Kodagina Bedagu - The Splendour of Coorg

Coorg - Nature's garden!

 

Coorg has always been one of the first choices when it comes to planning a vacation or a short trip. The enchanting land of coffee and spices has its own unique charm that can rejuvenate a tired soul and also has a lot to offer an avid traveler. May it be the scintillating spices or be the captivating nature, the travel to Coorg is sure to have you longing for more visits. I happened to visit this pristine natural vista during the last weekend of November with few of my closest friends and this one trip is going to take a special place in my all time travel diary.

We landed at Kakkabe, a small Kodagu town known as the largest producer of Honey in South East Asia, during the early hours of Saturday. Our home stay was arranged in a nearby coffee estate and the care-taker lead us from front in his MM540 Classic Jeep. Jeeps are the most commonly used mode of transport for this terrain and you cannot miss a jeep in any plantation. We were driving through a lush plantation covered with dense coffee plants dotted with green and occasionally red coffee cherries. The climate was mildly cool and atmosphere seductively calm. Untouched by chaos of the city, far away from the bustling noises lay our home stay, a rustic bungalow that belonged to the estate owner. The view from our terrace in those early hours was magnificent. High hills, green paddy fields and chirpings of various birds. Wind never seemed to rest in this part of the world. It never got sunny and the entire valley looked to be in a deep slumber. It had rained considerably the previous night and the morning was misty with sparkling water droplets all around the plants. 

Legends say, Kodavas are the descendants of Alexander’s Greek soldiers who stayed back during his invasion. This story supports well considering the warrior stature of the Kodavas. Even today, a gunshot is fired as soon as a male child is born as to mark the birth of another warrior. In Coorg it is said that they welcome a guest and send away a friend. We were being treated to a similar hospitality at our home stay. I have experienced the Kodava hospitality a number of times at my friends’ homes but listening about coffee farming over a cup of mellow coffee from someone I’ve just met was a new experience. As I took sips of the smoking, well-balanced coffee with a sweet-subtle biting sensation just past the tip of the tongue, he explained me about farming, the harvest time closing in and the turbulence coffee growers are facing. Arabica & Robusta are the two most commonly grown coffee varieties here. Arabica is supposedly the farmer’s friend as it offers quick returns compared to the latter. While higher elevations are suitable for the Arabica variety of coffee, the lower regions are suitable for the Robusta. It was a pleasant morning getting lessons from a seasoned coffee farmer.

One of my friends was a coorgy and now it was his turn to interact with our caretaker in the native Kodava takk, the primary language of Kodavas. It is a mixture of Malayalam - Tamil and Kannada and is usually written in Kannada script. Kodavas append the clan name to theirs, so one knows the lineage of the person you’re just meeting. The usual Kodava introduction begins with the very same Mane pedha meaning house/family name. It’s really a great feel to see two natives meet and exchange pleasantries in their original dialect.  After a refreshing bath and packed up with all energy, my hunger was creeping up. Our breakfast was ready on the dining table. The thought of hot idlys and authentic coorgy style chicken curry was tantalizing my tongue. Coorgy cuisine is known to be one of the most ethereal, with abundant use of aromatic spices, curry leaves and magical blend of masala which are sure to tickle anybody’s taste buds.

First item on my to-do list for the day was to conquer the highest peak in Coorg, Thadiyandamol. The partially Malayalam, partially Kodava takk name roughly translated to ‘the top most point on the large mountain”. Thadiyandamol also happens to be the second highest peak in the state of Karnataka, standing tall at about 1800 mtrs above sea-level. We began our trek near the famous Nalkunaad Palace built by the king of Haleri Dynasty. Books say this one was a hunting lodge of the erstwhile king which is mistaken as a palace. The intricately carved and designed two storied structure resembles a coastal Indian house. The tiled roof and ethnic look of the Nalkunaad palace leaves too many unanswered questions. Though in a dilemma of its stature as a palace, history says this was the place where the last Kodava king was taken by the British army. Now there is a government school built adjacent to the palace and we could hear few children singing their nursery rhymes. I was wondering if they knew that the ground they play was once a royal ground of the Haleri Dynasty! It was from here we had our first sight of the hills that beckoned us, the misty Thadiyandamol. The sight of white clouds moving across the peak, clearing the view once in a while was a real inspiration.



The Hovering Haze

This is one of the trails that needs no guide for any trekker. Asphalted road stretches between the forest for about 2kms from the Palace, with steep curves and few houses on both sides.  Few more minutes and the asphalted road ends at a rocky jeep road. From here on it is occasional steeps with sprawling coffee estates on both sides. Small streams and dense trees provide a perfect setting for the trek. With the dense trees covering us from any sunlight outside, the trail is cool and refreshing. The scent of different forest flowers, decaying wood & leaves, melodies of various birds keeps the trekker engaged throughout the trail. 

The view unfolds after few more steeps and the trail opens up into a grassland.  After crossing through the large, diverse and eye-catching forest road, now we move on a walk way sort of narrow trail. The Thadiyandamol beckons us with its magnificent view from this part of the trek. 
 

There is huge rock which marks almost half way of the trek and the view around from this point ensures it as the right place for a break. The ridges, slopes and curves of nearby mountains can be seen from here. Thadiyandamol peak is right in front of us with clouds being swept across like a thin blanket. The grandeur of surrounding view is so much that you cannot resist to get to the peak. The last quarter of the trek is more steep compared to the first half but definitely not a difficult one. It looks like a naturally formed staircase with stones of different sizes & shapes all along the way to the peak. Every careful step takes you one feet higher and more closer to the peak. Once you have crossed the slopes, the trail leads directly around the peak to the summit.

As we inch closer, the gush of wind can be felt and that answers why the clouds were being swept away in seconds. The last stretch gets almost tricky because of the speedy breeze seeming to uproot you and the mist cover reducing the visibility to almost zero. Finally after 2.5 hrs of trek we had conquered the second highest peak in Karnataka. The feel that you get on the peak is inexplicable. It’s entirely a different atmosphere there compared to that at just 100feet below. The only probable sound you can hear on the peak is that of the gushing noise of the speedy wind. The pace is so much that we found it really difficult to stand there. It was hard to keep your foothold without a support. Clouds were playing with the mountains in this windy surrounding. In strips of thin white blankets, the clouds were being swept along the mountains from its base to the peak. The peak would get covered while the blanket moves across it and clears off in a while waiting for the next strip of cloud.

The panoramic view of the nearby mountains below with curvy ridges is enchanting.  The windy peak offered an unobstructed view of hovering mountains covered under white clouds and the coffee bowl plantation below. It is an amazing feeling when we are amidst the white puffy clouds that pass by and that chilled, cozy feel persists on the skin. There happens to be one more interesting event when you are on the peak. Suddenly you get a sms  from your service provider welcoming you to the state of Kerala. The peak lies very close to some of the villages in Kerala and there are even histories of people walking across these shola forests during the good old days. They say, on a clear day, the peak even offers a view of the far away coast and some villages in the valley.

While walking back, we also noticed the pepper plants in between the coffee estates. Pepper grows on a creeper and is touted as the king of spices. There have been rich history of India being one of the major producers of pepper and foreign traders thronging our country for this spice which they called as Black Gold. Even our slavery to British roughly begins from the pepper trade that portrayed India’s richness in Spices. There are records of Romans trading pepper as ransom during wars. Most of these spices came from this southern belt of Kodagu and parts of Kerala. With the Coorg coffee estates providing the apt climate and shade, the pepper vine thrives in a perfect home to this creeper. Pepper is also one of the most widely used spice and is sure to spice up your life as well!

We had ample time and stopped by a small flower nursery on the walk back. It looked vibrantly colorful with many beautiful flowers that were unusual to city dwellers. The climate in Coorg supports all kind of floral versatilities and the people here are ever ready when it comes to gardening. This small house had tiny beautiful flowers in all possible tangling colors that made the house more charming. It seems like when the Kodava men take pride in their coffee growing ability, the women boast about their collection of various hued flowers. Having known my aunt’s passion in gardening, who is put up in North Coorg, I was not surprised by the remarkable floral collection every coorgy house possessed. Kodavas are known to be people of immense love and care. Not only they are hospitable to the guests but also when it comes to farming they treat the plants alike their kids with utmost love, may it be coffee, ginger or flowers.

After 2 hours of descent, we were back at the Nalkunaad palace where we had begun the trek and our car waiting for us. We were served hot cuppa and bread-jam back at our home stay. There is nothing rejuvenating like a hot cuppa after a stupendous trek and it took us longer than usual to finish that scintillating cup of coffee! The home stay had all the amenities and we spent the evening playing all sorts of games from Cards, Carom, Checkers, Scrabble etc. The campfire, as the night came down, was another highlight of our evening. With my friends playing the coorgy dance trance called Vaalaga on their phone, we tapped our feet around the fire. My friend taught us few steps from the casual dance style of Kodavas which is performed by everyone in a Kodava gathering. We gave our best shot trying to learn few steps around the fire place. But the mist fall was so heavy that we had to struggle to keep the fire alive. The sound of crickets and frogs were heard from the paddy field below. Finally, we resided to the coziness of our rooms as it became more and more colder towards the night.

We were treated to the famous coorgy delicacy once again for our dinner. Kadambittu, dumplings or rice balls, is one of the coorgy specialty cuisine. Kadambittu with the impeccable & mouth watering pandhi curry (Pork servings) is a royal treat to your taste buds. Cooking seems to be an art in this wonderful land. I learnt that Kachampuli, a species of Garcinia, is one of those magic ingredients that makes the Kodava cuisine so wonderfully amazing. But whatsoever be the ingredient, the art of cooking needs an extra bit of skill to nourish the one who is tasting it and the Kodavas seem to be richly blessed with this skill. The women here surely know that the easiest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

Basking in the glory of scaling the highest peak in Kodagu, Walking around the sprawling coffee estates, savoring the cuppas, tapping feet to the Kodava beats around a cozy fire, feeding on the tantalizing delicacies from the land of spices, It was a day with an ethnic touch. An experience that can be savored for days to come.

Our day2 was supposed to start with the breakfast at 8. Though the breakfast was ready at 8, we were not. It was immense fun to curl around in the blanket in that chilling weather. It was a special morning with barely any sunlight and seemed like the valley also chose to curl around in the weather. The entire place looked gloomy and was partially covered with mist. It was an inspiring start to the day unlike traffic signals, shouting neighbors and noise. It was the birds that were making the melody here. It had rained even the previous night and the water droplets were trickling down from every leaf around the estate. Tiny blue flowers were just opening their eyes along the walkway. The morning was a sizzling new experience. Charging up all possible energy we started our second day in the Scotland of India.

Paaput with a delicious vegetable gravy was our breakfast for the day. Paaput is again a coorgy delicacy made with broken rice, milk, cardamom and with grated coconut spread over the cake slice sized pieces. Filling in stomach full of Paaput pieces and another cup of coffee, we were all set to vacate our home stay. Bidding farewell to the caretaker, thanking his hospitality, we headed out of that wonderful place through the same coffee plantation.

Our first stop for the day was Paadi Igguthappa temple, the most sacred temple for the entire Kodava community. There are no occasions among the Kodavas that begins without the mention of Lord Igguthappa or Kaaveramma. Writing about Kaveri would take another entire blog. In one simple sentence, River Kaveri is the lifeline of Kodagu. She is also touted as the Jeevanadhi of Karnataka, the river that sustains life, as she makes the land fertile all along her way before joining Bay of Bengal.  Hence she is prayed and invoked in all celebrations of Kodavas. While Kaveri sustains life with water, Igguthappa sustains life with rice or food. Said to be one of the avthars of Lord Subramanya, Igguthappa means the one who provides food, thus sustaining life. To resemble this, Paadi Igguthappa temple conducts annadhaanam (giving away food) every day to everyone who is present there during the lunch time. The priest in the temple explained the importance of Lord Igguthappa being worshipped as the father of Kodavas while River Kaveri is worshipped as the mother.

A 35kms drive from Kakkabe via a small town of Napoklu and through unwinding roads amidst sprawling coffee plantations, we reached Madikeri, the heart of Kodagu district. The Town of Madikeri is named after the king Muddu Raaya who built the city and named it Muddu Raayana Keri. This town still has an ethnic charm with some historical and colonial structures resounding the tales of untold times. Our destination was Abbey Falls which is 8kms away from the town. Abbey Falls is a waterfall nestled in the center of another lush green coffee plantation. The Madikeri thore, a combination of numerous streams and smaller rivers, also a tributary of river Kaveri, jumps down into the calm pool through huge boulders making two tiers. The top one being a smaller and then taking bigger and wider leap of close to 70 feet at the second. As we walk downhill through a paved way in between the private coffee plantation, we could hear the roar made by the falling Abbey. The 500mtrs walk through the coffee plantation is a treat in itself. Watching the twined pepper along the trees and green coffee seeds on the plants, it is also a bird watcher’s paradise. We found many different and vibrant species all around. Another few steps and the Abbey falls suddenly makes appearance amidst the coffee plantation.

 

The British named it Jessey falls in remembrance of the daughter of the first priest of Madikeri. Later it was renamed as Abbey which roughly means snow or foam fall. Previously tourists were allowed to climb down to the waterfall and spend some time in the water but due to increasing number of irresponsible tourists losing their lives, now it has been banned anybody getting into the water. There is a hanging bridge that runs across the flowing water and tourists can take a splendid view of the falls from this bridge.

This place offers plenty of opportunities for a bird watcher with this water source and the surrounding plantation making perfect home for many rare birds. We had some utterly tasty butter milk at the entrance of the falls. This was prepared with lot of spices and kept in an earthen pot making it a tang better than any butter milk. Cardamom and Ginger are the other major crops of Kodagu, Madikeri taluk even has a Guinness world record for the production of Cardamom. This abundance makes its use in almost all the delicacies that is prepared here. These spices can make your taste buds dance in its every word. Munching on some churmur, we headed to our next destination.

On our way out of Madikeri to Chiklihole reservoir, we found some fresh oranges being sold by the road. We had to make up for the lunch. 3kgs of freshly plucked, deliciously tasty oranges did not last long. Coorg is also famous for the tasty Kiththale that is grown here. The greenish, pale orange and bright orange colored fruit all have different tastes. While the green ones are mildly sour and leave a bite on the tongue, the orange ones are sweet and juicy. Though the cultivations has taken a hit due to some dreaded diseases to the orange plant, there are still few estates which provide tasty Kiththale. We were lucky to have spotted a roadside vendor who was selling some delicious oranges. Books say, Coorg was one of the major exporters of oranges during 70s. Now this trend seems to have reduced and today when somebody mentions about Coorg and orange then their talks end up at Orange County, a luxurious resort in Coorg!

As we drive towards Kushalanagara from Madikeri, we cross Suntikoppa and a diversion towards the right after few kilometers from the main junction takes us to one of the lesser known but beautiful locales of Kodagu. Coffee plantations & small villages suddenly give way to a water body and you see the white colored writings ‘Chiklihole Reservoir’ on green slopes. The first look itself is refreshing. As you climb the steps up to the dam, the breathtaking landscape around the backwaters will have your mouths open.

Unaffected by the thronging tourists and their buzzing noise, Chiklihole reservoir is one of those untouched places in Kodagu. This entire place which has a dam with a unique water outlet design, green slopes, canals and large backwater area with a thick forest & mountain backdrop is definitely one of the places that can relieve anybody’s stress. The charm of the place is that it is extremely calm, tranquil and breezy. Chiklihole is a small dam constructed across one of the tributaries of River Kaveri for the irrigation purpose to nearby villages. The backwater area is very vast with Meenkolli reserve forest on the left & coffee plantation on the right side making it a captivating surrounding. The dam has a capacity of 0.18TMC storage and is one of the first ones to fill during the monsoon. The most unique part of this dam is that it does not have crest gates and the water is let out through an automatic semi-circular bowl shaped outlet. When the water level goes above a certain level, it automatically overflows into this bowl shaped structure making it a spectacular treat to eyes. This is further connected into canals on the other side of the dam which take water to the farmer.

It is also a bird watcher’s heaven alike most of the places in Kodagu. It was here I had one of my best bird sightings so far with my wanna-be-ornithologist friend. Though I had no idea about bird watching and their types, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing some birds which I didn’t know existed. Moreover, the tranquility made sure that a bird could be heard even when it cleared its throat.



Many people compare this reservoir to that of Periyar in Kerala for the similar tree stumps protruding out of the water. The curved and straight dry stumps raise above the water surface making the place look similar to Periyar. The stunning backdrop of forests, coffee plantations and mountain only increases the beauty of the view by multiple folds. This place is mesmerizing in its all words. An absolute spot if you plan to meditate green! The cool breeze, exotic locale and calm surrounding may bring out the poet in you, beware!

After filling up lung full of green oxygen, we moved on to Bylakuppe, the Tibetan settlement near Kushalanagara. When Tibet was invaded by the Chinese during 60s, Indian government accepted the exiled Tibetans with open arms and provided refuge until their homeland was liberated. During those days, the south Indian state of Karnataka offered 3,000 acres of jungle-land for the construction of refugee camps near Kushalanagara and today Bylakuppe has more than 15000 monks who practice their culture, making it the second largest Tibetan settlement outside Tibet. As you drive from Kushalanagara towards Bylakuppe, one can notice the red flags and the deep red-golden clad monks passing by. The huge circular structure on the top of the temple welcomes you into Bylakuppe.



Golden temple is the major attraction in this settlement. The Namdroling monastery, as it is named, belongs to the Nyingmapa sect of Tibetans. The temple houses the 70-80 feet tall statues of Buddha Padmasambhava, Lord Buddha and Buddha Amitayus which is the centre of attraction. The gold painted statues were sculptured by experts from Tibet & Nepal and the writings here say that these statues were filled with holy books, holy remaining of previous lamas, sacred scriptures etc during construction. The peace and divine feel that is felt here is enormous. It gives a blessed feeling to be around. Along with agriculture, the Tibetans also sell their ethnic handicrafts and other versatile items to make a livelihood. As you take a stroll around the temple, we can see monks, young & old, walking around with some books in their hands and if they find you looking at them, they just nod their head with a welcoming smile. But even behind their smiles what seems to persist is their urge and eagerness to return to their homeland which has become a distant dream. I wonder how many of them are aware that Chinese emigrants have occupied Tibet so much that Tibetans are now a minority in their own country. The holy city of Lhasa is now a buzzing tourist centre, and the Chinese still rule with supremacy. Dreams & pain shimmer in the eyes of every monk but with no answers.

 

That was curtains to my (I lost the count) .….th Kodagu trip. Covering another new place on the first day, which also happens to be highest point in entire Coorg, and going around the good old places once again on the second, I wrapped up my holiday with enormous satisfaction. Not only me, anybody who travels to Coorg is sure to return back with loads of inspiration, enthusiasm and overwhelming joy which makes them return to this beautiful land again. Because this is one place which can beckon you from time to time for its brilliant landscapes, loving people, mesmerizing mountains, sparkling water bodies, tongue-tickling cuisine, curious culture and more. This is a paradise in all terms. This is a different land altogether. This is Kodagu, the Scotland of India.