A day spent in Coorg

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So far I was pretty happy that my tour was going as per my plan. However I was rather confused to opt from the 4 spots which were not in my schedule. Irpu Falls, Kabini WLS, Nagarhole NP and Shivanasamudram waterfalls. I had previous appointments to attend in Kochi so I would be heading for Kerala, this was the thought. I finally voted for Irpu Falls as the place was not known to the tourists. After saying ‘virtual’ good bye to rest of the three places I went to bed as I had to wake up early next day.



I woke up at 6am and hit the road in next 15 minutes. I had to take care of my personal hygiene. I walked in to the bus stand in Mysore and from my research I knew that I had to take a bus to Gonnikopal. There are several routes to reach Irpu. One can follow the Hunsuru-Gonikoppal route to Kutta, Mysore-Nagarhole route to Kutta and finally Mysore-Kabini route to Kutta. But as red from the magazines, I decided to follow the Gonnikopal route because of maximum availability of public transports. I took a bus which was on the way to Virajpet and as said earlier and again, buses in Karnataka are the best when it comes to schedule and accessibility. Within 5 minutes I was cursing down the Mysore-Madikeri road where I had my footsteps left on my previous tour to Bylakuppe (separate blog). This road wasn’t new to me but still it was pretty enjoyable early in the morning. The bus took more than an hour and half to reach Hunsuru and driving further 10km, took a diversion to the left and hit the Mysore-Virajpet road. First a few miles it was through the villages of Karnataka and later it hit the forest area. This was early in May and chance of a shower was bleak, so the lush green outfields were ‘green’ but not shining. Once the bus entered the forest area I picked myself up from the seat hoping if something could get caught in my eyes. As expected, in next 15 minutes I noticed a wild elephant on the right and the locals not seemed to show any interest as they were quite ‘used to’ with this kind of wild animals. The bus quit the forest roads and started climbing up the hills. The road here was through the coffee and pepper estates. Most of the passengers were either working in one of those estates. I was really enjoying the scenic ‘pleasures’ and was thinking about my next journey from Gonnikopal to Kutta which was around 36 kms. Around 10:30 am I reached Gonnikopal. It seemed to me a small town with very basic facilities available. Then I didn’t know the challenges were in ahead of me.



I knew that I was in Coorg, so the first thing I decided to have was a ‘cup of coffee’. I walked in to a small restaurant, opposite to the bus stand and helped myself with a cup of coffee. It was as fresh as the beans were handpicked from the nearby estates. This part of Karnataka is enriched with coffee and pepper plantation and most of the homestays or resorts are either ‘an old estate’ or a part of it converted to a homely accommodation for tourists. I spent some time noticing the local crowd and their styles. The first thing I noticed was the typical style of wearing a ‘saree’ which eventually looked like a ‘nighty’ at the first shot. When asked the hotel guy, he said that this was called ‘Kodava Sarees’, with no difference than the regular sarees we see but the style of draping made the difference. After spending a few ‘gazing moments’ at the ‘Coorgi beauties’ (as people may not know, the girls from Coorg are known for their unfathomed charm) I walked back in to the bus stand.



Oh my god ! I may have sounded like ‘Janice from famous Tv series Friends’. Where the hell the busses were going to ? I asked a fellow about the buses towards Kutta and he ‘scanned’ me from my head to toe and said.



‘Kutta????? No sir, it’s Kutta’



I understood the difference, It should be Kutta not Kutta (means dog in hindi), though the spelling is the same. ‘Narrow escape’ was the first call to me however I moved towards ‘a point’ where the bus to Kutta was waiting for me. All I could see people from different ages,sizes,heights were present in that bus. Forget about getting my butt to rest, I didn’t find a place to climb up. ‘Quit’ was the call from my heart and I followed that religiously. After 15 minutes another bus came and before I could even see the ‘face’ of it, it was all filled up with all proportions.



‘Shit, what the hell’, I whispered.



I quit again and this ‘Quit Bus’ revolt concurred for another one hour or so. It was 2:00pm then and I knew that I had to travel another 36 kms, had to find a place and then had to proceed towards Irpu Falls. I could see my ‘Plan of Titanic’ was sinking in front of me and like Edward John Smith, I was giving blunt looks towards the sky for a ‘hope’. Noticing my struggle, one generous fellow walked in and said something in Kannada. With my ‘great’ understanding, this was it.



‘Where are you going?’, the guy asked



‘Kutta’, I replied with the correct pronunciation.



‘Take the bus over there’, he pointed the same which I just ‘quit’ some 10 minutes ago.



‘Too crowded, no place to stand even’, I expressed my frustration.



‘Yes, there’s a festival in Kutta, today and hence everyone is heading up there’, he smiled and said.



‘How would I go then?’, I almost cried with my lost soul.



‘There would be a bus from Kerala, which would be an express bus to Kutta, try for that’, he had shown a ray of light to me.



‘And how long I have to wait for that’, I asked with my sincere ‘inquisitiveness’.



‘5-10 minutes, oh ! here it is’, he said and ran.



I took the last part of the conversation and chased him as he was my ‘pace setter’. I saw one ‘very’ colorful bus just entered the stand and it seemed a lot of people were waiting to get un board from it. I used my pair of elbows to ‘win’ a seat and finally I managed. I was pretty happy with my success and it was a sigh of relief. The bus didn’t wait too long and surprisingly with ‘not much’ people, it hit the road. I later came to know that being an ‘express’ bus and so the high price of the tickets (may be 10 bucks more than the standard ones), local folks try to avoid this bus. ‘Whatever’, I focused on the ‘road’.



The drive from Gonnikoppal to Kutta was perhaps one of the ‘most scenic’ bus journeys I’ve ever had. Long winding roads though lush green coffee plantations that you can feel the freshness and aroma. Since I ‘prized’ myself with a window seat, I could sense the ‘splash’ of cold breeze. So refreshing that in 5 minutes, I forgot my ‘Quit Bus’ revolt and was really enjoying the scenes. The entire journey seemed to be the same through ‘estates’ and finally around 3:30pm the ‘Green Beauty’ (Eventually, it was the name of the bus) dropped me in Kutta. It was a small ‘modern village’ with a very few shops, That’s what I could describe Kutta at a first glance. I knew I had to search a place for the day. I rather decided to walk in to a nearby shop. I bought a pack of cigarette and stroke a ‘business conversation’. This is what I do mostly. In a new place, I usually find the most ‘knowledgeable’ shop, buy something and then ‘band up’ a ‘casual conversation’ to get the details about the place.



‘Sir, any place to stay here’, I started with my as usual ‘smile’.



‘Only one lodge here to the right. Try your luck’, he replied.



I was bit shocked that why to try my luck. ‘Were there a lot of tourists arrived before me?’, Asking those questions to myself, I ‘crawled’ towards the board which was ‘Kutta Lodge’. The place was empty, not even a stray cat or dog was there to greet me.



‘Hello, anybody here?’, I knocked at the reception desk.



And after a couple of more ‘hard knocks’, one old lady showed up.



‘What you want?’ was the question from her, in a rough ‘note’.



‘Rooms to stay tonight’, I asked



‘Nothing’, she shut both the doors up.



I walked back to the same shop and asked for ‘reason’.



‘Sir, today being the festival, most of the guys was either ‘drunk high’ or went to the temple. You would hardly find any one’, he replied with a smile. I didn’t know whether it was a ‘note of proud’ or a witty one.



I stood there ‘all blacked out’ for another 15-20 minutes. Suddenly I saw one guy with a ‘three wheeler’ just crossed past me. I ran to him and asked for his advice to find me a place to stay tonight. That guy seemed was ‘in shape’ and fortunately could speak Tamil. I literally dragged myself in before he could reply ‘yes,no or maybe’. He couldn’t give me any fruitful answer so I had to open my ‘Book of Notes’. Found a few and immediately started calling them. The cellphone network seemed pretty good here and after a few more tries, I managed to get hold of ‘The Chilligeri Estate’. It was a lady.



‘Maa’m, I came all the way from Chennai, any place to stay in your estate?’, I cried for help.



‘How many guys you are?’, was the question from the other end.



‘Just me, alone’, was my quick reply.



‘Okay, Rs. 1000 a day including all meals, come’, Was the deal offered to me.



‘Sure, how far?’, I asked



‘Get a taxi, drive through the Gonnikopal road for about 4 kms, find our ‘sign’, take left’, She finished all these words in 10 seconds maybe.



I had to stare at my ‘auto guy’, he seemed to have heard of this place before, but ‘what did she mean by taxi, I didn’t see any taxi here’, was the big question for me. The auto guy said that there was no taxi. All these ‘autos’ are referred as a taxis here. Incredible India ! he asked for Rs.50 to drop me to the estate. I agreed without any hesitation. We drove back through the same road I followed earlier and reached the estate within 15 minutes.



Wow ! Just Wow ! What a place to stay. Located in a remote valley with amazing Bramhagiri hills at the backdrop, amidst plenty of colorful flowers and coffee plantations, I really fell in love at the first sight. I was offered to have lunch and I decided to skip as I was ‘too late’ for The Irpu Falls which was some 6kms away from this place. Meanwhile I clinched a small ‘friendship’ with the auto guy,Pramod and without any minutes lost, I asked him to drop me to the base of Irpu Falls. I knew that there wouldn’t be any public transport available to reach Irpu Falls which would eventually be located inside the Bramhagiri Wild Life Sanctuary. Pramod offered me a nice option that he would drop me to the falls and once I was done with my ‘photos’ I would give him a call to pick me up from there. I liked this offer and we started again. In next 15 minutes or so I was at the entry point of Bramhagiri Sanctuary.



It’s inside the Sanctuary so one has to walk about a mile from the entry point to reach Irpu falls. No vehicles are allowed rather there are no roads to reach the base of the falls. Pramod dropped me there and warned me repeatedly to wind up before 6pm, as the presence of wild elephants was ‘high’ and that was for two reasons. One, all the water bodies up in the hill had dried up and Two, Elephants couldn’t resist themselves from tasting ‘Ripe Jackfruit’ so they prefer to come down to the estates. It was around 5pm and I knew I may run out of light to take photos. With his warnings framed on my mind, I entered the Bramhagiri Wild Life Sanctuary. It was a walk through thick woods following a narrow stream which was the continuation of the water from Irpu Falls. I noticed a couple of ‘sign boards’ which had it mentioned that the ‘Largest Breed of King Cobra’ was actually spotted in this region. I don’t know why but I am not too friendly with this animal so I got ‘spine chilling’ sensation. After a mile’s walk, I reached Irpu.



If you have seen Hebbe in Chickmagalur, Irpu is not that mighty roaring falls, nor even gorging from ‘high heights’ like Hebbe. But the surroundings with mighty Bramhagiri and the wilderness gave this place a ‘heavenly felling’. I didn’t find a lot of people there except some guys from a nearby college. They were spending their time enjoying the streams of Irpu. I looked for a place where I could place myself for some ‘silky water’ shots. I missed my tripod again and felt like ‘kicking my butt’. The watch was moving as fast as it could, and with the available ‘natural accessories’, I managed to place myself on a ‘large stone’ and took a few photos. Though Irpu was a small waterfall compared to the ‘mightiest’ I have seen in India, I was in love with this place. It was so serene one could expect ever. However, with a huge ‘unwill’ , I decided to walk back to the ‘gate’ , meanwhile I called Pramod to be there in next 15 minutes. When I reached at the gate, Pramod was there already and we returned to the estate around 6:30 pm.



I saw that the owner ‘lady’ was trying to say something. So to bring them to the comfort level, I asked if anything that I could have helped. She said that they had to attend the festival at the temple so would it be okay, if I could stay here all alone in this estate till 9pm. Without any hesitation I asked them to go, and once they left I was hovering around the estate. What a beautiful place it was and if you were there with your ‘sweetheart’, I bet you couldn’t have expected more romantic place than this. Plenty of birds,singing the ‘music of nature’. I was not completely alone, I had company of a ‘little cute’ Lhasa Apso ‘Jimmy’. Being one of the greatest dog lovers on earth, I was enjoying every bit of his company. I tried a few sunset shots and finally around 7:30 pm it was completely dark. I was feeling a bit of scary and thrilled as well. I was recalling the words of Pramod regarding the jackfruit and elephant story. As I could see some Jackfruit trees around ‘showcasing’ some mighty ones hang. The climate was so cozy as if ‘mother nature’ had her A/C’s on. There was a completion which may be the best part of this trip, I had not seen so many stars and fire flies at the same place. Millions or Billions was the question unasked. After a few hours hovering at the estate, around 9:45 pm, they arrived. Then I realized the ‘burning stay of hunger’ in my stomach. I recalled that I didn’t have anything since morning except a couple of cups of coffee. The dinner was served within 15 minutes. Though I was asked about my options still I asked to make it as ‘Coorg’ as possible. It was one of the best I have ever had. Coorg Rotis made with Rice Flour, with a series of veg: preparations with a glass of homemade wine. Marvelous ! Proper justification to the Coorgi hospitality. I was too exhausted after having such a wonderful diner and I was seeing everything ‘blank’. I didn’t know how much I slept but woke up early at 6:30 am. As instructed, Pramod was there to pick me up. And expressing my heartfelt gratitude I said ‘good bye’ to Chilligeri estate for one last time. I knew that I would be back soon for my ‘sweetheart’. I definitely would like to get lost deep inside the forest with her. Missed you !

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Comments

[Ranit]

Remarkable write-up. Now your trip description is so interesting that It seems am just listening from your month.

[bookcab]

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[sahitya]

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