Mangalakarthi

Antique Pavala male
Pathak

Pathak
Kokkethathi
Jomale

Dubare elephant camp

Dubare Elephant camp is accessible by a ferryboat. At the camp you can give the elephants a good scrub and feed them their chow! For the finale you can opt for a royal elephant ride…

Anthurium.

Coorg anthurium, is in great demand these days. According to Hindu, more than 70 percent of the anthurium produced in India is cultivated in Kodagu district

Love or hate?

Do you like pigs but hate pork?
Or do you like pork but hate the way pigs look?

Kadambutte

Benne Kadambutte is steamed rice dumplings. The texture of kadambutte is like butter, consequently the name Benne Kadambutte !!

Brake inspectors meandering in Coorg.

We were driving down the narrow road near Virajpet. Out of the blue, a buffalo appeared. The driver braked really hard. The car came to a screeching halt. Phew!I looked at the buffalo and the buffalo looked at me.Our eyes locked!I wondered how he could be so placid when we were totally tensed.

"These buffaloes are so calm," I said to the peaceful buffalo, "Will you teach my teacher to behave just like you do?"

Most people in Coorg, set their cattle free every morning to fend for themselves. The cattle roam around till dusk and return home.

Clock tower,Virajpet

Mrudu has written a nice write-up about how Mercara needs a facelift. Here is my wish-list of improvements for Virajpet-
Make the road pedestrian friendly.
Tidy up of the Bus stand and car park.
Widen the main streets.
Provide proper parking facilities.
Restore all the old buildings, repair and paint.
Build public toilets.
Clean restaurants.
A nice library.
Strict traffic policing!
Do you have anything to add?

Deadly Stroll !!

A walk in the coffee thota can be a tactile adventure for a child raised in a city. During holidays, we spent a lot of time in Coorg. My son was then 7 and had never been to a coffee thota. So I promised to take him on a nature walk!!!
Dad’s plantation is located on a hill. My son and I climbed the hill one evening. The long and difficult ascent was quite a challenge.

We crossed the dip and went up along the uneven hillside. When we reached the crest, he was awed by the breathtaking view. The verdant vista stretched to the far horizon.

No voice of man, no whir of traffic! The birds chirped merrily. Frogs and insects chorused loudly. I handed him the camera and he snapped pictures of trees, plants, birds and insects. Away to the left the hill dropped steeply. All of a sudden, my boy ran down like roadrunner, flinging his arms out, shrieking. I watched in horror as he ran down the slope. The light was already dim, the path was narrow and he was soon at the far edge of the steep hill. Below I could see the roof of my house. With appalling suddenness my boy’s scream came to an end. When I rushed to the accident site, the victim lay perfectly still; fatally injured.

A tiny DEAD frog under his tiny foot!
Thank God for a laborer who was chopping wood in that area. My son was saved in the nick of time!! Or else the victim would have been my CHILD!!

Fruity memories!

This morning, my parents arrived from Kodagu with a bag full of fruits. They were soooo fresh! Kodagu is a place known for dense forests, rivers, hills, mountains, acres and acres of coffee plantations.

Our house is about half a mile away from a river. When I was little, my cousins who lived nearby, visited me on a daily basis. We sometimes swam in the river. After our swim, we walked on the riverbanks aimlessly.In summer, the 'belu' (farmlands) were vacant. We treaded on the empty fields without adult supervision, without fear!!



We often went into the thota to look for fruits with a group of tikes(laborer’s children) to assist us in our trekking adventures. Every season had something to offer. We used to sample plethora of fruits growing on the trees. It was fun to pluck fresh mange(mangoes), bale(bananas), puli(oranges), chakkotha(grapefruits), pineapple, butter fruit(avocado), kayi( guava), passion fruit papayas and other exotic fruits (some names I don’t even know) and eat them without the fear of pesticides.

Now, when I see fruits in the market I think of my land. But I know it’s tainted with pesticide….I feel bad that my city bred son is missing out on the organic fruits I once grew up with!!

Umbulu

Picture of a Leech


I live in a crowded metro with my parents. When I go to Coorg during school breaks, I enjoy myself to the core. In May I stayed at thata mane for a week. I woke up one day and insisted on a nature walk. I promised Ma and Pa that I was going to be brave if I spotted any horrid creatures in the thota.

It started off as a pleasant walk. We ignored laborers who warned us about abundant red ants, occasional snakes and leeches. The trouble started when I felt something crawling up my pants. I was horrified when I found something wiggling on my foot. It was a LEECH(umbulu). We abruptly ended our nature walk and rushed back home.
When we checked again, there were three fat leeches slurping blood from my foot. Daddy tried to yank one off. Big mistake! In A minute, my pant was soaked with blood. I cried in horror and soon a crowd of laborers/family gathered around me. For the laborers it was sheer entertainment.

Thatha screamed at Ma for pulling off the leech (leeches leave their teeth under your skin soon resulting in nasty ulcers) Thayi applied some 'chunna' while I cried. Like magic the umbulu just rolled off my foot and fell to the ground. Thatha’s driver burned off the leeches with a lighter. I was baffled when I heard a crackling sound as it burned!!

It took five people to calm me down. I was totally traumatized by the leech experience and vowed never to return to thatha’s estate!

But then, the beauty/love of Kodagu beckons me again!!

By Junior(9 years old)
Wrote this with help from momma :)

Minna pulu

Writer-Junior (7 years old)

One summer evening we were sitting on the porch at my thatha’s house in Coorg. I saw a glowing bug in the dark. I caught it in my hand and looked at it closely. It was a firefly. As I was looking, it stopped moving. The glow went away. Mom and I thought it was dead. I was sad. I thought I had killed it.Then suddenly it started moving. I saw the light. I was happy to see the firefly fly off to the sky.
That evening my thayi told me some fun facts about the fireflies.In kodava thakk it's called "minna pulu". Fireflies come out only in the night. They use their glow to attract other fireflies and to keep enemies away. Next summer, I will be spending many evenings in my thayi’s garden, waiting for fireflies.