Home by the sea 06/02/2012
 
No, its nothing to do with Genesis, really. No creepy stuff or ghosts here. The home, I referred to is Palm Grove resort, in the sleepy town of Padubidri, overlooking a virgin beach is the perfect getaway for a city-weary person.

My dear husband, who belongs to the category who love staying in a ‘homestay, not a hotel’ took upon himself to enquire in every mom and pop shop to find this elusive place. So driving in the rain on the busy Mangalore Udupi road(NH 17), we were finally able to track this place, I think, through his sheer determination and a bit of luck; the contact number published on the website was out of order and a popular travel website agent informed us that the place had been ‘fully booked’.

From Mangalore, drive along the road, until after you reach Yermal. There’s a road off the main road just before a Cafe Coffee Day. This road meanders through some fishermen’s homes and runs right next to the beach. On the left opposite a beach shack, you will find the place. Ask the locals for directions in case you are lost. We did get lost and traced back our way to this place and were very glad to find it.

The 'resort' in its name seems a bit ambitious but its very convenient as a homestay. They are no frills and fancies. The rooms are large and bathrooms are clean and have hot water. I suspect the rooms are part of several homes around which a wall has been built and made into a resort.

The first thing you notice as you step out of the room is that there's sand everywhere giving one the image of a cottage on the beach. The beach itself is just a few meters away so one can practically go barefoot to the sands, enjoy the sea and return to the room for a shower.

We just dumped our luggage in the room and did exactly that. The area is picture perfect. Calm, clean and pristine. The view is especially surreal in the early hours when the fishermen take their catamarans into the sea.

The only disadvantage of this place is that they dont prepare meals (except for breakfast which is simple and south indian).  

Dinner is bought from a nearby hotel in Padubidri. So the quality of the food is dependent on the hotel they bring from. To be fair, the dinner was good but nothing beats the charm of having food prepared at the place.

The place is ideal for a group who have their own transport and visit places around the area and just spend the evenings by the beach or just want to chill out by the sea or trekkers who dont mind the walk from the main road to the place. Only, it gets really dark post six in the evening and the power goes often; the resort has a generator though they generally reserve it for the night.

Picture
Palm Grove Beach Resort
Location: Fisheries Road, Yermalbada, Udupi 574 119, Tel: 0820-257 7115

How to reach: By car/cab/private transport: On the Mangalore-Udupi Road(NH17), take left on fisheries road near Uchila, Yermal. Go on this road for about If you see a Cafe Coffee Day Yermal outlet on the highway, you have just missed the left turn.Go in this road for about 30 mins. The road meanders through fishermen’s homes and right next to the beach. The resort is on the left facing the beach.
By bus: Regular buses ply between Mangalore and Udupi. Padubidri is the nearest bus stop. From here one has to take a three wheeler or trek. 

Rates: Rs 1500/- per couple per cottage. Of course holidays and New year eve’s, these rates increase.

In & Around: Udupi & Malpe are just half an hour from here. Malpe has a few jet skiing and boating option. Further up is Kundapur, Manipal and Maravanthe. The Suratkal beach is slightly rocky and a great place to watch the sunset.

Eat out: Udupi’s Mitra Samaja - a must for its delicious masala dose. Udupi: Woodlands and Diana’s - popular for lunch and dessert respectively. Mangalore is the place for those who love sea food. Of course being a veggie, I cant put a list of places that have the best fish curry meals (I was told by a mangalorean that eating fish is no different than idli!), so sorry.
Mangalore’s Ideals and Pabba’s - popular ice cream parlours.
My quirk: Eating maggi in the shacks just opposite to NITK 
Add Comment
 
 
It was just the usual. Every year we plan a holiday with a close set of friends and their families for new year’s eve. Time just flies and before you know it, December has come unannounced. So one of us starts the email chain, hectic discussions on places, dates, the group’s size and booking enquiries happen; and we end up getting a homestay in Coorg - a place which none of us have any objections to.

A bit about the region. Coorg or Kodagu covers loosely the area in Western ghats thats flanked by Mysore and Hassan on its east and South Canara and North Kerala to its west. It covers an area of 4000 odd sq km in forest regions of southern Western ghats. The three main sub districts are Madikeri, Virajpet and Somwarpet.

Nevertheless, for me or many of its visitors, Coorg has always been either Madikeri or Kushalnagara or one of those myriad homestays nestled in the coffee plantations that liberally pepper the forest cover.

This time too, we were going to a homestay in the region. Our destination was a coffee estate, River Valley, nestled between between Kushalnagara and Madikeri, near Madapur.

A couple of days before the new year, we were driving on the familiar Mysore road in the early morning to beat the city traffic. As we left the city limits, we had an excellent thatte idli for breakfast at a roadside inn near Bidadi. For those who dont want the hassles of parking near Kamat Lokaruchi, this is a very good place to just pull of the road and have a for a quickie breakfast. The only downside being the constant hoots of a plastic whistle they use to attract the cars zipping by.

The journey till Kushalnagara outskirts was uneventful and then just to amuse us, we were made to wait for three quarters of an hour, due to a flash strike at the city’s outskirts. Fortunately it got cleared and we were on the way to Suntikoppa and Madapur. River Valley is just 5 km from the nearest town, Madapur. But the journey from Madapur through winding roads with coffee plantations on either side and thick green cover gives the journey a surreal feel.

The location - the estate on higher ground, overlooking a small gurgling stream - is very picturesque. Added to this was the fact the hot lunch was awaiting for us made it all the more inviting.

The estate/homestay is very family friendly for they had all the amenities - a play area for the kids, some space to play cricket or badminton, swimming pool and steps leading one to the stream, bonfire setup etc or just sit in the hammock with a book in hand.

The staff were courteous and there was no shortage of food, considering one fourth of the group were hungry fussy children and moms like us who had multitude of requests - “could you serve the dinner for the kids at 8 but for the rest of us at 9 and yes please make it less spicy for the children?”

Picture
Apart from spending time in the place, we did manage to visit a few places around this area. The first one is called Makkala Gudi Betta - a superb view point from where one can see as far as Somwarpet and Harangi reservoir I was told. Though one can go by car, the last stretch is difficult for a small car. 

Kote betta is the second one; a trekkers’ route and one of the highest peaks of the region. The view atop the hill is enchanting and looks like the grasslands of Europe, minus the sheep. There’s a small gudi at the base of huge boulders atop the hill.

2012. Amidst all the revelry in the coffee valley, New Year arrived. But we could call it a ‘Happy’ one only on the 2nd day. Never make a mistake of driving on a Sunday, especially if its the first day of the year, on the Mysore road. 

I still dont understand why a state highway between the state’s two important cities shouldn’t have a bypass near the towns. Or for that matter why the common man should suffer for want of a ‘nice’ road between Bangalore and Mysore. 
Add Comment
 
 
Picture
I’m always charmed by the Western Ghats, the Sahyadri Mountain range that separates the sea coast from the south Indian plateau. 

Blame it on the eco-diversity of this area, the wildlife sightings, the enchanting valleys, the coffee plantations or the sprawling bungalows now waking up to tourism; a region tailor made for the typical traveller who loves to click and capture the ambience into digital bytes. 

I always loved Coorg and Nilgiri regions but never had been up north, rather north-west of Bangalore - to the Sharavathy valley.  So in this summer, when a friend suggested camping in this region, I was keen to explore. Going to the Ghats has the uplifting feeling and this time to an unexplored part was like the icing on the cake.

The region lies between Shimoga and North Kanara (Uttara Kannada) districts; Sagara or Sagar is the nearest town to the famous Jog water falls. Like the coffee plantations in the Coorg belt, this region is famous for its acacia plantations (betelnut). 
It’s a six hour journey from Bangalore to Sagar ; one can reach by an overnight bus or car. From here, our camping site was another half an hour away at Nandigodu; next to this is Heggodu which is home to the popular travelling theatre, Ninasam. 
 
We were to camp in the fields of Ganganna(Gangadharappa), a farmer who owns land in Nandigodu.Ganganna, like hundreds of other farmers, lost his land when the Linganamakki Dam was built. However, he has been quite resourceful and has shared his traditional home with tourists who use the facilities at this home and camp on his fields. Of course the monsoon is an added attraction for the travellers as the sowing season begins.

This eco escape is the brainchild of Nidhi Tiwari, an avid traveller and writer who wanted to give something back to the community she belonged to. She started a couple of eco tourism projects that promotes the ecology and culture of the local region. With a trained team picked from the local community, she aims at building awareness of the local communities and the travellers.
Picture


Ganganna’s home 

His century old home reminds one of old Mysorean and Manglorean style of housing with low tiled roofs and small wooden doors.

Sitting in his ancestral village home, one can observe a small flower garden, beyond which is open fields dry during the summer. Far beyond that are acres of green betelnut trees. Life is hard here but for an urban visitor, the greens and the fields paint a soothing contrast to the urban chaos of Indian cities.

Some customs were familiar; I could relate to the Ganganna’s mother collecting flowers from the garden for her daily puja. It reminded me of my paati (grandmother) who went through the same routine everyday albeit in our tiny urban home in the 80s. 
Picture
Activities

The main attraction of this place is the Sharavathy backwaters. A few kilometres from the camping site  is a huge water body. Our guide, Ganapathy, enlightened us that this is the Sharavathy backwaters released from the Dam. To our surprise the water is very sweet and warm.

We were given life jackets. “It can hold a hundred kilos” informed our guide. So with the jackets on we floated, swam, played all under the watchful eye of our guide. For a person who has never swum, I was able to manage thanks to Ganapathy. The feeling of being in water is that of elation; it was only during the return three hours later that our limbs started to ache.

The simple home cooked food that awaited us was simply delicious. Rice, chapathi, kosambari, palya rasam , sweets and the inevitable banana freshly cut from the trees in the nearby thotas were delicious from start  to finish. Needless to say that we did a full justice to it. 

Picture
Heritage

There are two historical towns in the vicinity of Sagar – Keladi & Ikkeri. Once a powerful kingdom that ruled the coastal & central Karnataka, it became a vassal to Mysore Kingdom during Hyder Ali’s reign. Today, these towns are famous for the centuries old temples built during the reign of Keladi chieftains. Keladi has a museum next to the temple that is home to many inscriptions and statues that were found around the region. An auto ride from Nandigodu to these towns can cost around Rs 300-400.
Nidhi’s team has other activities too – trekking, rope climbing, culture and heritage tours. However the main attraction of this place is certainly the backwaters.  With the monsoons coming up (June-July), it would be just the right time to travel up there. There is another camping site that’s much more remote & pristine. Maybe it’s time for a second visit.

(This post was originally written in May 2011 for my personal blog,  http://coffeenirvana.in/) 
Add Comment
 
 
Picture
Magadi, now a small hamlet near Bangalore, was once the home an refuge of Kempegowda – the man who built a fort in Bengaluru and placed it on the map as an important trading centre.

However, Magadi, just like Bangalore is much older. It is famous for a temple built for ‘Magadi Ranga’, the Lord Ranganathaswamy, built during the time of Cholas.

As one enters Magadi, a street on the right lazily meaders towards the temple. The temple complex is typical of those times. At the right of the entrance is a kalyani with steps leading to the water. The courtyard is quite spacious, reminds one of the bygone era, where temples just like any public buildings were built with much importance to its design and architecture; unlike the temples that spring over footpath in the city today. 
Picture


One has to leave the footwear near the entrance. Don’t expect old world charm from the folks here. They are very wise and would be happy to share the money that a city dweller brings in. 


Everyone from the lady who ‘guards’ the footwear to the gurkha and finally even the priest is out to get a few rupees. Only the Lord stands mute amidst this religious marketing.  

As I entered the inner courtyard, the inner gopuram was clearly old styled and different to the colourful outer one. Many temples have mixed architectural styles that show how the temple evolved during the patronage of kings during different periods. 



Picture


Inside the garbhagriham, to my surprise the usually reclining pose of Lord Ranganatha is standing upright here! The priest then enlightened me that this Lord was ‘Pashchima Venkateshwara’, ‘west facing Lord Venkateshwara’.

The Lord here, however, was alone. The Goddess, Padmavathi was worshipped in a different garbhagriha. At the back of the main deity was a small reclining deity of Lord Ranganatha, who has made the place more famous than the standing lord.  
A boy priest gave me theertham (holy water) and mentioned that the idol keeps growing – atleast that’s what he has heard from the older ones. Hence the name ‘Belayo Ranga’ (growing Ranga). The explanation seemed to me more convincing about the priest than the Lord! The idol is so small that even the lord here has one leg folded! 


No one knows the reason why this temple is more famous for the small idol of Ranganatha rather then the main deity. There is a story that this place was hastily renamed during the time of Tipu Sultan’s reign who knew only the famous Ranganatha who presided in Srirangapatna, his capital! Of course like all charming stories, it has no facts, atleast not that I know of. Here’s a link from Alemaari‘s blog that i liked.

Once a bustling town that flourished under Kempegowda, the place Magadi is now a sleepy town famous for its history. Don’t expect a flourishing tourism industry here like Hampi. Its an ideal place for a picnic or a hike in the nearby hills of Savandurga. For a decent meal, one has to come back towards the Bangalore City which is not more than an hour by car. One could also try Ruppi’s Resort off Magadi road, near the Dodda Alada Mara (Big Banyan tree).

(This post was originally written in Apr. 2010 for my personal blog,  http://coffeenirvana.in/)

Add Comment
 
 
The Chamundi hill stands as a backdrop to the city and provides some fantastic views of the busy Mysore city at its foothills. The hill itself is a few kilometres outside the city and is at a height of 3,489 feet. On the way up and from the top of the hill, one cannot miss the spectacular Lalitha Mahal palace with its sprawling gardens. 

I always saw the hill for what it is rather than the famous temple sitting atop its peak. But one cannot escape the fact that Chamundi hill is more popular for its divine deity, Goddess Chamundi, than its geographical topology. Almost every tourist bus makes a stop here to introduce the tourists with the divine deity who guards the city. During my recent trip to Mysore, I visited the hill with the intention of touring the temple of the fiery Goddess. 

Picture
According to the legend, the Goddess, in a bloody battle, slew the cruel king Mahishasura with her powerful trident. In doing so, she freed the people of Mahisooru or Mysore (the land of Mahishasura) from his demonic reign. 

In her Mahishasura Mardini (slayer of Mahishasura) avatar, she looks fierce, a south Indian version of Kali, with multiple arms holding various weapons and adorned with a garland of skulls. 

As you drive up the hill, there are huge signboards that declare it’s a ‘plastic free’ zone. Sadly, the reality is different with plastic bags strewn everywhere – another case of good intentions with no follow up. While the road uphill is motorable, the parking is an uneven dusty zone. Many tourist buses are parked here and each time a bus enters or leaves the area, there’s a lot of dust and smoke.
Picture
There is a huge colourful statue of Mahishasura, the demon King, with a raised sword in one hand and a snake in the other. He stands at the summit, a few yards away from the parking. 

When I came here as a kid, I thought he was pretty menacing. Now he's just a colourful backdrop for photoshoots by the many tourists, especially on weekends and public holidays. 

The board ‘Way to Temple’ marks a meandering path through a small congested claustrophobic lane of shops that sell statues (of every Hindu god), beads, shawls, books, cassettes and everything else that is divine. Only when you reach the end of the melee, you can see the towering gopuram. If you want to avoid the chaos take the parallel path, away from the shops, which leads to the same temple. Be careful with your snacks as there are monkeys in abundance here. 
The Wodeyars, erstwhile rulers of Mysore, patronised the goddess and worshipped her in this charming hill temple. The Temple’s gopuram, the 1000 and odd granite steps from the base of the hill to the top and a huge monolith statue of Nandi (divine bull), halfway up the hill, were some of their contributions. 

The shrine itself is much older and the hill deity is associated with Hoysala and Vijayanagar reign. Some of the stone carvings resemble the Hoysala style of architecture.
It is an inescapable fact that Mysore’s history and prosperity is perpetually linked to Goddess Chamundi’s blessings, sworn by even her rulers. Next time you are in Mysore, do visit Chamundi hill. Even if you do not believe in the divinity, it’s atleast a pleasant drive up the hill and cooler than the plains below. Only, avoid the trip on fridays and weekends as the crowd is huge.

(This post was originally written in Feb. 2009 for my personal blog,  http://coffeenirvana.in/)  


Add Comment
 
Share