A dozen of us had been to coorg recently,It started out as an idea,& after numerous twits & turns was finally realized.we set out at night from Bangalore,Veeru,Thimm & I were delayed @ majestic,
something I greatly resented,after enduring numerous good natured taunts of 'late latifs' & the like we set out on the night of the 20th of march.Many of us were hungry,thankfully HV had foreseen this & had brought bisi-bele bath & curd rice...yummy...we were careful to have some each before it reached Thimm however,who has a voracious apetite & declared that he was starving as soon as he saw the food.
We kept ourselves busy throughout the journey by listening to an assortment of music,chatting,the general bonhomie.Many of us nodded off for at least part of the trip.Tau's energy was something to marvel at...there was a relentless flood of jokes(some of which were in hindi... much to Bhanga's chagrin),shayari & what have you.... Bhanga actually went to the extent of asking him when his battery would run out...The trip had special significance for Thimm,being a kodava he was looking forward to seeing the land of his sires again.He had'nt slept the night before either.As soon as we reached our accomodation in the early ours of the morning(around 4:30)many of us flopped down on the bed... i had a cold water bath...(felt great...in the cold of madikeri)&followed suit.
I was woken in the morning by HV & Co when we left to see abbe falls.Which i had seen before.Its a picturesque waterfall around 8km from madikeri.
After abbe falls we left for Nisargadhama,which is an island in the cauvery,noted for its deer park.Everyone had fun playing in the water(catch,that is..)a particularly wild throw sent the ball downriver,Vishy swam after it & retrieved it.The journey in the bus wasn't that boring...when we weren't tcuking into some snacks,or butchering songs(in the name of antakshari...)or trying to stop our ears to escape the cacophony,we were entertained by SRK dodging police & other underworld adversaries in Don.
After Nisargadhama,we ate lunch & left for the nearby Tibetan monastery..I marvelled at the variety of birds to be found there(of the avian persuasion)& the austere calm of the environs.
Our plan to visit Rajaseat the same day was thwarted by rain & we returned to our rooms,we left later to look for a hotel for dinner,to our dismay,many of the nearby hotels were full to capacity.We finally found a modest hotel later & ate like ravenous wolves.
We woke the next morning to heavy showers,some of the group were squeamish @ the thought of leeches,so we aborted the plan of thadiyandamol.We went to bhagamandala,the sangam of rivers,& raced to our bus as the rain started bucketing down.We contemplated aborting talacauvery because of the rain,but thimm dissuaded us,..(thankfully)we reached talacauvery to see an abnormally large number of vehicles,scudding wind,bullet like rain,& clouds on the ground(i've heard of people having their heads in the clouds but this was ridiculous),shanky & shahreen didnt like the cold & elected to remain behind.In the cold,thimm,veeru,bhanga&vishy had a dip in the water at talacauvery,bhanga was shivering so much his outline almost looked blurred...(okay..exaggeration... i know...but you w..w..weren't th...th..there),on thimm's suggestion we climbed to the top of the mountain from talacauvery via the steps,this was my favourite moment of the trip,climbing around 250 to 300 steps in the freezing rain & gale force winds at one go with thimm,we were the first to the top,the weather there could only e described as... well... a localized hurricane.as the cloud came in,we decided to descend because the visibility was fading,but once we came back down all of us had the same thought,that we're now back on earth,we were somewhere else for 20 minutes.A couple of hot chilli bajjis each & a cup of hot coorg coffee each later,we were back in the saddle & heading for madikeri,when we reached our rooms i ran for a good hot bath,basking in the warmth as though i'd never felt it before.After a hasty lunch,we went to Raja seat,only to be overtaken by rain once again,but this time we just soaked it in...HV looked like a senior citizen of the first order,with a shawl & slippers,we joked that if he had a walking stick some coorgi youngster with a mind to help the elderly would volunteer to drop him back.Thimm,Vishy & Veeru took the rest of us on a sort of 'trek'through a trail they had found on one of their early morning jaunts.
At dinner,our spirits revived over the masala lemon soda which was now a fixture at our meals.The next morning we left for Iruppu falls which was a long way from madikeri,I was woken early,didn't want any delays,so I had a bath & went back to sleep.when we were finally about to leave,HV returned after a precautionary sweep of the rooms with many articles (all belonging to thimm).
We stopped once on the way,& passed through thimm's hometown,but once we reached there,It was wonderful to see azure blue skies & bask in the sun's heat....for the first time in days...,we were entertained along the way by constant singing,(the real stuff courtsey of veeru,richa,thimm,vibha),& an assortment of remixes which HV had brought. Iruppu is a gem of a cataract,tucked away in the middle of lush green forests,the scenic beauty around it was breathtaking to say the least.Its the sort of scenic beauty that can only be described in pictures or by actually seeing it...After Iruppu we said goodbye to coorg & left for home,thoroughly entertained along the way by Vibha's repeated misuse of words in lyrics to various songs,which was always met with uproarious laughter.
All in all,a great trip,something which i will definitely cherish forever.
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