Much has already been said about the lush landscapes, blue mountains and the coffee cardamom plantations of Kodagu (as was the original name), so without going into all that I shall directly plunge into my narrative.
We drove down from Bangalore to Manchalli, a remote plantation area located in the southern part of Coorg. We purposely wanted to avoid the very crowded Madikeri! On the way we stopped for breakfast at Kammaths, then at the Iruppu Falls where we broke for coffee and banana chips. Upon reaching we were warmly received by Kabir, the owner at his home-stay, The Jade.
It was a beautiful spacious heritage property situated atop a hill, if you looked around you would see a hazy undulated horizon of the Brahmagiri hills scarcely visible through the fog. We sat on the patio for a while admiring the sheer space and the nakedness of it !
Kabir and his family stayed in the back portion of the house, while the front was rented out to visitors. Kabir’s little daughter Laxmi would come sometimes to play with us, while his mother and wife busied themselves in preparing delicious meals and wine, the taste of which was so distinctly inherent to Coorg!
The lazy day vanished behind the hills with a mild sun setting the hilltop aglow with a chastened orange. Time had stopped and yet we could not help wish the day would last a little longer…
Next morning we strolled down to the brook, for a packed breakfast of coffee, sandwich, cup-cakes and fruits. The gurgling brook with its pure cold water felt good on the skin. The Sun was bright and the greenery resplendent…
We idled away, lazing in the Sun, under the cool shades of trees, playing with pebbles from the brook and tried not to think of our departure following lunch. Things you would not really do in the city, even if you managed some leisure !
We took a walk through Kabir’s private plantation. The air was moist and strewed with aroma of coffee. We were shown how coffee was made, right from the seed to the cup. The taste of his organic in-house brew was so much more stronger than the ones regularly served in cafes. It was almost like turkish coffee.
Post another sumptuous lunch of pork curry, bamboo shoot and rice, we started for Bangalore, stopping by Madikeri to pick up some filter coffee powder.
We visited Bylakuppe, the tibetan settlement which also housed the beautiful Namdroling monastery, on our way back.
We reached Bangalore around evening with a promise of going back which is yet to be fulfilled… The trip was a perfect weekend gate away for us… it was hard to believe that there lay such a quiet scenic world beyond a few hours drive, perfectly accessible at the drop of a hat.