A couple of months ago, a holiday with eshani and divya is something I’d never think would happen.... but here we are. In Kodagu (Coorg) literally in the midst of nature……. And, of course, coffee.
At the unearthly hour of 5:15am, I met Eshani at the check in line for our Indigo flight.. and after some ducking to avoid her father (I, apparently wasn’t a part of this trip at all according to her parents), long security queues and a weird walk up ramp to the aircraft we made it to our seats. For a fleeting moment I got the feeling that I was eloping to Bangalore with Eshani… but I soon came to my senses.
Just as I am about to start a conversation, madam declares that she’s come home at 2am last night and promptly gets herself lost in dreamland. With nothing better to see than Eshani’s wide open mouth (thankfully not snoring) and the Indigo air safety instruction card, I could hardly wait to get in to Bangalore and get moving.
Finally, we get out of Bangalore airport and sit ourselves down in a Meru cab (thank god for air-conditioning) and begin our journey into the city. Ironically, the car ride into the city from the airport, takes almost as long as the flight from Mumbai to Bangalore airport. My co-traveller still looks like she’s just come out of a rave and is back asleep (with mouth open) as soon as the cab moves… However this time, I had good old Avaya to keep me occupied.
I drop an ebullient eshani at Divya’s place in BTM layout and head to Poorva’s place to spend the day with her. A very nice lunch at via Milano, a nice afternoon nap and a few emails later, we were at another Italian restaurant for dinner. With Eshani,Divya and Vinod (divya’s pilot friend) in tow. Eshani declares and enforces a firm plan to leave at 4:30 am the next day from Bangalore so as to reach our destination in Kakkabe by 10:30. This of course didn’t happen, and true to IST form, we end up leaving Bangalore at 5:30am.
It took us a while to find the elusive Mysore road leading out of Bangalore to Mysore but non existent signboards, muddled directions from passers by and divya’s confident misdirections we finally ended up on the right road, i.e. SH17 from Bangalore to Mysore, further on to Hunsur and then the Coorg region. Here, I have to appreciate the efforts of the Karnataka government. Even the state highways are no less than a four lane road most of the time, and with a brilliantly maintained surface. The quality of the road also spurred the two women towards the driver’s seat, and pushed me closer to cardiac arrest. The female driving stint ended with a Kannada mama catching Eshani for breaking a signal in Hunsur.
From Hunsur, we move on to the heart of the Kodagu region with our first port of call being a small town called Gonikoppal. By now, our fuel situation was looking grim and the sight of an HP pump was most comforting. We fuelled up in Gonikoppal, and Divya and I spent some time getting our never-ending work life sorted out (much to the consternation of a belligerent Eshani). Finally, work sorted, we headed out towards the scenic (according to the travel book) road from Gonikoppal to Siddhapur via Polybetta. Polybetta is known as Planters paradise. There are acres and acres.. no rather hectares and hectares of coffee plantations, some private, but most owned by Tata Coffee. True to Tata form, Tata coffee has a 9-hole golf course, and a fantastic guest house right in the middle of their plantation.
These roads are absolutely beautiful… Coming to Coorg is really an out of India experience. I am suddenly beginning to understand why this is called the Scotland of the east. This statement proves to be even more true as we meet Kodava’s (the native peoples). But more on that later. For now we drive through some of the most scenic roads I’ve ever seen towards a place called Dubare, which has an Elephant training camp. There are some anxious moments when Eshani’s mom called me (remember the earlier mentioned jhol??) but we get through that and back on track soon enough.
Dubare is a nice place, sitting on the banks of the Kaveri river, but we miss the daily event where elephants are brought out to be scrubbed down. So we content ourselves with a self-service thaali lunch, dipping our feet in the politically famous Kaveri and a very nice cup of coffee.
We leave from Dubare and drive through Amathhi, Virajpet, Kadana, and such on to Kakkabe and Palace Estates (The home stay where we planned to bunk-up for the next couple of days). Some bad roads later we reached the place and suddenly the entre drive was more than worth it. This place is beautiful. It sits at the base of the tallest peak in this region, called Thadiyendomol, and looks out over some awesome vista’s over the Vindhya ranges of the Vindhya ranges of the Western Ghats. The area is completely surrounded by dense forest and coffee plantations. We then spend a relaxed evening in the courtyard, talking about a lot of stuff and generally enjoying the atmosphere. Divya still has work to do, so while she does that Eshani and I head out for a walk around.
Dinner happens in the dining room of the Apparanda family home, and our host Prakash Poorvanna and his family are very welcoming and kind. We plan out the next day with Prakash, and have a very interesting chat with his brother on the history of the Kodava’s and this region in general.
From what we learned from the family, and other readings, the Kodava’s seem to be a very interesting community indeed. Almost exclusive from the Hinduism, Islam and Christianity that dictates social life in most parts of this country. These people revere their ancestors. There are 1000 original clans, each having between 100 and 1000 members. Each clan has an ancestral home in the Kodagu region called the Aine Mane. Traditionally, on one day each year, the entire clan meets at the Aine Man to pay respects to their ancestors. Since the Kodava’s are originally a hunting community, respects are paid with an offering of Pandi curry (pork curry) and a small amount of alcohol. Every Kodava house will have a small shrine as a place of worship with one small oil lamp where respects are paid to their ancestors. Over the years, influences of Hinduism have brought some idols of Ganesha etc. also to these shrines.
What I said earlier about Coorg being the Scotland of the east, shows up even more from the Kodava culture, which is very similar to the clannish traditions found in Scotland. The house where we’re staying and the coffee estate land surrounding it has been in the Appranda family for five generations. The ‘living room’ of the house has photographs and sketches of the founding fathers of this place and land. After two very early mornings we were all looking forward to a good nights sleep, and accordingly it was lights out at 10pm that night.
The next morning, we wake completely refreshed and ready to face another day of natural wonder in Coorg. As per plan we start out on a trek to the peak of Thadiyendomol, the highest peak in this region. This part of the western ghats is unlike anything I have ever seen in Maharashtra or around. Its evergreen and ever-beautiful. Words cannot justify what we saw here, and I’ll leave it to the photographs to tell the story better. All I can say is that it was amazing. We had some scares with Divya having a close shave with a leech (man that scream when she saw the leech must have been heard all the way back at IBM Bangalore) and me getting actually bitten but on the whole the girls did much better than I’d expected. Eshani’s unwavering enthusiasm saw us reach the saddle before the peak to an old stone wall. But that’s where I decided to turn back. The further road went through a dense forest known to have snakes (King Cobra’s no less) and we didn’t have a guide with us. In spite of that we did climb higher than any other peak in the region and saw an awesome view of seemingly never-ending mountain ranges spread before us.
On the way down Divya seemed to have found wings almost literally.. she beat the Eshani and me down to the beginning of the paved road by nearly 20 minutes. Maybe her speed had something to do with the birthday plans she was making with Vinod (pilot friend mentioned earlier). If all goes well, madam will return to Coorg in true Maharani fashion in a private Cessna two-seater, and land on the peak of thadiyendomol no less, hence saving her the tackiness of walking through the bush and braving leeches... But for now, she had to be content with making plans for this visit on the phone with various people, including Vinod of course.
We came back to the home-stay to an amazing lunch (its funny how being tired and hungry makes even simple potato bhaji seem amazing J). Eshani’s legs were giving her trouble so we decided to rest for a bit before going on to see some more places in and around. Left again in the evening to see the Nalanakad palace, which is a hunting lodge for the local Kodava kings. It’s a small place, unremarkable except for the viewing window from inside where the King could hide and still see the entrance of the palace to keep a watch on who was coming and going.
The sign board outside the palace again reminded me of how common snakes must be in this region. All over the palace there is an emblem of a coiled cobra, which is meant to ward of evil (and probably the snake itself). It is clear that the cobra is much feared and hence revered in this region. The dangerous snake is apparently very common in these parts and as recently as a few weeks back a King Cobra has been found in the nearby town of Madikeri.
We then move on to the Igguthappa temple, which is the main place of worship for the Kodava’s. They also call it the temple of the rain god. This is actually a Shiva temple with Lord Subramaniya by his side. The temple being the main Kodava place of worship os contradictory to what I’ve described earlier about this community but it just goes on to prove the influence that Hinduism has had over the years on this tribe.
We initially find the temple closed and I am overwhelmed by the many idols of the Cobra (naga devta or naga saap) that are present all around the temple. Did I mention my major snake phobia?? I guess not. But I was definitely unnerved by all the references to this snake I saw all around me. I guess people revere and idolize what they fear the most, which in this region seems to be the snake. Just as we are about to leave the temple the local priest happens to come out just then and calls us back. He shows us around the temple and gives us a religious angle to Kodava culture.
He tells us that the temple is 1200 years old, dedicated to the lord at that time by the reigning kings. The day we went happens to be a festival day, where pilgrims come and do what is called the Tulabaar seva. This is give offerings to the gods measured by a weighing scale. Apparently all the Kodava clans have got money together to renovate this temple, and work has been on for a year or so. Kodava’s come here for their yearly festival in March where the idol is carried to the origin mount of the God, for a puja and abhishek. After hearing the story, we also prayed to the lord of the locals, and offered our contribution to the daily food distribution that happens at the temple. The priest then anoints us and me particularly with sandalwood paste and jasmine flowers on the ear. That sure made an awesome photograph…
From the temple we go on to the town of Napoklu, which is the closest center in this area to buy provisions and other odds and ends. This is a small town, typically crowded and dirty, with pushy bus drivers, unruly rickshaws and weird people. We buy our things and head back to the tranquility of palace estates.
After an encounter with a huge truck stuck on the road, we treated to a traditional Kodava meal for dinner, made from Otti (rice based roti similar to bhakri) and Kumbh (mushroom) curry made from wild mushrooms. We thank our hosts for dinner and tell them a bit about Mumbai. The surprise and wonderment on their faces is absolute and we also extend our invitation to them to come and see Mumbai in all its modern and non natural wonder. We return to our rooms and after some time pass photography and a little first aid, its time to rest again.
I woke up on Sunday morning well rested after a good nights sleep. I managed to find toothpaste after a bit of a hunt and finally came back into the land of the living. I saw eshani making estate visit plans with Prasad (one of our hosts) and only then did realization dawn that we only had a couple of hours left in this place. Nevertheless, after a traditional coorgi breakfast of Paput (rice based cake, sweet or unsweetened variety) and coffee, we were ready to go see the Poorvanna estate as planned.
Prasad, who took us around the place was a human data mine of information. He identified innumerable plants and had a little bit to say about every one of them. The wealth of information and experience I saw in him was truly overwhelming. While walking through the estate and seeing the variety of fruits, flowers and other vegetation that grows there, we realized that this region goes beyond just coffee and cardamom plantation. The soil here seems to be rich enough to grow anything and everything. At the risk of repeating myself, it again seems like a place more set in Europe than in India. Surprisingly, Prasad and the family even use European names for many of the fruits and veggies rather than the more commonly known Indian ones.
Finally, the estate walk is done and its time to leave… We cant believe that its already time to start back to reality but there’s very little choice. We decide to make the most of the drive back to Bangalore and leave the Poorvanna family with our thanks and a reminder of our invitation to Mumbai. We take a brief stop on the way to meet Prakash, who had to go to Virajpet to attend a wedding and then head back towards Amatthi and on to Orange County (the famed coorg resort) for lunch.
We made it to Orange County just in the nick of time, and were immediately disappointed with the place. After spending 3 days in such original, authentic and unpretentious surrounds, this place was just too artificial. The only advantage of eating here was that I could accompany lunch with a glass of chilled beer.
We left from the resort heading towards Bangalore and decided to drive through Polybetta once again, just to see the region one more time. But I think Coorg was as unwilling to let us go as we were to leave it. 10 minutes down and the road was completely blocked for re-surfacing. Undeterred and refusing to see the signs, we turned back and took another road to Gonikoppal. This road happened to be some bylane which the government had completely forgotten about, and accordingly had more potholes than road. But eventually, after a very bumpy ride, we made it into Gonikoppal.
At Gonikoppal, we stopped off for some coffee and honey shopping. By the time Eshani and I came back to the car with the coffee and honey, we realized that we were missing Eshani’s camera. Back we went through the roads of the tiny town retracing our steps to each shop, but no luck. The fact that the only Kannada we knew was Kannada goth illa (or I don’t know Kannada) made itself very very prominent while searching for her camera. The one shop we could not check in was closed. We spoke to the lady and left the place on a very dejected note.
It was kinda quiet on the drive back to Bangalore, with divya engrossed in her wine bottle and eshani brooding her camera. I was passing the time driving in the darkness and screaming abuses at every car who wouldn’t give way. We finally made it back to Bangalore at 12:00am after some impossible traffic and heavy rain, only to realize that Eshani and I had to be up in 4 hours to go to the airport and catch our flight back to Mumbai.
The next morning we landed in Mumbai, and on our way back called the lady in Gonikoppal who was supposed to check for Eshani’s camera. Amazingly, they had found it in the store that had gotten closed. That took care of the one pitfall of an awesome overall trip.
At the unearthly hour of 5:15am, I met Eshani at the check in line for our Indigo flight.. and after some ducking to avoid her father (I, apparently wasn’t a part of this trip at all according to her parents), long security queues and a weird walk up ramp to the aircraft we made it to our seats. For a fleeting moment I got the feeling that I was eloping to Bangalore with Eshani… but I soon came to my senses.
Just as I am about to start a conversation, madam declares that she’s come home at 2am last night and promptly gets herself lost in dreamland. With nothing better to see than Eshani’s wide open mouth (thankfully not snoring) and the Indigo air safety instruction card, I could hardly wait to get in to Bangalore and get moving.
Finally, we get out of Bangalore airport and sit ourselves down in a Meru cab (thank god for air-conditioning) and begin our journey into the city. Ironically, the car ride into the city from the airport, takes almost as long as the flight from Mumbai to Bangalore airport. My co-traveller still looks like she’s just come out of a rave and is back asleep (with mouth open) as soon as the cab moves… However this time, I had good old Avaya to keep me occupied.
I drop an ebullient eshani at Divya’s place in BTM layout and head to Poorva’s place to spend the day with her. A very nice lunch at via Milano, a nice afternoon nap and a few emails later, we were at another Italian restaurant for dinner. With Eshani,Divya and Vinod (divya’s pilot friend) in tow. Eshani declares and enforces a firm plan to leave at 4:30 am the next day from Bangalore so as to reach our destination in Kakkabe by 10:30. This of course didn’t happen, and true to IST form, we end up leaving Bangalore at 5:30am.
It took us a while to find the elusive Mysore road leading out of Bangalore to Mysore but non existent signboards, muddled directions from passers by and divya’s confident misdirections we finally ended up on the right road, i.e. SH17 from Bangalore to Mysore, further on to Hunsur and then the Coorg region. Here, I have to appreciate the efforts of the Karnataka government. Even the state highways are no less than a four lane road most of the time, and with a brilliantly maintained surface. The quality of the road also spurred the two women towards the driver’s seat, and pushed me closer to cardiac arrest. The female driving stint ended with a Kannada mama catching Eshani for breaking a signal in Hunsur.
From Hunsur, we move on to the heart of the Kodagu region with our first port of call being a small town called Gonikoppal. By now, our fuel situation was looking grim and the sight of an HP pump was most comforting. We fuelled up in Gonikoppal, and Divya and I spent some time getting our never-ending work life sorted out (much to the consternation of a belligerent Eshani). Finally, work sorted, we headed out towards the scenic (according to the travel book) road from Gonikoppal to Siddhapur via Polybetta. Polybetta is known as Planters paradise. There are acres and acres.. no rather hectares and hectares of coffee plantations, some private, but most owned by Tata Coffee. True to Tata form, Tata coffee has a 9-hole golf course, and a fantastic guest house right in the middle of their plantation.
These roads are absolutely beautiful… Coming to Coorg is really an out of India experience. I am suddenly beginning to understand why this is called the Scotland of the east. This statement proves to be even more true as we meet Kodava’s (the native peoples). But more on that later. For now we drive through some of the most scenic roads I’ve ever seen towards a place called Dubare, which has an Elephant training camp. There are some anxious moments when Eshani’s mom called me (remember the earlier mentioned jhol??) but we get through that and back on track soon enough.
Dubare is a nice place, sitting on the banks of the Kaveri river, but we miss the daily event where elephants are brought out to be scrubbed down. So we content ourselves with a self-service thaali lunch, dipping our feet in the politically famous Kaveri and a very nice cup of coffee.
We leave from Dubare and drive through Amathhi, Virajpet, Kadana, and such on to Kakkabe and Palace Estates (The home stay where we planned to bunk-up for the next couple of days). Some bad roads later we reached the place and suddenly the entre drive was more than worth it. This place is beautiful. It sits at the base of the tallest peak in this region, called Thadiyendomol, and looks out over some awesome vista’s over the Vindhya ranges of the Vindhya ranges of the Western Ghats. The area is completely surrounded by dense forest and coffee plantations. We then spend a relaxed evening in the courtyard, talking about a lot of stuff and generally enjoying the atmosphere. Divya still has work to do, so while she does that Eshani and I head out for a walk around.
Dinner happens in the dining room of the Apparanda family home, and our host Prakash Poorvanna and his family are very welcoming and kind. We plan out the next day with Prakash, and have a very interesting chat with his brother on the history of the Kodava’s and this region in general.
From what we learned from the family, and other readings, the Kodava’s seem to be a very interesting community indeed. Almost exclusive from the Hinduism, Islam and Christianity that dictates social life in most parts of this country. These people revere their ancestors. There are 1000 original clans, each having between 100 and 1000 members. Each clan has an ancestral home in the Kodagu region called the Aine Mane. Traditionally, on one day each year, the entire clan meets at the Aine Man to pay respects to their ancestors. Since the Kodava’s are originally a hunting community, respects are paid with an offering of Pandi curry (pork curry) and a small amount of alcohol. Every Kodava house will have a small shrine as a place of worship with one small oil lamp where respects are paid to their ancestors. Over the years, influences of Hinduism have brought some idols of Ganesha etc. also to these shrines.
What I said earlier about Coorg being the Scotland of the east, shows up even more from the Kodava culture, which is very similar to the clannish traditions found in Scotland. The house where we’re staying and the coffee estate land surrounding it has been in the Appranda family for five generations. The ‘living room’ of the house has photographs and sketches of the founding fathers of this place and land. After two very early mornings we were all looking forward to a good nights sleep, and accordingly it was lights out at 10pm that night.
The next morning, we wake completely refreshed and ready to face another day of natural wonder in Coorg. As per plan we start out on a trek to the peak of Thadiyendomol, the highest peak in this region. This part of the western ghats is unlike anything I have ever seen in Maharashtra or around. Its evergreen and ever-beautiful. Words cannot justify what we saw here, and I’ll leave it to the photographs to tell the story better. All I can say is that it was amazing. We had some scares with Divya having a close shave with a leech (man that scream when she saw the leech must have been heard all the way back at IBM Bangalore) and me getting actually bitten but on the whole the girls did much better than I’d expected. Eshani’s unwavering enthusiasm saw us reach the saddle before the peak to an old stone wall. But that’s where I decided to turn back. The further road went through a dense forest known to have snakes (King Cobra’s no less) and we didn’t have a guide with us. In spite of that we did climb higher than any other peak in the region and saw an awesome view of seemingly never-ending mountain ranges spread before us.
On the way down Divya seemed to have found wings almost literally.. she beat the Eshani and me down to the beginning of the paved road by nearly 20 minutes. Maybe her speed had something to do with the birthday plans she was making with Vinod (pilot friend mentioned earlier). If all goes well, madam will return to Coorg in true Maharani fashion in a private Cessna two-seater, and land on the peak of thadiyendomol no less, hence saving her the tackiness of walking through the bush and braving leeches... But for now, she had to be content with making plans for this visit on the phone with various people, including Vinod of course.
We came back to the home-stay to an amazing lunch (its funny how being tired and hungry makes even simple potato bhaji seem amazing J). Eshani’s legs were giving her trouble so we decided to rest for a bit before going on to see some more places in and around. Left again in the evening to see the Nalanakad palace, which is a hunting lodge for the local Kodava kings. It’s a small place, unremarkable except for the viewing window from inside where the King could hide and still see the entrance of the palace to keep a watch on who was coming and going.
The sign board outside the palace again reminded me of how common snakes must be in this region. All over the palace there is an emblem of a coiled cobra, which is meant to ward of evil (and probably the snake itself). It is clear that the cobra is much feared and hence revered in this region. The dangerous snake is apparently very common in these parts and as recently as a few weeks back a King Cobra has been found in the nearby town of Madikeri.
We then move on to the Igguthappa temple, which is the main place of worship for the Kodava’s. They also call it the temple of the rain god. This is actually a Shiva temple with Lord Subramaniya by his side. The temple being the main Kodava place of worship os contradictory to what I’ve described earlier about this community but it just goes on to prove the influence that Hinduism has had over the years on this tribe.
We initially find the temple closed and I am overwhelmed by the many idols of the Cobra (naga devta or naga saap) that are present all around the temple. Did I mention my major snake phobia?? I guess not. But I was definitely unnerved by all the references to this snake I saw all around me. I guess people revere and idolize what they fear the most, which in this region seems to be the snake. Just as we are about to leave the temple the local priest happens to come out just then and calls us back. He shows us around the temple and gives us a religious angle to Kodava culture.
He tells us that the temple is 1200 years old, dedicated to the lord at that time by the reigning kings. The day we went happens to be a festival day, where pilgrims come and do what is called the Tulabaar seva. This is give offerings to the gods measured by a weighing scale. Apparently all the Kodava clans have got money together to renovate this temple, and work has been on for a year or so. Kodava’s come here for their yearly festival in March where the idol is carried to the origin mount of the God, for a puja and abhishek. After hearing the story, we also prayed to the lord of the locals, and offered our contribution to the daily food distribution that happens at the temple. The priest then anoints us and me particularly with sandalwood paste and jasmine flowers on the ear. That sure made an awesome photograph…
From the temple we go on to the town of Napoklu, which is the closest center in this area to buy provisions and other odds and ends. This is a small town, typically crowded and dirty, with pushy bus drivers, unruly rickshaws and weird people. We buy our things and head back to the tranquility of palace estates.
After an encounter with a huge truck stuck on the road, we treated to a traditional Kodava meal for dinner, made from Otti (rice based roti similar to bhakri) and Kumbh (mushroom) curry made from wild mushrooms. We thank our hosts for dinner and tell them a bit about Mumbai. The surprise and wonderment on their faces is absolute and we also extend our invitation to them to come and see Mumbai in all its modern and non natural wonder. We return to our rooms and after some time pass photography and a little first aid, its time to rest again.
I woke up on Sunday morning well rested after a good nights sleep. I managed to find toothpaste after a bit of a hunt and finally came back into the land of the living. I saw eshani making estate visit plans with Prasad (one of our hosts) and only then did realization dawn that we only had a couple of hours left in this place. Nevertheless, after a traditional coorgi breakfast of Paput (rice based cake, sweet or unsweetened variety) and coffee, we were ready to go see the Poorvanna estate as planned.
Prasad, who took us around the place was a human data mine of information. He identified innumerable plants and had a little bit to say about every one of them. The wealth of information and experience I saw in him was truly overwhelming. While walking through the estate and seeing the variety of fruits, flowers and other vegetation that grows there, we realized that this region goes beyond just coffee and cardamom plantation. The soil here seems to be rich enough to grow anything and everything. At the risk of repeating myself, it again seems like a place more set in Europe than in India. Surprisingly, Prasad and the family even use European names for many of the fruits and veggies rather than the more commonly known Indian ones.
Finally, the estate walk is done and its time to leave… We cant believe that its already time to start back to reality but there’s very little choice. We decide to make the most of the drive back to Bangalore and leave the Poorvanna family with our thanks and a reminder of our invitation to Mumbai. We take a brief stop on the way to meet Prakash, who had to go to Virajpet to attend a wedding and then head back towards Amatthi and on to Orange County (the famed coorg resort) for lunch.
We made it to Orange County just in the nick of time, and were immediately disappointed with the place. After spending 3 days in such original, authentic and unpretentious surrounds, this place was just too artificial. The only advantage of eating here was that I could accompany lunch with a glass of chilled beer.
We left from the resort heading towards Bangalore and decided to drive through Polybetta once again, just to see the region one more time. But I think Coorg was as unwilling to let us go as we were to leave it. 10 minutes down and the road was completely blocked for re-surfacing. Undeterred and refusing to see the signs, we turned back and took another road to Gonikoppal. This road happened to be some bylane which the government had completely forgotten about, and accordingly had more potholes than road. But eventually, after a very bumpy ride, we made it into Gonikoppal.
At Gonikoppal, we stopped off for some coffee and honey shopping. By the time Eshani and I came back to the car with the coffee and honey, we realized that we were missing Eshani’s camera. Back we went through the roads of the tiny town retracing our steps to each shop, but no luck. The fact that the only Kannada we knew was Kannada goth illa (or I don’t know Kannada) made itself very very prominent while searching for her camera. The one shop we could not check in was closed. We spoke to the lady and left the place on a very dejected note.
It was kinda quiet on the drive back to Bangalore, with divya engrossed in her wine bottle and eshani brooding her camera. I was passing the time driving in the darkness and screaming abuses at every car who wouldn’t give way. We finally made it back to Bangalore at 12:00am after some impossible traffic and heavy rain, only to realize that Eshani and I had to be up in 4 hours to go to the airport and catch our flight back to Mumbai.
The next morning we landed in Mumbai, and on our way back called the lady in Gonikoppal who was supposed to check for Eshani’s camera. Amazingly, they had found it in the store that had gotten closed. That took care of the one pitfall of an awesome overall trip.
