.

July 18th Saturday 05:45 am, the sky was dull and grey. It was still raining. We reached the Beta Cad Estate after seeing the sign board. The road was very narrow. I could smell the aroma of Coffee all over. In a short distance, I could see a house with red tiles on the roof. Some 50 meters aside was the in-charge’s house. The place was in the middle of the coffee estate. I hope you could just imagine the scene. I could see tall trees and coffee plantations all over.

After a while, came in the in-charge with his umbrella on. He showed us inside the home. I don’t have words to describe the home. It’s simple, old and neat. It had a living room, two bedrooms, one kitchen and a verandah. There was no power since 3 days. The cottage had a UPS backup, so that we remain uninterrupted with the power cuts. The living room had a television. Its walls were not left empty, but filled with portraits and paintings. One part of the space was occupied by the dining table, with plates neatly arranged. An olden styled cupboard was there nearby, which had a provision to keep the plates, cups & saucers, spoons etc. On the other side was a sofa and besides was a book shelve, which had some informative books about Coorg and its culture. I didn’t have time to read it though! Each bedroom had an attached bathroom. One of them was a master bedroom. Both of them had a night lamp and an almirah to keep the clothes. The beds were all designed in olden style. It was of wood. The floors were all covered with big carpets. It was very soothing for the chill weather. One of the bathrooms had this manual heater, where in from the back side of the house, they heat the water in a vessel with woods and the tap in the bath room is connected to the vessel. The kitchen was filled with all the utensils that we require. It had a gas stove, a microwave oven, a mixer and a mini fridge. Hope I didn’t miss anything. I was just enjoying the facilities they have provided. It’s a perfect place for a family who plans for a weekend break.

We were all very tired as we didn’t sleep well during the travel. No sooner we laid on the bed, we all slept. We all then got up by 7.45 am or later. Coffee and break fast was ready by then. I should say I am more or less addicted to Coffee/tea, and especially the coffee they gave, I liked it very much. No sugar more, no less. It was no strong, no light. It was just what I wanted. I went to the verandah, sat on a chair with my coffee and started to admire the cool weather and the natural scene that surrounded the lonely house. After that, I had bath in the hot water. Wow bathing in the hot water, amidst the cold rainy morning….mmm…no words… Do you think, this is a routine work, we normally do? No, No…that too in the weekends, the probability is very less, you see.

The breakfast was ready then. They had prepared Coorg style Idlis, Sambhar and chutney. We were so hungry that, we didn’t even comment on the taste, though it tasted good. The Idli was a little different. They had added grinded cocunut to it. In fact, there had been a shortage in Idlis. People who came last to eat, had to manage with only 2 or 3 idlis. Fortunately, I was the first to eat! He! He!

Our plan that day was to cover Thalacauvery, and the tourist spots in and around Madikeri. It is the headquarters of the Coorg district. I will scribble more on that in my next post.

The Road Not Taken – An exciting journey to Coorg!

Life had been the same for the past six months – same job, same project and same salary. I desperately needed a break. I wanted to relax. It has been more than a year; I had gone for a trip outside Bangalore. I was asking my roommates for an outing since then. It took so long for us to decide as one week or the other, one or the other person was held up somewhere or the other. Finally, it became a reality last week. Even then we had to go with one absentee, Raja. We had planned to spend one weekend in Coorg district. Many said that, the time we had planned to go is when the monsoon is at its peak. Even I felt the same. But on the other side, I was thinking, why should we worry about this? Can’t we manage this? Are we taking our family, to worry about the weather? Even the newspapers showed the photographs of the flooded areas of the Coorg district. Yet, we never backed off our plan. We didn’t want this trip to be called off because we knew that it would be difficult again to gather people. I had invited my ex-room mates also for the trip and few of them have tentatively agreed for the trip.

One of my room mate – Karthik had arranged for our stay in a lonely cottage which is inside a coffee estate. As usual we did some googling about the place, saw some photographs, made some analysis…the usual techie thing. It will be my first experience staying in a coffee estate. Everybody was excited as it’s our first visit to the Scotland of India as Coorg District is otherwise referred as. I packed my bag with one jean, a short shirt and two Ts, along with a jerkin and umbrella. I thought I would bring in my speakers, so that we can hear to some songs from my mobile in the cottage.

July 18^th Saturday 00:05 am, the Qualis, we had booked had arrived. We loaded the Qualis with all the snacks stuff, our luggages, speakers and finally ourselves. The vehicle started to move towards Maruti Nagar to pick my ex-roommates. I was accompanied by Arun and Karthik. In another 20 minutes, we were in front of my friend’s house. Karmegam and Magesh were the other guys, who will join us. My other ex-room mate, Vasanth, whom had already told his non availability for the trip, was standing in the terrace waving hands to us. I just asked him, one more time if he could join us in the trip. In 10 minutes, he came down with his luggage. So finally, six of us were ready for the excitment and fun. It was 1 am when we reached the Mysore road. The route was Bangalore – Mandya – Mysore – Kushal Nagar – Madikeri and the distance is around 300 kms. The Bangalore – Mysore 4 lane high way was just awesome to ride. I could see some bike riders as well on this cold rainy night. For the first hour, we chatted and slowly the voices dropped off as the time rolled.

I was half awake, seated beside the driver, trying to give him company. We stopped twice before we reached Mysore for a tea break. The weather was chill till we reached Srirangapatna. After that it rained through out. I thought, if it rained continuously like this, we should just stay in our cottage and not go out anywhere. We reached Kushal Nagar around 5 am in the morning, it was raining. The estate name is Beta – Cad Estate. Our driver spoke to the estate-in-charge to know the exact routes. The road was really bad here with too many ups and downs and water clogged here and there. Some 10 kms after Kushal Nagar, at the right side, the driver could manage to see a small sign board stating “Beta Cad Estate”. We were in the estate around 5.45 am.

I just saw my scribbling till now, and it had come to three paragraphs. I think I should stop till this post the remaining in parts. The rest of the journey would follow soon.

Wow !!!

I was just casually looking at my own blog, which I always do. I found that my first post was on July 2007 and wow...i have completed two years of blogging with 25+ posts and 500+ visits. Though the statistics aren't very sound, it is still significant to me. Hope I should continue to blog more!

The Weekend - Delightful, Extraordinary !!

July 4th Saturday Morning 6’o clock. The weather was very cold. I was standing in one of the platforms of the Bangalore East Station with my jerkin on. It was the second visit for my parents in my three years of stay here, but first visit for my bro and grand ma. I was excited. This time they had come fully prepared. They had brought the home made karahs, Murukkus, Rava Ladoos in tins.

It was really nice having them here in my home. They gave a positive comment on the way we maintained our home. No no..we are still a bachelor… he he ! I hired a car and took them to my office. They would have had a rough draft of my work place and when they saw in real, they were very happy. It’s the same feel when we go to onsite and see things for the first time..though I have no words to describe… Amidst the distance between places and the traffic in Bangalore, I could take them only to Shiva Temple and ISKCON during the remaining hours of the day. Next day my mom and grand ma (mom’s mom) had planned to prepare food for us. So in the evening we went to the nearby shops to get the grocery and other vegetables. It is just a simple ordinary task which is done day-to-day. I don’t know, even this simplest task made me rejoice.

July 5th Sunday Morning. It was not the usual lazy Sunday morning. My mom waked me up at 6 am or even earlier, an unusual scene in the bachelor’s dome. She served us coffee. I like her filter type decotion Coffee. She then prepared her favourite Poori and Channa masala. I felt everything was at my reach. Me and my room mates had the break fast, and all were gearing ourseleves for the lunch. I have never seen our kitchen so busy all these years. Even the uninvited Cat smells and peeps in often. The lunch menu was obviously non veg and I had asked to prepare Fish as we don’t often eat fish outside. After the heavy meal, we took a short nap and then planned to go to the Commercial Street.

I should say the weather in Bangalore during their visit was fantastic. The sun hesitated to shine brighter. The rain hesitated to fall off fully. It was a light drizzle here and there and the gentle cool breeze all through made us to switch off the fans. This sort of weather cannot be possible at my home town Madurai unless any geographical change happen. They just enjoyed the weather here. Sunday Evening and the next day fully were spent on shopping.

July 6th Monday 9.20 pm, they were waiting in the Cantonment Station to board the Tuticorin Express.I went with them to send off . I have never seen this train come earlier than 9.30 pm in this station. This time to my surprise, it arrived at time. They all felt very happy spending their weekend with me here in Bangalore and me too.

July 7th Tuesday 6.45 am, My mobile alarm beeps! Oops there is no body to wake up! I had to go out to drink coffee. I had to go to office. I had to have break fast in the office. The regular weekday routine continues… :)