Coorg(Madikeri) - A Pilgrimage (Part 5)

26th Jan 2015, Day three - Time to leave Coorg...

        Uff!! This was my final day on the soil that I loved a lot. As I was very tired yesterday, I couldn't wake up early. I woke up around 9:45am. In fact, I had an amazing night...slept well...and that too in sleep...I had beautiful dreams. I saw the volcano 'Ol Doinyo Lengai', standing tall in the middle of the 'Serengeti' game reserve, ... I saw the herds moving as a part of the Great Migration towards the North-West part of Serengeti. I saw the Masai people... Wow!! those were the best dreams I had. To be frank...those dreams were the main reason for me, waking up late..as I didn't want to disturb them. But when I woke up and saw the time, at 9.45am, my first thought was to start as early as possible. Because I need to visit one or two places on the way back to Bengaluru. My plan was to travel through Nagarhole national park. I came out of room after taking pics of it, I returned the keys to the hotel owner, whose father helped me in deciding the route. I quickly noted down the route he told and started. The route he suggested was...

(Madikeri - Virajpet - Gonikoppa(l) - Ponnampet - Irpu falls - Nagarhole - Mysore - Bengaluru)

           Please keep a perfume spray with you while reading further. Because, It was already late and close to mid-day, I didn't take bath before I started...he he...:)

           I started at 10:15am. After five minutes, I was riding on the road to Virajpet. Again, It was a beautiful road. As it was around thirty odd kilometres from Madikeri, I though I would reach there in 30mins. However, There were two reasons why I couldn't meet my timelines...one being the scenic  places all around and the other.. smooth but frequent curves. I was travelling..thinking..speaking to myself, to surroundings and sometimes to my bike. I was in some kind of mood...that I used to get when I visited temples during my theist-hood. I was feeling like..."some life is still present in my life". At that point of time, I felt...
        "Life is not an aimless journey of a body loaded with soul... but it is the journey that the body             makes to meet the soul". 
Bww!!! I was thinking like a maaadddd fellow. There was no stop for the flow of thoughts in my mind during my return journey.

            When I immersed in these thoughts, I crossed a place called 'Murnur'. It was a good place to stop for a breakfast. However, I wanted to have breakfast after reaching Virajpet. Yes!! I reached Virajpet...around 11:15am. In two places, 8&10km, before reaching Virajpet, I saw some school children taking part in 'Swach Bharath' as it was republic day. I recollected my school days when I took part in 'Janmabhoomi' program. ( agenda of the two programs is almost same. But the charisma of the persons differs. Hence the popularity of the new program)

Breakfast in Virajpet...

             It was around 11:15am, when I reached Virajpet or Virarajendrapete. Sorry!! I lied. I forgot to have breakfast here. I had to travel for some distance within the town. But this time it was for my good. I could see the people in traditional Kodava attire. Kodava is the major...what to call...probably the caste or community in the Kodagu district. This had been one of my dreams to see these people since I saw the portraits of the 'Kodava Couple' in the 'Janapatha Loka'. There was a community meeting, I guess, as it was republic day. I didn't have any clue, why those people were making the republic day as an occasion to gather. I took one pic of that meeting place, and was about to start from there. But here comes the real surprise... A middle aged person was walking towards me and he was...again...a kodava person in traditional attire. I greeted him with a great smile. He was an educated guy and that helped me a lot in interacting with him. I asked some dumb questions to him...as I was not prepared for what to talk if I met one such guy. "What are you? Do you hunt? Still hunt? Can I hold the dagger?... so on..". Though he was in hurry, he answered me patiently. In fact he was happy that a person from the other side of India came to feel the culture of that place.
       

The Kodava gathering...

            I rode a beautiful curve in Virajpet, where I saw a excellent view on my left. I felt it was worth capturing. But as I already told...my only problem was draining time. However, I can see the same view even now...because it is on the back of my top lid. Alright...!! I will try to describe the view - there was a church on the left of the curve, had a bend towards the left, and two hills were providing it a nice background. Hmm!! I know I failed to describe it well. What to do..!!?? I am not Wordsworth or Keats. I can't romanticize such situations...I've just told what I saw...

Towards Irpu Falls...
               After crossing Virajpet, I didn't take any stops to relax. However, my brief stops were just to inquire the route. Virajpet and it surroundings fall in South Kodagu. This part of Kodagu was really superb. I saw so many woman in typical Kodagu dressing. They wear Saree in a way different from what we generally see in other parts of India. I can't explain much about it, as I don't have much knowledge on this concept. Please try to google it...if you are interested. I crossed Gonikoppa(l) and reached Ponnampet around 1pm.
            On the way to Ponnampet, I stopped to have a Sugar cane juice and the name of the Vendor was Shazid Khan. He introduced himself as an ex-truck driver. He told about the impending risk in taking the route through Nagarhole national park. He told about the possibility of the elephant attacks and the chances of tiger encounters.  I had to respect his instructions...because he had more experience in travelling. However, I was still looking for a person to give me enough confidence to go through that forest. I didn't meet THE one person I was looking for. The worst part was...a person telling that the bikes were not allowed inside Nagarhole.
              I had lunch in Ponnampet and started to Irpu falls. I took a right turn towards the falls from the village(??) 'Srimangala'. Again, I don't want to describe the beauty of the roads I travelled. Those were so nice. Finally I reached the 'IRPU falls'. The place, where these fall were situated, was Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary. After parking my vehicle, I took an entrance ticket to the falls and reached the falls after a small trek of 15-20 mins. As I didn't have much time to stop, I took snaps of every sign board I found there so that I could read them afterwards. After seeing the information about the variety of the wild life in that sanctuary, I felt it was also one of the good destinations. However, I didn't gather much info about the safari kind of programs in that sanctuary. Near the waterfalls, I tried to photograph a couple of butterflies. Later I realised that they were about to engage in a mating ritual after seeing the intimate behaviour and approach of them. Probably that was the season for them to rise a new generation of caterpillars. These fellows are really great because they don't just multiply their numbers, they play a major role in the reproduction cycle of the plants by helping them in pollination. #respect

@ a point...five minutes before IRPU falls

@ a point...two minutes before IRPU falls - The white dot in the centre of the pic

Yup!! Please avoid making noise while trekking... avoid color glasses as well

@ midway of the trek

The best shot I got - IRPU Falls

Biodiversity of Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary

THE butterflies I was talking about

          I met a forest guard, Nanda, when I was about to leave that place. After having a brief conversation with that guy, I started off to Bengaluru. My plan was to go via Gonikoppa(l), as I had decided not to go through Nagarhole. I was riding happily until I found a sign board indicating a right turn towards Bengaluru.

Do I really need to go back???...
                Yup!!! This was the major question I asked myself when I was travelling back... However, I didn't have any other choice. Because I knew, though I was in love with the place I had been, that awe wouldn't last long enough to spend the rest of my life. My next thought was...
               "The only choice I have is...to visit those places as frequently as possible..."
                 When I was riding on the road connecting Gonikoppa(l) and Mysore, I saw some big cage like structures on the right side. As I already guessed, it was an elephant camp -  Hanasuru Elephant Camp. But the public was not allowed inside the camp. So I took some pics, and headed back towards Mysore. Somewhere on the way, I found an arch indicating that I was inside the 'Rajiv Gandhi National Park' - the official name of 'Nagarhole'. I felt very happy for a moment that I rode for sometime inside the Nagarhole...though the road was not through the heart of the jungle.

Rajiv Gandhi National Park - I prefer to call Nagarhole National Park

                  Just before reaching Hunsur.... exactly near the Y intersection where I took the road on the right to reach Madikeri via Periyapattana, I stopped for having a sugar cane juice. There I met a person, Haneesh, who was travelling to Kannur on some personal reasons. After a little chat, we departed from the place.

SH88 - A desert...
                 Now I was riding on SH88... the same route, I admired very much when I was travelling towards Madikeri, was started appearing like a desert. The reason was, I travelled for two days on the roads that were surrounded with thick vegetation. Now the sides of SH88 were so barren that they were, almost, resembling the desert. Though I was travelling continuously, I was not crossing the speeds ranging from mid-50's to 60. I just wanted to prolong the journey. I was not at all willing to check the time. I was scared to check. Because every draining second was making a damage of two seconds - I mean to say...it was causing double impact.

Why not Time...a commodity...??
                   This was one of the my best thoughts arose in my trip. I remember watching in a recent movie in which the time and gravity were considered as forth and fifth dimensions to measure the position. But when I was travelling back to Bengaluru, I really wished the time should have been a commodity... I felt the time as a lump of some material that was decaying in front of my eyes. Literally, I was bleeding time.
                Somehow, I reached the outskirts of Mysore around 5:15pm. The traffic on the Mysore-Bengaluru highway was suffocating. I struggled a lot to ride in the heavy traffic after travelling for almost five to six hours. After three( tea, pee and fuel) stops, I reached Bengaluru around 9:35pm.
             Hmm!!! That is the end of the great trip. Hope, I go for such trips again an again....

Coorg(Madikeri) - A Pilgrimage (Part 4)

Day two in Coorg:

    It was around 7am when I kick started and hit the road. Two to three places yet to cover, it was a late start. Immediately I went to 'Raja's Seat' view point to see how it looks in the morning. If you don't mind, I want to use early moring as it was still very foggy. It was so pleasant under the mask of fog. This time my halt was just for ten minutes with nothing new to explore there. Then I started to my next destination ...'Mandalpatti'. I had tons of expectations on this place as every person who knew about it lauded like anything. But my plans never go as I decided... I visited another place before I reached Mandalpatti. That was 'Abbey Falls'...

Falling towards 'Abbey Falls'...

   Situated seven to eight kilometers from Madikeri, the Abbey falls was another beautiful place to visit. It's name was derived from a Coorgie word 'Abbe or Abbi' - means 'Water Falls'. I was inquiring the locals and heading towards 'Mandalpatti'... Everybody told to take a road to the right in next 'Y' intersection. I crossed almost three of such 'Y' intersections. Finally, I saw a sign board at the third one. I found some enticing piece of info on that - 'Abbey falls - 5km', besides the info I was looking for - 'Mandalpatti -17km'. But to reach Abbey falls I had to take the left side route. As it was just 5km, I didn't want to miss it. Here comes the real thrill...

How come a place be at two different distances from a single place?

   Yup!! As I already said, it was literally falling towards the falls. The road was nice and...in most of the places it was almost vertical. So here comes the excitement...at the end of each vertical fall there was a curve. So I couldn't completely make use of the advantage the gravity offered. Riding the slopes was simply amazing. I didn't want the road to end. But this time, exactly after 5km the road ended. It was around 7:44am by the time I reached there. I parked my bike and had a chai for Rs15...I never had a chai for that price even in Bengaluru. But at that time I was not in a state to think of the things like price...distance and time..

   - Because I went to Coorg to be a part of that place. I wanted to breathe the air of Coorg...drink the water of Coorg...eat the food of Coorg whenever it was possible. Because, I felt "if I have to be the part of Coorg, Coorg has to be the part of me - the molecules of the air,water and food should be flowing in my veins".

   It was a small trek for ten to fifteen minutes. The route was very good and was very colorful with the combination of the tender leaves, the fog and the thick vegetation. I was listening only to the  sounds of birds and the roar of the water fall. And at the end of the small trek...Wow!!! that was the Abbey falls. There was a hanging bridge opposite the falls. I got an eye to eye view of the falls from that bridge. I was looking at the falls...listening to it...counting the numerous small falls within it - counted almost eighty. I was trying to find shapes in the protruding rocks...and finally figured out one..'The Kingkong'. Finally I put an end to my madness when a gang of people asked me to take a group pic of them. 

Just before reaching Abbey Falls

Hanging bridge...

Abbey Falls... and Kingkong

   I left the place, unwillingly, after spending a good time. This time it was a ride uphill - against the gravity - now and then falling into some thoughts. Though I was enjoying the moments...there were some questions running in the back of my mind... 'am I behaving weird when I am feeling my surroundings?? are people thinking of me crazy??' - But who cares..?? None of them sees/meets me again...Even if somebody asked, I would have answered them... 'Go to heaven'...because that place gave me tons of positive thinking and love towards the people - so I might have used positive words even for cursing.

   On the way back, I stopped in so many places and took pics in some lonely places. With all the thoughts in my mind, I missed the intersection and went towards Madikeri. I realized that after one 

kilometer or so. Then I went back to the intersection and clicked a pic of the sign board and took the right turn towards my next destination..

While coming from Abbey falls

While coming from Abbey falls

THE roads...I rode...

     

Way to Mandalpatti

Towards Mandalpatti...

   I felt it was like a next level in a game, after finishing a level of riding to Abbey falls. The roads were steeper in this route. Riding on that route was like surfing on the waves - but not so smoothly

because of the intervention of the bends in the road. Again I stopped in so many places on the way. Though I knew the route to the place, I used to ask the native people about the way. Then next

step was to observe how interested were they to speak to strangers/travelers. If found interested, I used to have small conversations with them. Here again, I don't know the language 'Kannada' properly. They were kind enough to understand my hand gestures and the bullshit I spoke. After riding for fifteen minutes or so, I reached a place called 'Devasturu'. Even there, I inquired some native women about the route. Later I spoke to a guy who was educated and physically challenged. This time, I changed the questionnaire as he already see me inquiring about the route. I asked him if I could get any place to stay there. He gave me a mobile number of a person, Laxman, who owns a home-stay there. There was an abandoned building on the left side of the road, which he told as a school. It was shut down because of no children in the village. Uff!! perhaps it might be because of the migration of the people to the near by towns. However, there was an Anganwadi ceter running in the premises of the school. I spent a brief amount of time there and again started towards my next stop. Yup!! my next stop need not be my destination. I love to take as many stops as possible.

On the way to Mandalpatti

School @ Devasturu

   As I told my next stop was not my destination. It was a road side canteen - one or two kilometres from Mandalpatti. In fact, I was not hungry. However, my only intention was...again...to speak to the people. This time the people I met were Satish and Rathi. I had 'Chithranna & a liquid that tastes exactly like the mix of coffee and tea'. The items were not so good but their behavior was. Speaking to strangers might not be a new thing to them. Though I can't speak Kannada, I can understand it to some extent. The mistress of the canteen owner, Rathi, explained me how they prepare different varieties of the home made fruit wines. When I was about to ask her that I wanted to see the process of wine preparation, she told that they didn't have any machinery for doing that and it was a manual process. She was very good at extracting the meaning out of an about to be asked - but not been asked because of language problem - questions. She told that their mother tongue was not Kannada but a mix of all four major South Indian languages - Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. I let her speak just to catch any Telugu words from her voice. Here, I just want to affirm, as I'm praising the woman a lot, that I didn't have any interest in that woman. It was all about my respect to the people who lead their life in aboriginal ways. However, I could not convince the pair for a pic. Then I felt...if I knew Kannada, I would have convinced them for a pic. After a small photo session with my bike, I left the place and reached 'Mandalpatti' with in no time.

Canteen - Where I met Satish and Rathi

   Mandalpatti - it was a very beautiful and cool place even when the sun was high above the head. I can't explain the beauty of this place. I was a little greedy and wanted to capture the beauty of that place with my Sony Xperia. But I felt it was a great dishonor to that place. Somehow, I apologized that place and started taking the pics and video. I was not satisfied by the pics I took as it was like picking the best out of the best...I donno...I can't explain that feeling. Every frame was so beautiful. The beauty was not just that appears there...it was a mixture of the colors I saw there. Blue & White color of the open skies, something like...Golden yellow color of the Sun rays, Green color of the leaves, Red color of the tender leaves, Black from the shadows and some distinct color from the fog-

covered hills at a distance. At this place, I met an auto driver Shabbir and two lads,Sri Kanth & Arun, from Udupi. After spending a good amount of time including a small photo session, I started back to Madikeri around 10:45am. On the way back, I gave a drop to a person till Madikeri...and his name was - Lalu &%$#(I didn't understand this part) Appa. He told something about the places I was going to visit - Bhagamandala and Thalacauvery.

One of the beautiful views - from Mandalpatti

One of the beautiful views - from Mandalpatti

One of the beautiful views - from Mandalpatti

Now To Bhagamandala and Thalacauvery...

   It was a detour to the left from the SH88 that connects to the Manglore. Bhagamandala is 33km from Madikeri and Thalacauvery is 8km from that place. It was around 1pm, however, I didn't have any plans for my lunch until I saw a board... "Coorg Style Food". I stopped immediately at that place and ordered lunch. For non-vegies, it could have been a very special meal. But for me it was just a decent & Ok meal... Anyhow, I was happy that I had Coorg style food. The ride on the ghat section continued for some more distance from that point. I was a little ... I don't know...something happened and I started reading the info on the mile stones wrong. I was reading 'Thalacauvery - 20km' as 'Thalachery - 20km'. Was I tired? or My desire to visit Kerala was so predominant that it made me read it like that...??  I have no clue... As a precaution I stopped by the road side and relaxed for some time. Because I'm not used to ride in such a rugged landscape. Riding in a ghat road is entirely a game of balancing the center of gravity that rapidly shifts in and out - in the sense, oscillating on all the sides of the center of gravity when the bike is ridden on a flat road. If the CG oscillates more than certain distance...that will result in fatal injuries. After riding so much, I got used to this game.

Coorg style food

   I reached Thalacauvery around 2pm. After seeing the pond or something which is considered as the origin of the river, I climbed the hill - Brahmagiri. After spending some time on the hill, I headed back towards 'Bhagamandala'.

A view from Brahmagiri hills... The hills in the pic are Kumara Parvatha @ Kukke Subramanya

   In Bhagamandala.. there was a temple, of Bhagandeswara - Lord Shiva, that was constructed in Kerala/Nepali architecture. In fact, I was not at all interested to visit temples. But both the temples I visited in this trip were really extraordinary - or - not the temples built in the typical South Indian style. There was a confluence of three rivers in Bhagamandala which was not so impressive. Finally after visiting all the places that I wished to visit today, I started back to Madikeri and reached around 6:30pm.

      

Bhagandeswara Temple in Bhagamandala

   After that I had the non-alcoholic grape wine that I bought yesterday. Roamed in the streets of Madikeri for sometime. I spoke to the traffic police and a few local drivers and inquired about the Nagarhole route to Mysore. They told it was alright to go but before the dusk. I wanted to have some Coorg specials...like.. Tender Bamboo Fry and Bella Kafi. But because of the heavy rush at the hotel, I could not make it.

Coorg(Madikeri) - A Pilgrimage (Part 3)

A small tale - before reaching Madikeri...

        I reached Madikeri around 3:10pm. Before that, as I was approaching my destination, I started thinking of accommodation. I started seeing the home-stays almost ten kilometres before reaching Madikeri. So I wanted to check for vacancy in one of such home-stays, and took a right turn after seeing a sign-board. I didn't find anything even after travelling for a kilometre. However, I saw a small waterfall... Hurray..!! That moment I felt like...WoooW!! I spent 5-10 mins just by seeing it and listening to it. The only sounds I heard were the chirps of birds and the song of that brook.. I don't remember the distance I travelled interior. However, I found some, not more than 2 if I remember, houses in the entire distance I travelled. After some time, I found two school kids walking along the road. I inquired them about the place. My interaction, once again, was difficult. I can't blame them for not knowing the languages I know. Rather, I blame myself for not knowing the language of the place I want to explore. I used some words I knew in Kannada and they were great enough to understand the rubbish I was speaking. They told the place, I was in, was 'Hattiri/Hatteri', if I clearly remember. After that I rode almost one kilometre to find the traces of humans once again. This time I raped Hindi for gathering some info regarding accommodation. The guy I spoke to, Hussain, told that nobody would be ready to give accommodation in a home-stay for a single person. Rather I should consider staying in a lodge. I don't like the name itself...'The Loadge'..wooahk(puking sound)..!! He told that he knew some hotel owner and asked me to follow him. After travelling some more distance we took a right turn into 'THE' Madikeri, I was dreaming about.
        Madikeri(aka Mercara) is the head quarters of the Kodagu(aka Coorg) district. Coorg has history of its own. It was ruled by so many kings... Gangas, Cholas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagara rulers, Tippu, Haleri kings and finally by The British. Madikeri - the name was derived from its actual name 'Maddu Raja Keri' which means 'Maddu Raja's Town'. He was the 3rd Haleri king ruled this place in the 17th century.

 Now in Madikeri... 

        I was introduced to the hotel owner, Abdhul, and finally checked in at the hotel, Green Stay,situated in the heart of the town. I booked the room for two days - Rs 650/day. I thought it was a little expensive as I thought of getting a room for Rs 500 at most. However, I didn't want to waste time in searching another room. Without even entering, I threw my luggage into the room, took a list of visiting places from the desk of Mr Abdhul and went out. I was so lucky that the three places I visited were within 2km range.

The tiled roof houses, the style I'd fallen in love with...On the way to Raja's Seat(Sunset point)

        The places I visited today were...'Raja's Seat - sunset point', 'Fort'(...lucky no typo..) and Omkareswara Temple..

At Raja's Seat...

        What kind of name they have given to this place... Think in this way.. "Raja's Seat is the best place to see sunset..; Raja's Seat is a must watch; Raja's Seat is one of the visiting places; The people enjoyed the Raja's Seat.". Ha Ha. I can't stop laughing.

        This is a neatly maintained park and was, once, the sunset point for the kings of Kodagu. Now for all. I took the entrance ticket at 4:20pm and started roaming around. That was a pretty ordinary place unless the valley on the other side exists. There I met a guy came with his (beautiful :))wife and a TV reporter. The guy,with his family, was very much worried about the meter reading of the vehicle they hired. He told that his driver was cunning and calculating the readings wrongly - The driver showed them the distance from Banglore to Madikeri as 380kms. :) Where as it was just 250+kms for me. I was very lucky. I didn't have any such problems. The TV reporter 'Vamsi', if I remember correctly, was recording footage about some flower show for his channel.

        There were a few more view points at that place. Perhaps they were abandoned or under construction. I spent some good time in one of those places as density people was very less - in fact I was alone for some time. I was able to see the ghat road that I might have covered to Madikeri. I took some snaps from there. After that I had a ride on the toy train and left that place around 5:20pm.

Raja's Seat - Sunset point

A View from Raja's Seat - This is the valley I was talking about

The Route I might have travelled - Awesome Curves

3 stages of a flower - My Sony mobile camera is no less than a DSLR - Isn't it?? :)

At Fort...

       I reached the fort around 5:30pm. A Church which is converted to a museum, a library and a prison were there in the premises of the fort. The palace itself is converted in to 'Deputy Commissioners Office'. The fort has walls.. of width almost enough to drive a car. I walked on the walls and found some places that I assumed to be the places to accommodate the Canons and rifles/arrows. At first, Madduraja, Haleri king, built it in the 17th century with mud and bricks which later was rebuilt in granite by Tippu - this fellow was a cultural intolerant idiot and named this place 'Jaffarabad'. Some Wodeyar(does he belong to Mysore kingdom??) king renovated the same in 19th century.

      One more attraction in the premises of the fort was the masonry elephants - looks alive. I talked to some people while I was walking on the wall. They told that the prison was converted into a school - what a coincidence - I couldn't stop laughing. While I was walking past some, two, persons, I heard they were greeting me.."Namaskara". They were from the west. One, Ben, from Germany and another(don't remember name) was from Netherlands. They came here from Ooty. They asked if I was travelling alone & by motorbike( at that point of time I had helmet in my hand) and told that they were also fond of doing so if possible. I moved on after a ten minutes of chit chat with them. Later I met a man, a father of a cute little baby of age less than one year. She was adorable.

       Though I missed the sunset at the Raja's seat, I saw it from the wall of the fort. I liked it. I took some snaps on the wall of the fort. I found that the palace and the Deputy Commissioner's office was getting ready for the republic day celebrations.

The Masonry Elephants

THE Wall I walked on

The Prison and School

The Palace and DC Office

       The below picture has some story. I wanted to take pic of the one standing in the middle. However I could not avoid the other flowers on the left and the stem on the right from the frame. I wanted to remove them but for a while I thought that it was unfair to torture them for just a stupid photograph. Finally I apologized them and took it as it is - may the flowers bless me.. :). I left the fort around 6:15pm.

 Some random click - I liked it very much

At the Omkareswara Temple...

      This was one place I wanted to avoid as I thought it was just another temple. However, I have a lot of time left in the day. So I inquired a person and went there. The temple was amazing. I mean it is not THE temple we generally find. There was a pool in front of the temple and the temple has a dome in the centre and four turrets surrounding this dome. This temple was built by Lingarajendra II in nineteenth century. He brought a linga from Kashi and installed it in the temple to appease the spirit of a Brahmin he killed for the political reasons.

       After seeing the dome and turrets, I made my assumptions and came to a conclusion that this guy, Lingarajendra II, might have converted a mosque into the temple of lord Shiva. Because he ruled this place after the age of Tippu. I desperately wanted to know the reason behind the temple being so.. Then I asked a middle aged lady. She suggested me to check it with her husband who was just coming towards us. His name is 'Sunil'. He is a superb guy. He told that the temple's architecture was an amalgamation of Islamic and Gothic style. Later we spoke for a while before they left the temple. I was really amazed by Sunil sir's spontaneous explanation. And, this was one of very few places where I found a Shiva Linga was adorned so much with flowers, probably the other one being 'Sundareswarar' in 'Meenakshi Amman' temple.

Omkareswara Temple

     

       This was the end of day - 1. After visiting these places, I had dinner and went back to my hotel room.

Coorg(Madikeri) - A Pilgrimage (Part 2)

At the end of the first part, we stopped at a distance of 70km away from Madikeri. At least at the end of this part, I'll, hopefully, reach Madikeri...

As I already told, a ride on the SH88 was really awesome. After that stop at the bus stop, I was riding at a constant pace of mid 60's. After travelling one or two kilometres, I again found a mile-stone showing the same info 'Madikeri 70km'...it was so surprising how they maintain these sign-boards. However, I was not at all upset...because I love travelling..unless the destination is my office.

Still 70km away from Madikeri...

I crossed 'Periyapattana' with in no time or I didn't observe the time. Around twelve-thirteen kilometres after 'Periyapattana' I started observing a slight change in the construction style of houses on the left side of the road and some people in the Buddhist attire walking around. Then I realised that my next stop, Bylakuppe, was closing in... I asked some people for the route I need to take to reach the 'Golden Temple'. I was told to take a left turn and to travel a few more miles, around 4miles, to reach it.

Bylakuppe - The Tibetan settlement:
         This is the second biggest Tibetan settlement in India after 'Dharamsala' of Himachal Pradesh.
Here in Bylakuppe, the Tibetan population is predominant. Though the constructions were not completely in their architecture, we will find good number of dragons and other things specific to their culture. I felt, I was in some different country when I saw them in the stalls, the vegetable shops, and in the school for Tibetan kids. The best part is the way they greet each other. They look like some kind of peace loving people - perhaps, I felt so... as the Buddhists are stereotyped as so...
It was so great to feel a different ethnicity - particularly in the southern part of the country, far away from the Tibetan boarder.

Entrance Of the 'Golden Temple'

         While I was waiting for her to leave, the little lady in the below image was giving so many poses. In fact this was the only pic I clicked.  I truly repent not capturing all her poses. 

The Bell and a Cute little lady..

          I reached the 'Golden Temple' around 11:55am. I parked my vehicle and entered the premises of the temple. It was clean and well maintained with lots of greenery. As soon as I entered the temple, people started asking me for photograps... Yes! you read it correct. As they immediately learnt that I was alone, people started giving  me their cameras for taking their group pics... ;) It was very funny. This might be the first time I photographed people... Generally I prefer pics of nature to that of humans. After the photo session, I spent good amount of time in side the temple. I photographed the characteristic paintings of the Buddhist temples. I thought there might be some story or theme behind the paintings. However, I couldn't exactly figure out the story but tried to decipher some of them as the changing state of The Lord Buddha from the Princehood to the Priesthood. Though I didn't know the complete story of Buddha, I tried to relate the things I knew about him with the paintings on the walls. But the actual story behind the paintings is - they are called the Tibetan Thangka - the paintings depicting all the incarnations of Buddha and the deities of the Vajrayana Buddhism.

One of so many beautiful paintings

       One more interesting thing about the temple was the statues of the 'Buddha' and two others 'Padmasambhava' and 'Amitayus', standing tall almost at a hight of 60ft. If possible, observe the dragons on each side of 'Buddha' and colourful cylindrical hanging things on the either sides of the image.

Padmasambhava - 58ft; Buddha - 60ft; Amitayus - 58ft

          I inquired with some of the fellows about the history of that temple and how the Tibetan people flew so far to reach here in Bylakuppe. But to my surprise, nobody here knows about those things. The Tibetan people, living here, abandoned their homes in Tibet and came here as a result of the Chinese invasion. The guys I met in the premises of the temple were...read carefully... "Kun Sung" from Arunachal Pradesh, "Nim Ha" from Darjeeling and four people from Tibet. I felt like, these fellows were in there just as a customary thing..they were not very well into the 'ism they were following. However, speaking to them was very nice, especially with the ones from Tibet. I was trying to communicate with them in, a language I think of as, English. But they were thinking of it as 'Hindi' and responding that they were not aware of 'Hindi'..even I don't..he he..I fooled them. Somehow, I managed to speak to them (read it as struggling to communicate) for almost 20 minutes. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. I forgot the names of those fellows.

THE Tibetans I was talking about

          I liked this place so much that I wanted to buy something as a remembrance of this place. The surroundings of the monastery were full of the handicraft shops. I though of buying a 'Prayer Wheel'. But I don't know how to pray..!! So I bought a pendant of 'Laughing Buddha'. It was 12:50pm when I came out of the temple. I had Momos and started for my next destination..."Nisargadhama"

Cauvery Nisargadhama - An Island park:
           Cauvery Nisargadhama is a island located amid the Cauvery river. There is a hanging bridge that connects this island to the main land. The main attractions at this place are the hanging bridge on the river, Elephant rides, Rabbit park, Deer park, Bamboo groves, Boating, Tree houses or view points.
           It was about a 20mins travel, 13-14km, from Bylakuppe. I reached, in fact crossed, 'Nisargadhama' around 1.20pm as I was looking for the same name I mentioned. But it was 'Cauvery Nisargadhama' on the board. It was on the left side of the road. If we are not alert, there is a high probability of missing it.

Promise...!! I clicked it for the bridge only :)

A superb view from the hanging bridge...

          I just walked across the park twice and explored almost everything. I liked the Bamboo groves very much. Please be cautious while entering any bamboo grove. Nobody warned me about this before...I ended up witnessing a couple being busy in some biological activities. I am not sure if it is usual there or it was my misfortune(obviously..I came to enjoy the Nature. Not to see the bio-chemistry). I wanted to go for a elephant ride. But very disappointed to know that the morning session was over and I need to wait till 2:30pm for going for a ride. It was so hot over there..and I felt it was more of humidity than the temperature. I think afternoon is not a good time to visit this place. I enjoyed seeing the school of fish feeding on the things thrown by the people went for boating. The fish were very big and clearly visible from the bridge. I entered some no-entry zones to take pics. I can't call it venturing but I trespassed.

Elephant Ride.. Missed it.. :(

View Point...

I regret but Worth Trespassing...!!

           After having a good break, I started to Madikeri at around 2:15pm and to put a full stop to my today's travelling. I reached the outskirts of Madikeri at around 3.10pm after negotiating a good distance on the ghat section.

Coorg(Madikeri) - A Pilgrimage (Part 1)

Travelled between : 24th Jan 2015 - 26th Jan 2015
Destination            : Madikeri/Mercara(headquarters of Coorg/Kodagu), Karnataka
Distance                : 249KM from Bengaluru
Route To Madikeri : Bengaluru - Srirangapattanam - Periyapattana - Kushalnagar - Madikeri
Return Journey      : Madikeri - Virajpet - Gonikoppal - Hunsur - Srirangapattanam - Bengaluru

Places Visited        :  Raja's Seat(sunset point), Fort, Omkareswara Temple - Day 1
                                Abbey falls, Mandalpatti, Bhagamandala, Thalacauvery - Day 2
                                Irpu falls - Final day

You will get to know why I called it a pilgrimage by the end of the story.

Before I share my experience about my trip to Coorg, I just want to give a brief account of how I planned for the journey. Honestly speaking, It is quite unplanned. Except for the route, I didn't even bother about the stay at Coorg.

When I decided to go to Coorg?
- I don't know. I started speaking with my colleagues and friends about travelling to Coorg. The discussions were so intense that they finally culminated in taking the decision unknowingly. Yes, I committed to the journey without my knowledge, that too travel alone.
  At first I thought of informing my friends about the solo-travel. But how to tell?? I felt it was a little weird that a person travelling to a famous visiting place alone!! So I started asking them to give company though I know that they would not come. All of them gave me the same answer which I was hoping for..."No". I was happy. It is not that I don't enjoy if others are there, but somehow, I wanted to enjoy this trip alone.

Coming to the details about the trip,
     On the day before(23rd), my colleague and friend, Abhijith R Shasthry, had given me a list of places to visit around Madikeri even before I decided whether to go or not. The only thing in my mind that encouraged me to go was 'not to waste the long weekend'. Finally after the discussion with Abhijith, I decided to go. I left the office early in the evening and filled petrol for Rs 600..that was around 8.42ltr. That was the moment I decided strongly as I already filled the fuel. After coming to the room, I stuffed my bag with the clothes, power bank, headset and mobile charger.

First Day of the Trip - 24th Jan 2015:
     Though I slept very late yesterday, I managed to wake up at 5am, got ready and started off at 6:02am. By then I was already one hour behind the schedule, as I thought of starting at 5am. I didn't check if I had the bike papers with me. I remembered it after reaching the toll booth on the nice road(Near Electronic City). I checked my bag and felt so relieved after noticing that I had them. Though I was travelling, there were so many things going on in my mind as I heard some bad reviews about my destination from the people who had already visited it. By the time I reached the toll booth at a place the Nice road meets Mysore road, I firmly decided.."I have to enjoy at-least the journey if not the destination, Coorg".

Just Before I started

         My immediate goal was to reach 'Ramanagara' by 7am. Yes!! I made it. By 7am, I already reached Ramanagara and was about to cross it. Later Chennapattana - the land of toys. I stopped at a hotel that had a board with no specific name but with the information that 'Davanagiri Benne Dosa' was available. I had breakfast and coffee there and asked the person at the cash counter, probably the owner, about the name of the place.. He told that it was 'Mudagere'. Though I travelled so many times in this route, I never observed that this place existed. Perhaps, I showed special interest this time as I wanted to log my journey.
     

Near Ramadevara Betta - Ramanagara

At breakfast point - Mudagere

       I crossed Maddur at 8.10am and Mandya at 8.30am. On the way to Mandya, I followed a mini-truck with a load of plants - probably for a plant nursery. I liked it so much that I took photograph of the mini-truck while riding my bike. I think, this is the only stupid thing I did in the entire journey.

The Mini-truck I followed

Srirangapatna Bypass - KRS Road:
       I crossed 'Sriranapatna' around 9am. Though I read some bad reviews about the 'Srirangapatna' bypass, that connects to the SH88, I wanted to take that route just to avoid entering Mysore city. I took a right turn on to the bypass, sorry for not mentioning it with its name - KRS Road, 2km after Srirangapatna and crossed a level-crossing. After that I saw some terraced farm fields and I wanted to take some snaps - and here is one..
   

Terraced Fields - they look much better than in this img :)

      Later I crossed Palahalli, Hosahalli and travelled for a few more kilometres, around 4-5km, to make my bike meet with SH88.

         Journey on the SH88 - it was a song of sheer ecstasy. I liked the entire stretch of the route I travelled. I crossed Ilvala around 9.50am and stopped at a bus stop and did some stretching exercises and hit the road again after 10mins. It is very essential when we are going for a long ride. I thought for a moment that my journey was going at a slow pace. By the way my aim was not to reach the destination fast. I wanted to feel everything I encounter, whatever, - colorful flowers, gusty trees, cast of shadows, pestering humps, flock of birds flying along, people I meet...and what not!!?? :) It was a beautiful experience...

At the bus-stop

     My next stop was at a place where I found a hoarding that had a piece of information useful for me..."Madikeri 70km". By then the time was around 10:40am. Then I thought I would reach Madikeri in another 2 to 3 hours with a couple of places yet to visit - 'Bylakuppe' and 'Nisargadhama'. At this place, I stayed almost for 20 to 25 minutes as the place was very good.  I went a little over 300-400 meters distance off-road. I found a flat(enough) rock, laid on my back for a few moments and spent time by looking at the passing clouds. At that point of time so many thoughts were going on in my mind. As usual I don't remember any of them.

Very colorful - @70km from Madikeri

My companions through out my journey..

Here we go.. This is the hoarding...