Coorg : A Land of Surprises (Part II)

                                                      Part I 

A meet with the Eternal: The golden temple

After a short lunch we headed towards the famous Tibetan Golden Temple. Our driver told us that this area was inhabited by the refugee Tibetans. They are quite hard working and have built the entire infrastructure there by themselves. Near the temple there were hostels for the monks (most of them were young). There are four temples there, two of them very big, built in Tibetan style.  On the central temple there is an arc on the top with golden roofing. I could not understand the religious significance of anything there but the place itself gave the feel of divinity. There was a strict silence inspite of a big crowd there. Only the sound of the drums and the hymns sung by the priests were in the air. As it was a prayer time, entry was not allowed inside. We went inside one of the temples where prayers were not being organised. As I entered the gate, I found in front of me three magnificent statues (idols). The centre one was of Lord Buddha-60 feet in height made of copper plated with gold. The very first look of the Buddha gave me a kind of shock. I felt if I was losing all my energy into that statue or I was gaining something. Whatever it was I don’t know but I was standing dumb and staring continuously at the centre statue with an expressionless face. Since my childhood I have visited so many temples but I have never found such a peace anywhere. I wanted to stay there and just stare at that statue. I fear if I visit that place few more times I might change my religion.

Nature’s Dhama: Nisarga Dhama

Nisarga Dhama is a protected forest area on the banks of Kaveri, with the river surrounding it from all sides. We crossed the hanging bridge leading in there. From the bridge one can see the fish in the clear waters. All kinds of trees (bamboo, sandalwood, teak) and shrubs are there. There was a deer park also. The deer were standing right near the protection cage waiting for the tourists to feed them. After walking for some time we went down near the river. The river was flowing in between the rocks with trees hanging in the water from both sides. It gave a feel of the mangrove forests. The place is full of greenery and natural beauty. We went a bit deep in the forest when I received a call from our driver asking us to come back. While returning back to Madikeri , driver asked me-“Are you married”. I said “No”. He continued “Then do come on a honeymoon trip here when you get married, I would love to give a ride again”. Interesting driver… Nice marketing skills J

A window to paradise: The Raja Seat

It was around 6 in the evening when we reached the park. Madikeri had just witnessed heavy rainfall for about an hour. It was cold and winds were blowing. I was dumbstruck on seeing the picturesque view of the valley and the hills from that place. After few moments I uttered few words- “What the fuck!!”, seriously that was a scene of paradise. The clouds were still floating with the winds, covering the hills, making them invisible at times. One can see the mist rising from the plants, forests and other places in the valley. In front of our eyes was an unending sea of greenery. The clouds were passing from the place where we were standing, with mist touching our faces. Wow standing in the clouds… an amazing experience. Thanks to the special timing of the rain.

Just outside the park there was a toy train. We took a little ride in it. While returning back to bus stand another interesting thing happened. I tried to initiate a conversation in Hindi with a group of kids to get directions. They were poorly dressed, with dirty clothes. After I finished my sentence, one of them replied-“Can you speak in English please” . Oh that was unexpected (on seeing them it felt as if they even don’t go to school). For the first time in all these months here someone has asked me to speak in English. I asked them again (in English) and they replied fluently. I was impressed… Completely. All the way back I was smiling because of those boys. Wish them a great future ahead.

That’s it.. my memorable trip to Coorg.

Coorg : A Land of Surprises (Part I)

It was 5.30 AM and the sudden brakes of the bus opened my eyes. I looked out through the window- Whoa I was in a different world altogether!!  The sky painted with city lights has changed into an arena covered with floating clouds, clouds disappearing the hills ready to wet the red soil. The tall buildings have been converted into the Nariyal trees alongside the road and the streak of stores and shops has been converted into the never ending coffee plantations, and the climber plants of pepper and clove. Coorg it was..!!! Truly called as the Scotland of India..or Kashmir of South.. or the Misty Hills.

Getting off at the bus stand we enquired about the tour packages available with the agencies. But finally we hired a cab on our own. That went to be relatively inexpensive.The travel agencies literally loot you. The driver was an awesome cheerful man, having a strong command on Hindi. We headed directly towards the Abbey falls.

The Peaceful Falls: Abbey Falls

In the morning silence one can easily hear the peaceful noise of the falls from the road itself. The way to the falls passes through the jungle with coffee plants all around. The trees there were so dense that even in the full sun, the sunlight will plead to touch the ground. The sweet chirping of birds was a nature’s welcome to us.  The very first look of the falls relieves you from all the tiredness. The white water falling from the rocks, collecting at the base, making a stream and then disappearing in the thick forest. The morning weather added to the beauty of the falls, with dark clouds still hovering up in the sky and the mist giving a soft bath to the leaves as the wind slowly played with the falling water (and my emotions ;) ). We tried to climb up the hill on a trail carved out in between the shrubs. After going a bit up I remembered the fearful warnings written in English and Kannada on the boards, and changed our decision and came back.

The Bliss of Kaveri: Dobare

Next we went to the Raja’s tomb. I have no interest in describing that but the view of surrounding hills was pleasant. We clicked some funny pictures there with the stone elephant and other architecture. We then went to the Dobare’s elephant camp. This elephant thing is seriously nothing but an elephant shit. They take 100 Rs to bathe an elephant,50 Rs to feed dried grass to the elephant ,100 Rs for a 100 metre elephant ride..and people were doing all this. Anyways the nature there is another pie to eyes. 

The Kaveri unshackles itself from a narrow stream and extends with all its effort on both sides to show its affection to the land. The water crawls slowly on the black stones. One needs to cross the river with the boat to reach the elephant camp. But you can do it otherwise by walking on the stones lying on the river (risky but fun). My fellow friend insisted on doing rafting there so we changed our dresses and went with one of the groups. The water being so slow, the rafting felt like boating. After going downstream for 1 km we jumped in the river and swam. Swimming in the cold waters of Kaveri with rain drops falling from above- an experience which you can never forget. The other group with us and our guide everyone was fantastic. Without even knowing each other we played in the water, swam to the other shore, competed and made fun of other groups. While returning back, we would have rowed for less than a hundred metre, when I asked the guide “What is the depth of river here?” He replied-“Right now more than 30 feet” . The very next moment he pushed me into the water. I was shocked to the fullest, after a few seconds when I balanced myself, I found him smiling and saying “swim swim..its fun” . Later three other members joined me. We returned back swimming. I drank the water twice. It was bitter because of the diesel engine boats running on the water(Pollution man pollution L ).

                               Link to the Part II

  

A village in deep South

I have this wish of visiting villages of all parts of India since my childhood. I have been to villages of UP, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan. Last week I got the opportunity to visit one of the villages in deep south. It was a company trip(field visit) to a village named Naagar in Trichy,Tamil Nadu. One of the best things about company sponsored trips is you can afford all types of luxuries even while going to a village. The purpose of the visit was to study the soil conditions, the cultivation methods used, the kind of technology they are open to and yes to check the feasibility and acceptability of our machines. Although the company expected me to make the visit as an engineering student but I found the sociologist inside me more active (I guess that’s what happens after taking four sociology courses).

As soon as our car entered the village, my eyes started wandering here and there to find something unique or different from the villages of north.  On the first sight everything looked very familiar except the coconut trees. We straight away went to one of the fields where a group of five farmers was taking rest under a mango tree. Yes there are mango trees here also (that’s quite obvious but I was a bit surprised). At that place there were mango and coconut trees side by side, creating an awesome view. We were accompanied by a group who were running a model farmer helpline facility sponsored jointly by IIT Madras and Government of Tamil Nadu. They inspected the fields and talked to the people. We also interviewed some of them.  The people there were so open in accepting technology that sometimes I even doubt myself. They used harvesters, powered rice transplanters and advanced machines for most of the cultivation processes. One of the farmers had bought a rice transplanter worth 6 lakhs(price after subsidy by government). I imagine that if at this moment I was a farmer with all the education I have, I would have never invested this much for a rice transplanter (and like me most of the people in my village).

After an hour or so, the head of the other group introduced us to the farmers. Although he was talking in Tamil but I was still was able to grab something which surprised me. He started by pointing towards us –“ These are the students of IIT Kanpur and are working on a project to give a new design to the present rice transplanter. IIT Kanpur is one of the great IIT’s like the one we have in Chennai.” And I could definitely note a change in their behaviour after he made this statement. But this led to a embarrassing situation because he gave all the importance to us and ignored our guide who was the chief person for this project. But one thing I understood – the IIT name sells, everywhere and before everyone from industrialists to farmers.

I had a short conversation with a guy who knew a bit of English. I asked him about a bell which was ringing after every hour. He told me that it’s a church bell. There was a smile on my face and I said – So there are Christians in this village. He replied ‘yes’. ‘But they are converted you know’, he said after a pause with a different expression on his face.  It was very clear that Hindus there were envious of Christians, as they were in a good economic condition.

After lunch we had another meeting with farmers. This meeting was in a temple. The temple was huge with a bull in front of the main gate. It also had a pond but it was dry. The Mandir was also using the benefits of technology. They had an electric powered system which beated the Tabla and rang the bell simultaneously during the aarti. During the discussion the head of the other group asked the farmers- Do you people have GPRS activated on your cell phones. Five people said yes they have. Then he pointed towards women and asked the same question. None but a 60 year old lady said –Yes I have GPRS activated on my phone. Everyone present there started clapping. After half an hour everyone had GPRS activated in their phones with an app downloaded, which will transfer the pictures directly to a central database. Based on the photographs of the plants which farmers will send, experts will give their suggestions to them by phone. The acceptance of technology amongst people there made me really glad and excited. And that was the major difference I found between that village and the villages I have been to in the north. Hopefully this fever of technology will soon cover entire India!!!