Coorg Calling

In August we were in Leh Ladakh .November in Coorg. What a contrast. In Ladakh we moved from one barren hill to another barren hill. We climbed up hills and we climbed down hills. Hills bare and brown, high and broad, hills of different hues and colours. Brown, grey, black, reddish, some purplish, with not a speck of green anywhere except sparse shrubs, one and a half feet high with small yellow and mauve flowers. At such times you have a feeling of being lost in the wilderness, trying to find your way but end up bumping into another hilly range. But Coorg—GREEEEEN in all its splendour. Not a bit of any barren hill you can sight but only tree tops in different shades of green. Cool to the eye, soothing to the nerves. Big trees with spreading branches reaching out to the blue skies, acres and acres of tea and coffee plantations. You look down, green meets your eyes, and you look up, green foliage looks down upon you.

We rush to Europe, Africa, different continents, say “wow” to their scenic beauty, get overwhelmed by their meadows, mountains, rivers and forests, but we have hills and valleys, more beautiful, more enchanting, more capturing in our own country. Coorg, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, North East and our own Switzerland—Kashmir. We can see and see and see and keep on seeing and never have enough of it. Narrow roads ,Some kilometre down the muddy road a small gate, a small house, in an around few more houses , some concrete , some thatched, few small shops, a man walking down with an umbrella, few chattering school kids (only noise indicating the presence of other families around),a dog crossing the street , distant call of a cow to its calf ,faint voices, that is all. 

When night, it is pitch dark with only the head lights of your vehicle showing the road. At a distance light flickers in a house, you hear the strains of music but no house in sight. You wonder if there is any life at all anywhere. How do people live here! (Question that can come only from a city bred), what’s their life like? Only when in Madikere you feel, yes there is civilisation around. Funny, in the city you want to run away from the hustle bustle, hurry and when you find it away in the hills you are looking around for familiar sights of the city---the lights, the noise, the rush, and the people. If you are at one of those five star resorts ( there are a few of them)you are into modern civilisation with—bar, swimming pool, restaurants serving you Chinese, Italian, Thai , Lebanese ( also Punjabi),badminton and squash courts , indoor games ,dance floors, luxury rooms et al welcoming you to be in yet another mini city away from your city. If holiday means the above to you, then go ahead Coorg is waiting for you in the most modern setting. 

 
There are a lot of homestays. Becoming popular by the day. They have lovely names too. ‘Bird’s Nook’, ‘Nature’s Bounty’, ‘Cosy Nest’, to name a few. They look peaceful as they are off the beaten track, away from the madding crowd. All of them invariably have a verandah for you to sit and enjoy your morning cuppa and let the green serenity seep in, get lost in your favourite book or just sit and stare. As a couple having nothing else to occupy your mind ( wife: the maid is late again, oh should not forget to buy oil this evening , put the winter stuff back etc etc),(Husband: That Swamy has started acting smart, Email to Delhi office without fail, next week there are going to be people from Korea – do the necessary Etc ,Etc.) you may share incidents from your honey mooning days or laugh at- how you goofed when you tried making kheer or how he would fumble while lifting the little one from the bed. They will be your precious moments you will recall again and again even after your Coorg vacation has come to an end.

Visit the roaring Chelavara falls. When you see it, you can feel both nature’s beauty and its fury. White froth and foam flowing down with a thunderous sound obliterating all other sounds as if saying ‘Here it’s only me’. Way down you can peer and see it as a stream making its way among rocky mountains .Climbing down is difficult and climbing up even more difficult and the icing on the cake is if it is raining with the slippery mud under your feet .

Chelavera Fall 

 

 Slippery rain soaked pathway to water fall

ChomaKunda hills are two kilometre away from Chelavera water falls .It is fog covered, looks like a snowy peak with the green cover of trees.

Hill Covered with Fog 

& it's green surroundings

There is the Nalakanda palace built in 1798, was used by the kings as a summer palace first and later as a place of hiding from the British. Chikkaveera Rajendra took refuge here before being overthrown by the British. The entire structure is made of wood. As you enter, on your right is a stone carved Mandapam, about six feet by six feet, now all worn out by wind and rain. As per the care taker – it was used for weddings. Paintings adorned the inside walls of the palace .They were in poor state .It had two floors. Balustrades, windows, tops and sides of doors were beautifully carved in teak. You get down a fight of wooden stairs into a room which became pitch dark once the door was latched. It was used as a hiding place. As you come down there is a small square window like opening which showed people approaching the palace and fire without you being seen. Situated at the bottom of the highest hill it is invisible to ordinary eyes hence the best place to keep your family safe from enemies.

Nalakonda palace entrance with Marriage mandapam 

Painted ceiling of palace 

Wall Painting

Thodiyandamol temple is another place of visit. Situated high on a hill is another example of old south Indian Temple architecture. Huge courtyard with the pillared temple in the centre and the sanctum sanctorum deeper inside. Except for the pujaris no one else is allowed. Only a distant Darshan is possible .It is Murugan, known there as ‘the deity of food’. It was built by King Lingarajendra in the year1810, known to fulfil the wishes of its devotees. We were given lemon rice, avial, moong barfi and coconut paysam. Children there travelled everyday one and a half kilometre up and down to reach school. Being so used to our comfortable ways of life we often forget to count our blessings.

Thoditamand temple.

At Talacauvery you get to see The Brahmagiri peak and the birth place of river cauvery. At the confluence of the three rivers Cauvery, Kanike and Sujyoti is the Bhagandeshwar temple and many other shrines of God and Goddesses.Dubare elephant camp tour gives you an opportunity to be closest to the biggest of the cow family- the elephant. The same tour also takes you to the second largest Tibetan camp, the beautiful Golden temple.


At Virajpet club Mahindra offers you a plantation walk of 45 minutes (I don’t know if it is available to outsiders).You can get a fair idea about the flora and fauna of the place. They lecture on coffee plantation, the two types of coffee seeds Costa(Cheaper one) and Arabica ( the expensive variety and more aromatic too ), how they are processed how ---------trees are grown along with them for shade and holding the soil, the pepper plants , Avocado ( the expensive and very useful fruit which looks very unappetising). Coffee and tea are never uprooted but are shorn fully for new growth. Some of them can be as old as 40 years.

Arabica Coffee Tree.

If you don’t want to pack so much of activity that is fine too. The scenery, the greenery, the peace and serenity are more than enough to give you your money’s worth. So plan, here is a place which gives you a chance to be away from the madding crowd and be with nature. Go judge it for yourself. 

Sikha was able to say the above because of the 2 young boys - 

• Asim - her part time official photographer and full time husband who turned the blogs from reading in prose to vibrant travel accounts.
• Varun - her part time tech-help center and full time son-in-law who being from the advertising world thought this to be a cool thing to help with .

Please leave your comments below , would love to know what you thought of my above experience .