If not now then when?

It was the 2^nd of May, 2014 Friday.

I was sitting in office, my travelling instincts tickling dangerously, and texted my good old friend Divya, who was equally interested in a spree outside the city that we could go to Coorg. Had heard a bit about it but never really cared to google on it. In fact, the very first time I typed “Coorg” on the search bar was to check for the bus ticket availability after Divya gave a thumbs up to the plan. Only a few seats were available so we quickly booked the tickets, took a shower, packed our bags and hopped onto the bus which was at 10:00 or so in the night.

Once in the bus a realization struck us both, what now? But as awesome as we are, we decided to rather sleep than to rack our teeny li'l brains on it. That we could do even the next day.

I slept like a dog. Divya was wide awake all night long.

Next day we reached Madikeri, Coorg at 5 in the morning and it was pitch dark. We started walking aimlessly when we came across our life saviour- the hoarding of Cauvery hotel. I noted the number and from there we headed to a dhaba for tea and then I called up the hotel. They said we could come over and the best part was, it was just around the corner.

The attendants there had just woken up (guess it was our phone call that had acted as an alarm clock) and we requested them to let us use their common toilet. In less than half an hour we were fresh and hungry at the same time. Breakfast and taxi would be available only after 7 am so we asked them if there was any place nearby where we could go for sight seeing. They gave us names of these two places, each in one kms distance from the hotel but on opposite directions. So we started strolling down the streets of Coorg like wanderers, asking whoever we came across for direction.

The townies were very helpful, I must say.

Omkareshwara Shiva temple

Our first destination, the Omkareshwara Shiva temple (I didn’t know until I came back from Coorg that it’s as old as the 1820’s). The best part about visiting temples early in the morning is you have it all to yourself, no outrageous crowd, no unnecessary noise, only peace, serenity, gentle sound of the bells ringing and the nice sweet smell of agarbatti.

Streets of Coorg. Divya and I gave each other a high five and proceeded to the next destination.

Raja seat

Raja seat. Technically it means seat of the king so I kept looking for it. Divya even pointed at an arbor saying it was the seat but I royally ignored her and, if I remember correctly, even made fun of her but later it turned out that she was right. Duh! 

Anyways, while we were there, I wished I could go to one of those hills.

Well, let’s see if we made it or not.

A breathtaking view from Raja seat.

Well, we wasted a bit of our time trying to find some suitable tours and travel packages for our trip for the rest of the day but since it seemed a little overpriced we headed back to Cauvery Hotel. There we booked our taxi, had our breakfast and off we went.

 Just an interesting hoarding.

Abbey Falls

Abbey falls. It was good but I’ve seen bigger, cleaner ones. Nevertheless, it’d been a long time since I saw a waterfall so was excited with that as well.

Cauvery river

On our way to Kushalnagar the driver asked if we wanted to raft. We thought it'd be those wobbly water rafting but after we paid and everything we came to know that it was still water rafting. Dunno why but we even had fun in that. Maybe cos the guide who accompanied us was enthusiastic and humorous and made sure we never got bored. 

Needless to say that he clicked this picture :P

Elephant camp

I didn't like that place. At all! Elephant camp. It was crowded, dirty and you need to wait in the queue to cross the river for almost half an hour to see this---chained elephants and that's it. We didn't waste time waiting in the queue that takes you back and crossed the river ourselves. It was shallow and full of rocks so that wasn't very difficult and turned out to be the only exciting part about our visit to this place.

Namdroling Monastery

The best place ever; popularly known as the Golden temple, this is a Tibetan monastery with interesting architecture and interiors and I'd never seen such huge idols of Lord Buddha ever. I was deeply awed by the elaborate and intricate designs in the structures. Marvelous!

I didn't understand a word of what these monks were chanting but it made me want to stop by and listen to it over and over and over again.

Nisargadhama

It was okay. I mean I never really expected anything much from this place but our bus back to Bangalore was at 11 or something in the night and we had to kill time. It was kind of a zoo, a forest area converted into tourist attraction. Natural setting would have been more exciting.

Way to Talakaveri temple, Bhramhagiri hills

Well, here starts our roller-coaster ride! 

First, we had a lot of time until our bus arrived and we didn't know what to do. Second, our very humble taxi driver turned not-so-humble when we asked him to take us to the very popular Bramhagiri hills. Apparently, his time was up and he'd charge more if he had to take us anywhere and especially Bramhagiri hills since it was quite far. We bargained and bargained and finally a moment came when we realized that he wouldn't budge any further so we agreed on the quoted price and started our journey to the hills. Then came our third obstacle. The car broke down while taking those precarious turns in the hill. Diesel was down! Our driver called up an acquaintance who'd get diesel so he asked us to roam around the place till our rescuer arrived but warned us not to go very far since it was a jungle area. It was there that I came across this very interesting bi-colored frog which was hopping until it's attention turned to me and it took an alert position, trying to camouflage to it's surrounding. 

Talakaveri temple

It was completely covered in mist and we were just on time since the temple was closing.

The view was so darn beautiful that we didn't feel like leaving. But alas we had to. Time constraints you see. 

And, it is noteworthy to mention here that it was indeed one of those hills that I was staring at in the morning from Raja seat and wishing to go to. Woppie !!! ^_^

So that's about it! 

It was time to head back home. On our way down the hill Divya a I did something we had never done together in our life before. We sang. An aural assault to the driver maybe but the two of us thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Before catching our bus we made sure to have dinner in Cauvery hotel and thank the people there for their courteousness. 

A lesson for a lifetime that we took back with us from this journey was that 24 hours is a hell lot of time. We strolled downs the streets of an unknown town, came across beautiful temples and monasteries, rafted in still water, stood in a queue for ages to see elephants, went up hills and passed jungles, sang like morons and met some awesomely charming people..... 

.....all this in just one day!

Where was I all this time?

It was the 11th of April, 2012. They arrived late in the evening. I'd been waiting for this day for a long time.

I had always taken great pride at Bangalore's calm and pleasant climate and never missed a chance to boast about it. Yet when my parents and brother came down to pay a visit on my birthday in April, it was really really hot. Minus the loo, it was no less than the scorching summer in the north. That wasn't a problem for me. I'm used to roaming around in the sun. But that gave ma a wonderful chance to pass innuendos about how perfect Bangalore's weather was as she was the one who had to stand my unending Bangalore-praises the most. Fair enough!

We reached the hotel pretty late and as soon as we were done with dinner my phone started buzzing and it didn't stop until almost dawn- birthday wishes for the birthday girl after all. 

Next day we started our Bangalore bhraman and our first stop was Lalbagh botanical garden. I realized that it was in the culture of the sultans who reigned parts of Karnataka to encourage gardening and plantation, which is really great because it runs down even now it seems. I'm sure that's the reason why Bangalore is still so green.

Glass house, Lalbagh garden. Ma was saying it was filled with all sorts of colorful flowers (I'm very bad with flower types and breeds) the last time she came some twenty years ago. The place had been cleared now. Bad!

I overheard some guide explaining to a group of tourist that these trees are very very old. I wasn't amazed at first. I mean what's there to be amazed about a natural thing that is old. But when I touched a tree a thought crossed my mind. A silly compelling thought. Somebody, more than a hundred years ago, might have been taking shade under this same damn tree. Who knows it might have been my own previous incarnation. Déjà vu !!

Before you say it, I know I'm stupid.

A temple over a rocky rise in Lalbagh garden.

Tipu palace opened my eyes to a totally different side of Bangalore, the historical side. It kind of made me wonder for a while if this was the same city I had been living for almost a year.

Those dark teak wooden pillars seemed to have been freshly painted and gave a stark contrast against those red walls making it all the more pleasing, aesthetically speaking. 

A rustic wall with intricate designs in Tipu palace.

From there we went to the Bull's eye temple and the museum and, probably because of the heat, were absolutely exhausted after it and headed to Forum to lunch with a cousin.

UB city. I used to think these are the only kind of amazing places that existed in Bangalore. Glad to know that I was wrong.

We had to wake up early the next day, Mysore being our destination. But on the way we stopped at a few other places of interest. Gumbaz, Srirangapatnam was our first stop. 

Gumbaz is the chamber where Tipu Sultan had been buried along with his parents.

This picture brings out the milieu around the place. Serene and calm.

Of course I had no clue what those inscriptions meant but Urdu is beautiful. Wish I could read it too.

As we started heading towards Mysore, the driver suggested we take a slight detour and visit the holy Sangam of the branches of river Cauvery. Totally worth it. While people were taking holy dip in the river I just touched the water and rubbed it in my head. Enough to wash away my petty li'l sins. 

The three musketeers making their way to Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple, Srirangapatnam. Yes, we were still at Srirangapatnam but the driver promised that after this and Chamundi Hills we weren't stopping anywhere else. He didn't want us to miss anything you see. Later of course we came to know the real reason for the delay. He had never been to Mysore. 

Stone carved pillars inside the temple. Awesome! 

Poised and elegant in her burkha at Dariya Daulat Bagh, Srirangapatnam. You heard it right. Srirangapatnam!

The Mysore Palace!!! Heard about it all my life and saw innumerable pictures of it in postcards. Finally seeing it for real was indeed surreal. The museum inside had amazing paintings and artifacts of that time. Of course we weren't allowed camera inside otherwise my blog would have been full of it.

Our last place of visit was the Vrinadavan garden. We waited and waited and waited for the fountains and lights to start until all our patience was over. We'd decided to leave but then our driver went missing. He wasn't even picking up the phone. Confused and worried we returned back inside and saw that the lights had started. A pretty sight it was. Good that we came back. And even the driver called after a while giving all lame excuses for not picking up the phone. Nevertheless, we went to Mysore and came back safe with a driver who had never been to the place. And yes, I did have a wonderful time with my family. 

Their last day was mostly dedicated to social visits and shopping. Slowly and steadily the thought started dawning in...They would be leaving the next day.... A little sad and glad (that they were still there) the day flew by fast. It wasn't long after they'd left early the next morning that I found myself holding back tears, missing them already, cursing my job for forcing me to stay away, wishing I could somehow go with them, not daring to take a look at these pictures and wondering when would be the next time I'd see their faces again. 

Not less than a month later I was back home. Tadaa!!!