Driving in the rain
Often many a times, travel happens all of a sudden and this
was no exception. But the difference here was the family that I had to take
along with me. I still remember the days when Mohan, Prasanna and myself used
to go on trips with 10 mins of notice time. Mohan and myself were bachelors and
that made the situation less complicated. Inspite of being a family man,
Prasanna used to heed to our calls and join us on adventures. Now we are
realizing how difficult it was for Prasanna to manage the travel
Sometime in Oct 2014, Prasanna, Vanitha and Hari went to Coorg to attend a function. It was beautiful Saturday morning
and I called him to enquire about his journey. While speaking to him, I
instantly decided to travel to Coorg and return back with him to Bangalore. He
was supposed to return on Sunday evening. But then, I could not just leave my
family alone and go on a trip. Me and my wife also had to go for a discussion
at a school for admission to my daughter Shriya. But we decided to head towards
Coorg after the discussion at school. I had about 1 hr time for preparation and
thus the journey started
If I had been for myself, spending overnight in a bus stand
is no big deal. But then, we started to look out for good homestays . Getting
availability at a short notice was a problem as well. We called up close to 15
homestays. Finally we were able to get confirmed accommodation at The Nest
Homestay, run by Mr. and Mrs. Sagar. The place was near Gonikoppa and we had to
take Virajpet road. We began the trip by taking the NICE road
We took the deviation at Hunsur and proceeded towards
Virajpet. For the homestay, the first check point in a place called Thitimati.
Just a few mins away is a place Devarapura. In here we have to head left to
reach the homestay
The road here is a narrow one and on either side of the road
we could see lush green paddy fields
Once we cross the paddy fields, the road becomes very steep.
So had to be extra careful while ascending this stretch. This stretch directly
leads to the homestay
This is a very beautiful home stay situated amidst lush
green nature. It has 3 rooms and to our pleasant surprise, we were the only
guests that day. The hospitality was supreme and I really have to compliment
the Sagar family for making us feel at home
Shriya enjoyed the stay very much and did not want to head
back to Bangalore at all
After staying overnight at the homestay, after breakfast we
headed towards Madikere to pick Prasanna and family. We thought of taking the
Virajpet route, bur Mr. Sagar advised us a better and scenic route. Also we
wanted to visit Dubare. Thus we headed towards Polibetta. This was a very
narrow road for quite a while until we hit a stretch good patch. There was
hardly any traffic and is advisable only to travel during day time
Once we started nearing Polibetta, the road quality improved
and the scenic beauty improved too
We could see numerous coffee estates and most notably the
Tata coffee
There are plantation trails, but make sure to have prior
appointment/booking
Golf course in Pollibetta
Once we crossed this stretch and headed towards Dubare, the
road quality deteriorated. Also it started to rain. I always wanted to
experience rain in Coorg and here I was presented with an opportunity
On the way the rain subsided and we arrived at Dubare. This
is an elephant camp run by the forest department and on the banks of Cauvery
river. The department runs ferries to a small island that houses elephants
We did spend quite a bit of time there and finally had to
head back to Bangalore. We picked up Prasanna and family enroute at Hunsur and
reached Bangalore around mid night
Overall it was a whirlwind trip [we covered 508 KM], but a
thoroughly adventurous one
posted by Vikram Attiganal @ 9:13 AM
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