October 11, 2006

KoDagina Cauvery

Way back in 10th standard, we had gone to Coorg/Kodagu on a class trip. The lush greenery, serene atmosphere was so enthralling; I promised myself I would go there at least one more time. I could keep up that promise this weekend. :-)

Few of our colleagues planned the trip and I readily joined. My sole aim, which I made more than clear, was to visit the Buddhist Monastery. The colors used there are simply outstanding.

We left on Friday (6th) night and as usual I slept comfortably for most part of the journey. Watched the start of the movie Aptamitra in the Qualis (It had a VCD-DVD racked up).

We reached Madikeri very early and there was a Code M situation. :-) Mist! Surrounding the place where we were to stay. It was a farmhouse with the owner conducting adventure camps. The place was named "Jungle Mounts". So we were advised to stay in the city for an hour and so and we finally reached the place at around 8.00. Breakfast was a Malnad specialty (came to know of this later at home :-)) A kind of Idli made of Rice and Coconut. Twas ok-ok. But the homemade jam was yum!

Clicked pics of nearby flowers for a while and then we started off for the half-day trek. The trek to the peak was a rough 8 kms and it was traversable for half the distance through vehicles. So we were dropped off half-way by a jeep and off we started to trek the remaining. The walk was very nice with small waterfalls in our path. We, the gals, could accomplish conquering 3/4th of the peak and so opted out of the remaining and enjoyed the chocolates and snacks. :-) We did save the apples for someone though ;-)

The trek back was really fabulous. First I, Kar and Ravi started discussing/gossiping about Hindi movies/music. :-) Second, there was a slight drizzle and by the time we realized, it was raining full-swing. It was just too lovely. But with the rain, came the leeches. Need I say more? :-(

The jeep ride back to the farmhouse was too cold!!! :-) We rode standing in the jeep facing the wind and rain. Just too good!

After lunch (paapad and pickles were the best), the instructor there had kayaking lined up for us. You can take a wild guess as to who the official photographer of the sport was!! :-) Your's truly. The first-time kayak-ers (Is there a word like that??) had fun too.

We rounded up the day with a very good game of Uno (Courtesy:Sudks) and the highlights of the game was the no. of cards Shesh had to draw (Courtesy:Sudks, Me, Bhuv, Manj), the utter confusion we faced with so many special and wild cards and their usage. If we had continued, it would surely have turned into Calvin-ball :-)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you please share the address of this place Jungle Mounts?

vinu said...

its 24 kms off coorg..nearest place is kakkabbe and its 2 kms from there...u can contact the instructor there.
Name- Sagar. Phone no:08272 238341
Disclaimer:Don't expect a five-star ambience :-) but the place itself is very neat

Anonymous said...

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/kannada/s/album.2000
You definitely need to listen to the song madikerili manju.

A land clad in fog and crisp mist.

Not sure if you would get the lyrics words of the song that i am suggesting you, because the song quality isnt that great. i have checked quite a few sites but its the same quality available almost everywhere.

Is it the genuinely unique voice of mysore ananthswamy voice or the funky tune of the song that makes me hum this song, i am not sure.. but this is what struck me when i read your blog :)

i havent been to this place but ur blog and the song gives me an imagination/expectation of this land. I would want to visit this place once to experience my imagination. :)

Anonymous said...

Uff, it just slipped me...
How could i miss it.....

I just failed to spot that you visited coorg and not madikeri..., nevertheless, the madikeri song might impress you and make ur next trip be to it :)

vinu said...

yeah hav heard tat song..but hadn't made effort to actually "listen" to the entire song til now...