celebrating I-Day in Coorg!!

Day I: 3 am, 12 Aug. 2006
The time when we had planned to start for a four day outing, making the weekend bit more longer and adding true value to the Independence Day. But that was the time when I just put the mobile alarm to snooze again!! Few had stayed in my home and two more were supposed to come from their home by that time. It was almost half past four when we literally started.

The plan was to cover Sharavanabelagola, Halebid, Belur, Madikeri, Nagarhole and Kabini. So, Day I was based around Hassan and so we headed towards Hassan. It was me driving the just four months old Tata Indica with excellent Sony Xplod sound systems. I was cruising on the NH4. I was supposed to take the NH48 from Nelamangala. I didn’t know that until we were past some 20 kms on the NH4 itself. I don’t actually blame the navigator being asleep for this mistake. But instead we took a deviation from the NH4 onto some countryside roads and some SHs until we caught up with the NH48 after roaming around some additional 60 kms. That was an even more interesting drive. Now we’re back on track; and very much compliant on schedule ;-)

We could see signboards indicating deviations to Sharavanabelagola, our first waypoint to be sequenced. The highlight of this place is the 57 feet high Gomateshwara statue, which is the only monolithic image of this height in the world. This holy place for Jains is more than 1000 years old. We can opt to climb up the hillock or get some local people carry you, like the foreigners and oldies do. Amazing workmanship behind this beautiful huge monolith carved with a great sense of proportion should be appreciated.


Climbing down, I was watching the town planning and a pond nearby which adds beauty to this place. We had our breakfast there; very tasty indeed. We didn’t have hopes of meeting the schedule anymore. So, right click on Belur, select Delete :-). The way to Halebid was through Hassan. The roads went bad soon after crossing Hassan. The scenery on either side of the road was very scenic. Everyone knows the state of roads in Karnataka very well and its effects after rain. And it was raining badly when we were traveling to Halebid.

Temples of Shiva dating back to 12th century are situated in Halebid. The walls are full of mini sculptures and carvings. And every carving has a great story behind them. That was a very interesting visit; getting to know about the amount of knowledge and rationale people possessed during that time. We had to rush up with the place as we were running out of time. This visit just made me plan another detailed visit to the temple with a guide.


Way back, we had lunch at a good resto in Hassan and headed towards Madikeri.

Now, the highways running through the ghat sections and continuous drizzling made the travel more pleasant. We happen to see a dam, Hemavathy Dam, enroute. Park the car and pay a visit! The sight was splendid. The water on one side of the dam was so calm and the other side was a total contrast – water gushing with a great force. But then the purpose of a dam is precisely that.


It’s well past twilight. Hilly roads, sharp and curvy roads, hairpin bends, fog crawling over the roads quite often hindering (even obstructing) the vision of road, continuous drizzle and intermittent rains, chill breeze were very much signs of getting closer to Mercerra (aka Madikeri). A picture is worth 1000 words. I would say a real experience is worth 1000 pictures!! Its hardly 150 kms from Hassan; but it was 9:30 pm when we reached Mercerra.

But then there was one more interesting confusion happening out there. We had booked our accommodation in a cottage (home stay) and the person in-charge kept guiding us with directions, but still we were facing difficulty spotting it out. There were hardly a few people on the road. So, you need to call him up every time you feel you were lost. And finally we met. And he gave directions to reach the cottage. We had dinner and then reached the cottage, now not with much difficulty.

I would be missing some important part of the trip if I don’t mention about this stay. The villas named ‘Sunshee’ is situated amidst a 16 acre coffee plantation. I learnt that somebody closely related to our former chief minister SM Krishna owned it. It was very beautifully maintained and planned. It’s a ready to move-in and live kind of house. There was a person, at our call, staying adjacent to our cottage to help us out for all our needs. And when they say home stay, they mean it. A home away from home. In a nutshell, I would call it an ideal holiday villa.


Day II: 13 Aug. 2006
The day began with a pleasant morning walk in the estates of Sunshee. Lot other vegetation apart from coffee could be found; and very beautiful gardens too. The day’s plan to visit Talacauvery and head towards Kutta, near Nagarhole. That’s where we had booked our second day’s accommodation.

Returning back from the walk, hot coffee was ready. Coffee, prepared from their own estate plantation. wow! the coffee was simply superb. The freshness you get will last for more than a day!! We had ordered what we wanted for breakfast before going for the walk. And now it was ready. After the breakfast, wanted to have yet another cup of coffee; as we don’t know when we can taste such a coffee again. Time to say bye to Sunshee.

Heading towards Talacauvery, I should say I had one of moi best driving experiences. I have never driven at such high speeds in hilly section. I just coasted up the hill. The roads were getting interesting to drive. The landscape was very scenic, with water flowing across the roads and tall trees on either side and sometimes you get to see the entire Mercerra town from some view-points enroute.

We have driven all the way up to 3000 feet above MSL to see the birthplace of one of the holy rivers, Cauvery. It was a 2 × 2 feet small square wherein from the river Cauvey springs up. The water then flows into Kalyani, which is another artificial pond, bigger in size. There was a companion hillock where people visit before returning back from Talacauvery. We also visited there. You get a grand view of the Western Ghats.



We called up Chilligeri Estates (in Kutta), where we had planned to stay for the night, to know if we could reach there for lunch. But then we were told that we were very far. Kutta is located in southern part of the Kodagu (Coorg) district and Talacauvery in the north-western part of the district and almost 70 kms between them. We decided to cover up some more places before we head towards Kutta. Way back from Talacauvery, we filled our stomach with not so exciting stuff from Hotel Mayura, a unit of KSTDC.

Cauvery Nisargadhama, few kilometers before Kushal Nagar (yet another town in Coorg district), was our next target. It’s a lush green garden (or park) spread across over 65 acres of land around the banks of Cauvery. There’s nothing exciting to see; still you may feel to visit again. Hanging bridge, bamboo huts atop trees, deer park, elephant ride and rabbits are few attractions here.


It was 7 pm. Instead of starting to Kutta, we thought we shouldn’t miss the majestic Tibetian Monastry before leaving Kushal Nagar. This largest Tibetian settlement is located in Bylakuppe, in the outskirts of Kushal Nagar. This is my second visit here; but my first visit was during daytime. It looked richer in the night. It’s also known as Golden Temple and it is. The dress they wear, the language they speak, their culture, hospitality, all interest me to know more about them. Then, we thought we would spend some time shopping. I bought some hangings and wind chimes, which were more a souvenir depicting their art for some of my friends and myself.


Its 8:30 pm. Ok, lets head towards Kutta. When we seek help from the localites, everyone gives different directions to Kutta. We asked many people and finally followed the route which majority had suggested :-). This route was pretty deserted; but the roads were pretty good. It was almost 1 am when we managed to reach Chilligeri Estates, Kutta and had our previous day’s dinner. It looked like a 1947 bunglow, wherein we were given a simple room, which hardly had some moving space as it already had two cots. And the verandah was our dining hall.

Day III: 14 Aug. 2006
Next day morning, I woke up late and we were just waiting for breakfast. Tasty dosas were served. Having had that, we started out to Irupu falls. It was quite close (~ 3kms) from the place where we were staying. The Irupu falls is situated in the Bramhagiri reserve forest. We just spent sometime there in the falls and returned back.


We were back to Chilligeri for our lunch. Had a good lunch and packed up our stuff and left Chilligeri Estates. If I do a character comparison of Sunshee and Chilligeri, I would associate Sunshee to Soundarya and Chilligeri to Ramya Krishnan in the movie Padayappa (a box office hit Tamil movie).

The next in our agenda was Nagarhole forest. It was pretty a straight road to the forest. Drove till the forest office premises in the forest. Parked there; had a break watching out some elephants there; having tea and interacting with some kids out there. We learnt that safari was not encouraged, as it was monsoon season. But then we bought a very brilliant idea from one forest staff there. That was to drive slowly for the next 22 kms. “Nidhana hogi, sir. Huli kooda kansuthe” (meaning - drive slowly, you could even spot tigers). And the accent he said was even funnier. Listening to experts’ advice, we drove the slowly. We were tired of not so respecting spotted deers. They cross the roads very casually, doesn’t matter if you are there or not. We spotted wild boars; nothing much. The last time I had been here, had luck to see sambhar, barking deer, giant squirrels and herd of elephants.


That road directly leads to Hunsur, then to Mysore. Kabini was also more of a reserve forest, just that its located on the banks of Cauvery. We decided to cover it up later. Had a break at Hunsur and then headed towards Mysore. Had our dinner in a dhabha and continued our journey to Bangalore. It has become more a culture to have our last dinner of every car trip in a dhabha. If I am not wrong it was around 3 am when we reached Bangalore with loads of memories after having lots of FUN.

A big thanks to A2B Car Rentals for lending a very good car on rent for self drive; Karnataka Tourism Website for providing lot of useful information; Sunshee for providing excellent accommodation and Chilligeri for providing simple accommodation and homely Coorgi style food for making this whole trip memorable.

Some trivial mosts and bests of the trip
Most played song: Sutrum vizhi chudar, Ghajini
Best beverage: Coffee @ Sunshee
Most cherished dish: Vada @ Sharavanabelagola
Best drive: From Madikeri to Talacauvery and back
Animal Most often spotted: Spotted deer
Most enjoyed spot: Cauvery Nisargadhama
Most tiring climb: Shravanabelagola (against climbing in Hemavathy Dam, hillock near Talacauvery, Irupu Falls)
Most impressive architecture: Golden Temple, Bylakuppe (against Shravanabelagola, Halebidu)
Most enjoyed stay: Undoubtedly Sunshee
Most challenging drive: Driving out of Chilligeri Estates premises