"Pitter patter on the roof top "...

"Pitter patter on the roof top "... its raining outside, in kolkata ... lying on my bed , I close my eyes and my mind travels back to Coorg .. may be the only bit missing is the fire flies glowing at the roof.......... hmmm......on second thoughts , missing a lot more than the fire flies..

After a killing month at work , the friday arrived , when I once again took out my rucksack and left home for a trip down south .. to coorg .. with a friend .. We took the state bus from Mysore to Mercara(Madikeri) 111kms, tickets cost Rs 83 per persons.. we started at around 7:30 - 8 am from Mysore and reached Madikeri at around 11 -11:30 am in the morning. On the way to Madikeri , I tried to put a name to the crops and plantation , that we were passing by and realised that I have long forgotten my eco geo and geography lessons from schools ... during my trip I ll once again discover ... that coffee and spices are the speciality of coorg..

The town of Madikeri, is a sleepy town .. and during July , the rains keep away most tourists .. the bus dropped us off at madikeri circle , which we referred to as Chain gate area.. we were to stay at a home stay over the weekend before we moved on to our actual destination Honey Valley. From the circle to took an auto to our Vinayaka Home stay .. a quite little house with a terrance and a red gate .. with a great view of the main road connecting the town. and ofcourse surrounded by tall greens( iam bad with flora and fauna names, though I would try to be more specific where ever I can ) which kept swaying with the strong wind ...interestingly the wind kept changing direction all the time ... it kept drizzling on and off with bouts of heavy shower at night .. the drizzle was like fine snow you would hardly feel it , very different from the drizzle that I am used to in the city ...

After a shower and lunch and a short nap we set out in the evening for the Abbey Falls, about 10 km from Madikeri ... named after the late daughter of some British Colonel .. At the Abbey falls we also had some yumm coffee... from the falls we went to Raja Seat , which has now become a place for fountains, lit up by colorful lights dancing away to Bollywood tracks .. historcally at the Raja seat , the Raja of Coorg used to watch his captured enemies being thrown off the cliff ... I m sure the dancing fountains have take away the chill from the place ..but what warms you up is the view of the hills covered with coffee plantation from the Raja Seat... there's a toy train service as well , but i guess I have to try that next time I am there ...We walked back to the Madikeri town centre and stocked up on our preferred wines .. you guessed it right .. I got my SULA Red :) , for sale only in Karnataka .. 650 ml .. one more reason for my love for the place ..

Once we reached the home stay it started raining again ... we had a couple of hours before dinner .. so I read a bit ...the book I was carrying with me was " past continuous" by Neel Mukherjee ... though in real life it felt like present continuous , with the rain pouring out side and sula inside ...

Next day morning we set out for Talakaveri... Talakaveri is famed as a mountain region with the original source of river Cauvery and hence the name Tala-Cauvery (head of Cauvery). It is located in Brahmagiri hill at 1,276 m above the sea level. This place is considered to be very holly and a dip at the pond is said to wash away all sins ...at the long stretch of stairs that carry you to the main pond and the temples , the rain gods again wanted me drenched .. the place was covered with mist and cloud and probably had zero visbility .. the strong wind almost blew me over ... once I reached the holy head of cauvery where she had sprung out .. i almost felt as if the clouds had somehow gotten inside me and touched me deep wthin.. I prayed .. and I prayed .. there were steps going upto the peak , i believe, however with rain it was not possible to climb up...

Upstream to Cauvery , we also visited the Bhagamandala temple , at the confluence of 3 rivers Kaveri, Kannike and the fabled river Sujyoti... On our way back we stopped for lunch at the town and hogged at the yummy southie biriyani and fried coorgi moorgi ..stuffed with food we could only think of a snooze in the afternoon ....

In the eve we walked through the town and had coffee at Bean Scene( they can definitely learn a thing or 2 from CCD or Barista on building ambience for coffee :)), on our way back we, walked past the OLD fort , now used for administrative pupose and to house the local jail .... also carried our dinner from the East End hotel ;)... another round of wine and it was time for dinner ... and as if on cue it started raining ... at Coorg (as well as in kolkata right now :), it had stopped raining when i was writting about Abbey falls i guess .. present continious ..or should I say .. past continuous..)

Next day morning we woke up early to catch the private bus shakti from the Marcara bus stop ,which would take us to the Kabinakad junction, tickets cost Rs 24 per person. For 2 hours we drove through the various small towns of the Kodagu(coorg) district.. i was amazed at the sight and feel of a bus travelling through the narrow hilly paths wondering how they managed to climb up ... and what happens if the bus breaks down .. fortunately i did not have to find that out.. we reached the Kabinakad junction at 11am, 2 hrs after we boarded the bus.. At Kabinakad we had the 4 wheel drive jeep waiting for us to take us up to Honey Valley.. 3kms from Kaninakad. The journey to Honey Valley was again through a narrow path which became more and more rugged as we went up . Upon our arrival we were met by Les an Aussie , who ran the place.. .. the first thing you notice at honey valley is the surrounding coffee plantation and and how you feel like you have dropped into a vaccum... the only noise being the rains and the occasional birds chirping away.. the peace and quite of the place is only broken by the sound of the jeep when guests arrive or leave.

I dropped off my bag at the room and ran out to explore honey valley and take pictures.. Honey Valley had various types pf accomodation the guest house the old house , the private cottage .. everything opening up to the beautiful view of the coffee plants and the silver oaks around you .. gives you the distinct feeling of being in the lap of the nature.. the pretty little paths made for good pictures.

There were various trekking points to be visited from Honey Valley ... however , the rain was too heavy and we had very little time .. we did though, venture out for a walk in the evening while we still had day light .. accompanied by brownie ( as I named him ) . With Brownie by my side on the walk , I lived a long cherished dream from child hood ... he even tried to warn us off some unseen creature lurking in the foliage .. .. we took the other path and followed it to a stream, where we had the LEECH ATTACK.. i got just one , which was enough to make me hop back towards Honey Val. Learning :- wearing black shoes attract more leeches.. ..

Then we trekked down the path which takes you to Hov V. Pretty steep and on the way back I realised , that I wsnt as fit as I was 2-3 yrs back.. ( hmmm ) ..

Upon our return from the short walk we had tea and as the day light faded into the dark , we made ourselves comfi at the dinning hall and enjoyed our own preferences of books and journals.. thats where I came accross the book on Coorgi weddings and their history and festivals .. the legends made for quiete an interesting and enlightening read .. why the Coorgi women wear their saree with pleats at the back .... how River Kaveri ran away from Agastha muni .. etc etc .. you have to be there to feel the wonder of it all ...

After dinner Les and team bade us good night with " listen to the pitter patter on the roof top " and we retired to our rooms to watch the fire flies glowing near the roof .. which made up for the cloud covered sky hiding away the twinkling stars ..
Next day morning , we had to leave early to catch our bus to Virajpet.. starting our journey back to the maddenning crowd..

Coorg was a beautiful experience , though most of its beauty undiscovered by me .. Les had told me that during March the Coffee plants flower and the whole place looks like it has snowed , along with the intoxicating smell of coffee all around .. so March it is or might be .. who knows ............ past -present-future- continuous!!!