varalaru-history-of-goldfather

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Coorg trip

We(myself, Pam, kesri, 'Getthu' and naren) went on a trip to coorg last weekend.

I will be moving out of Bangalore next week and have been here for the past 3 and 1/2 years and this trip was a long pending trip. Coorg is a place of scenic beauty and is near Bangalore(6 hrs way by State Road Transport). Our earlier plans of a trip to this place never materialized. Was really happy to be in Coorg atlast. It was a great trip and we had lots of fun there. In this post, I would like to share some of my experiences and photos of this trip.

The Team:
Myself, PAM(my roommate and college friend), Kesri(our friend), Naren and 'Getthu" (who is "Getthu"?) [WE MISSED YOU SUNDI(another friend with whom we usually trek/go on trip)]

Plan for the trek
Kesri and myself are moving out of Bangalore and are heading for our higher studies. Hence myself, PAM and kesri decided to go for a trip and enjoy the last few days together. "Getthu" and Naren too agreed to accompany us.

The whole plan was a "express plan". We-decided-and-we-tripped. Learning from our previous "trip-planning" [Note: This is just "trip-panning', the actual trip never happen] experiences, we decided not to spend time on detailed planning. We started from Bangalore on the friday evening and reached MADIKERI(the capital of coorg) the next morining.

DAY 1:
On reaching MADIKERI, we had to decide on the base camp. We decided to stay in "Madikeri" itself (KushalNagar was ruled out) as Madikeri had lots of good hotels in and around it. We stayed at "Hotel Hill Town" which is close to the Madikeri bus-stand.

(In the hotel room)
It requires enough 'Getthu' to pose in a towel , Who is "Getthu"?

Nisargadam Island:
After the breakfast(which sucked), we took a local bus and reached kaveri Nisargadama. Nisargadama is a Island formed by the river Kaveri. It is 2 Kms from Kushal Nagar which is inbetween Madikeri and Mysore.

Me analyzing the map of Nisargadama

Nisargadama island had a Elephant safari, Rabbit Park, Deer Park, Bamboo watchtowers and one could spend time in the caveri waters that runs swirling around this beautiful Island. This Island is covered with Bamboo forest and rare trees .

At the entrance to this Island there is a huge hanging bridge.

Pam, Kesri, Naren standing on the bridge with "Getthu" (What is "Getthu"?)
Near the Water surface

Kesri on Bamboo Watch Tower
Worm through PAM's eyes

Dubare Forest:
This forest is situated 12 Kms away from Nisargadama and KushalNagar. This forest is on the banks of cauveri river and is famous for its elephant safari. There is a river rafting too. The cost of a 12Km rafting is Rs.600. Still water rafiting is Rs.100.

At worst moments, People loose "Getthu" and don't raft (Who/What is "Getthu"?)

Golden temple, Tibetian Monastry, Kushal Nagar:
3 Kms from kushal nagar, there is a golden temple and tibetian monsatry. In this monsatry reside thousands of buddhist monks. There are three big buddhist temples inside this campus. The temples are adorned with beautiful painting depicting the religon, massive statues of Buddhas and tibetian decoration (One notable decoration is the statues made of butter and offered to God).

Massive Statues in the temple

A Painting of Buddha

We returned to base camp (Madikeri) after visiting the Tibetian monatery.

Peter Scotch and "Getthu":
"What is a trip to mountainous area, without having the "Getthu" to drink fine Whisky?" He said. (What is "Getthu"?). We took him to the nearest bar and let him indulge in peter scotch. He was a happy person after the 2 large and a small.


DAY 2:

Abbi Falls:
Abbi falls is 9 Kms away from Madikeri and it costs around Rs.100 (roundtrip) to reach this place in Auto. We started our day 2 by paying a visit to this place. Abbi falls is just another falls where one can enjoy.

Here too we had "Getthu" to take bath in the waterfalls(what or who is "Getthu"?)

After a good time at Abbi falls, we went to Raja's seat which is bang in the center of Madikeri. This is a place where raja gets a good view of the hills whenever he wants a good view. Then we went to the Madikeri museum and fort.

Raja's Seat

In the Fort

Talakaveri:
is 45 Kms from Madikeri and is supposedly the origin of river kaveri. There is a temple of Shiva and CauveriAmma at this place. This place is 8 Kms from the town of "Bagamandala".

We rushed back to Madikeri after the visit to Talakaveri.

Kesri and the Leech:
It was a great trip. Kesri had some bad experiences though. After the bath at Abbi falls he found out a fat leech(that had sucked quite an amount of blood from him) in his undergarments. He was quite scared after this experience. For the remaining part of the trip he was under the impression that a "leach" is always sticking to him and sucking the blood out of him. He was sworing at us for not helping him out to get rid of this diablolic sticky leech.

What/Who is Getthu?
According to "Getthu", "Getthu" is a tamil word that can never be literally translated into any other language without loosing its actual meaning. A close definition(in English) for "Getthu" would be
- Don't care attitude
- Show off/Uber sexual
- "What the hell??" I can do it attitude.

"Getthu" is a young man who has "Getthu" to do any funky think to impress anyone(particularly girls). He has the "Getthu" to go in the dangerously flowing Kaveri to collect the mangoes floating along its waters. He also feels that if the mangoes had remained in their trees for a longer time, it would have been good to bite them. He looses his "Getthu" when it comes to rafting though. His elder brother is Kesri.

Quiz: Find out "Getthu"?

This trip turned out to be a great trip for everyone of us.

posted by Goldfather @ 3:49 AM   0 Comments