Road To Mysore

We left Mysore last Thursday right after practice. It was Simon, Anthea, Rhonda, Vincent, Tomas(Frenchie), Shobha(Simon and Anthea's landlady) and I. We stayed at the Place Estate, which is a small traditional farm on the edge of a forest that rises to the summits of the Western Ghats. It was about 128 kilometers from Mysore but it took about 4 1/2 hours to get there. The roads are filled with potholes so it took time to get there. Unlike Mysore which is really flat, Coorg is filled with mountains. We arrived at our little bed and breakfast farm house at around 2:30PM. The place was so secluded that we had to stop and turn back a gazellion times before we finally found it. We're very lucky to have Shobha with us because she is originally from Coorg and moved to Mysore over 20 years ago when she got married. She spoke the Coorg dialect which made it easier for us to get directions. We had lunch around 3PM and was served a home cooked traditional Codava meal. The food was to die for and we all ate like pigs(what's new).

We were told that dinner would be served at seven so the logical thing to do was go for a walk around the estate so we can digest lunch and prepare ourselves for dinner. First stop was the fifty foot waterfalls about a 15 minute walk from the farmhouse. We hung out in the waterfalls area and took a lot of dorky pictures. We eventually had to leave the waterfalls area because we were attacked by leeches. The sneaky blood suckers somehow would just jump on us and latch onto our skin. I had one jump on my leg but I just flicked it. I think they preferred the women because it seemed like Rhonda and Anthea were frequently attacked.

From there we walked down to the 17th century Nalnad Palace which was the summer home and hunting lodge of the Kings of Coorg. The structure was old and abandoned. We went in the building and one of the locals walked us through the building and gave us the lowdown. Shobha was our interpreter. We then decided to do a mini hike and walked up the hill to facilitate the digestion of lunch. Rhonda and Vincent kept complaining on the way up(what do you expect, they're both from LA) and Tomas sang all the way up and down. Rhonda told me that her friends couldn't figure out why she didn't bring any make-up and high heels with her. The mountains were filled with coffee. I didn't know that coffee grew under trees. I was later told that coffee likes to grow under the shade. At around 5PM we started on our way back to the farmhouse. We were served coffee and masala chai when we arrived and took hot bucket baths before dinner.

Dinner was even better than lunch. I don't remember what we ate but we ate a lot. Our excuse for the evening was that we needed energy for our long trek the following day. We were told that getting to the highest peak of Coorg was a steep 6 kilometer hike. If it is one thing I've learned here is that you'll never starve when your with an Indian family. Everytime we finish a plate full of food, another plate full is placed on the table. The word "saku"(enough)is your best friend because it you don't say that, they won't stop serving you food. After dinner we just hung out on our veranda singing and talking. Frenchie is our official entertainer and sexpert. He is constantly singing and/or talking about sex(lets not go into details).

I had a decent nights sleep on the first night but like always woke up around 3:30AM. I think my body has decided that I should be awake by that time. I stayed in bed until 5:30AM but couldn't get back to sleep. I got out of the room around 6AM and decided to take a walk with Shobha. We had a nice liesurely walk. Shobha would pick up various leaves and tell me, "Good for health, eat" or "medicated, eat". I was constantly eating raw leaves in our walk. Shobha is a wealth of information. She pointed out the cinnamon tree and cardamom plant. It was nice to know how all these things looked in it's natural form.

After breakfast, we headed for the trail. They packed lunch for us since we didn't expect to be back much later in the afternoon(God forbid we missed a meal). Simon had the map so he led the way. Simon and I picked up the pace and were a good 20 to 30 minutes ahead of the rest of the crew. Rhonda forgot her high heels so that slowed her down. The trail was beautiful but treacherous, steep and rocky. The girls were ambushed a couple of times by the leeches again. Anthea has battle scars to show for. After crossing every river they would check for leeches. It's hard to know if a leech latches on you because they do it very gracefully and it only hurts when you try to get them off you. Part of the trail required us to go through a dense forest where we expected the leeches to be waiting for us. Simon and I made the highest peak of Coorg in about 2 1/2 hours and the rest of the crew got in 30 minutes later. Unfortunately the girls had lunch and most of the provisions so it was imperative that they made it to the top too. The view from the peak was breath taking. There was nothing man-made in site. The hike and making it to the top made our whole trip worthwhile. We were all so tired when we reached the top that we just laid on the ground and ate lunch. We hung out on the top of the mountain for a couple of hours and then slowly made our way down. Simon left ahead of us because he wanted to find the long way back. The rest of us was just happy to get to the farmhouse as quickly as we can. I thought the hike down would be a piece of cake. I was wrong. It was almost as hard as coming up because of the rocky terrain. I normally just zip my way down a hill but it just wasn't happening.

Halfway down the mountain we stopped at the huge rock about 15 feet high. It's surface was flat and about 10 by 20 feet. It was a nice place to just rest and chill. It was one of those moments when you just realize that this is what life is all about. I wish I could freeze that moment in time. I think there was something very special about that rock. It was like the universe placed it there just for us and nobody else. We stayed there for about an hour and realize that it was getting dark. Slowly but unwillingly we headed back.

When we got back, we were serve our usual fruit juice, masala chai and Coorg coffee. Dinner was served at 7 and was even better than the night before. I particularly liked the tomato rice with raita and the tempura looking cauliflower and pepper. I think this was the first time in our trip wherein we actually deserve and/or earned dinner. We all went to bed a few hours after dinner.

The following morning most of us were complaining our leg and butt muscles were all sore. As usual, I had my early morning stroll with Shobha. I learn something new every day when I'm with her. She is such a lovely lady and has been a mother to us throughout the trip.

During breakfast, Rhonda, Anthea, Tomas and I decided that this is where we want to spend Christmas. Simon and Vincent will be gone so they were not invited. We settled our billed and made reservation for the 24th to the 26th of December. Our total bill per person for 3 days and 2 nights plus all the meals came to be about 850 ruppees(about $20). We decided to just round it off to 1,000 ruppees because the service was just exceptional. Our transportation cost us 600 ruppees each and that included a generous tip for the driver.

On our way home, we past by Madekeri, the capital of Coorg. We had a few stops around the area but decided that we all just wanted to go home. Vincent was car sick and Simon did not sleep well the past two nights. Shobha was more that willing to show us more places but we were all too beat up and tired. We just wanted to get back to Mysore. We got to Mysore late Saturday afternoon. Ironically, we arrived on the last day of the Diwali Festival. We were greeted with a lot of fireworks, fire crackers and pollution. It was a shock to the system to come from a peaceful and quiet place. It was back to reality.

This mornings practice was just flat out painful. My muscles were so tight from the hike, I was just going through the motions. Everything was difficult. We all felt the same way.

The shala will be closed from Monday to Wednesday for the death anniversary of Saraswati's husband and Sharath's father. A lot of people are going out of town the next three days. We've decided to stay home and practice together.