I wouldn’t blame you if you can’t spot Coorg or Kodagu on the map or in the yellow pages. Most can’t. It’s only when you actually meet good-looking Coorgi girls (or guys) that you bother to ‘google’ this southern Karnataka district. And I don’t mean Nikhil Chinnapa or Ashwini Nachappa.
We started out early morning in a cramped Qualis. Driving on the Mysore bypass road, we passed Nagarhole National Park. The drive through the park was more of a wildlife safari than a regular drive. From Mysore, two hours later, we reached our homestay in Kutta in Coorg district.
As you enter Coorg, the smell changes. I’m just kidding. It doesn’t. Seeing all the coffee plantations, you do wishfully imagine the whiff of a cup of brewed bitter Robusta and Arabica.
The best time to visit Coorg, or Kodagu, is after September when winter sets in. But, plan a visit in the rains. That way you can avoid the hordes of silicon millionaires from Bangalore who swamp all its resorts, homestays and lodges. What’s more, accommodation is cheaper during the monsoon. Even summers are as pleasant as Mumbai is in winter.
The weather is very English. It rains anytime and soaks you well. By the time you grope around for your umbrella, it stops, as good ol’ Murphy would have it.
Wake up and smell the coffee...
Coorg’s cold climate is also perfect for growing coffee and stimulants of other kinds. This I realized after meeting our homestay owner, Bopanna, whom I mistakenly referred to as “Dopeanna” on several occasions.
Bopanna ushered us into two cottages—a bamboo hut and an old Coorgi house facing the coffee plantations and paddy fields. In the room, an old photo frame generally used for Hindu gods had a poster of Bob Marley smoking a bob. The room was an old wooden tiled Coorgi house, unlike the mundane perfection of tour packages.
It was unusually quiet even for a homestay. Not even a dog’s bark. Which reminds me, most Coorgis keep dogs, almost always a German Shepherd or Rottweiler. There was a stray dog around but the leopard ate it, Bopanna said. There are wild boars too. Try to shoot them only if you are a good shot. Else that might be the last shot with your manhood intact. These aggressive animals are known to run between the legs with their sharp tusks. Of course, you’d be shooting with a double-barrel gun. Every Coorgi has one.
The British conferred martial tribe status on certain ruling communities: Sikhs, Gorkhas, Marathas, Rajputs and Kodavas (Coorgis). The Kodavas got a special right to carry guns without a license anywhere in India just like the Sikhs were allowed to carry swords. In return, the Brits got a home away from home, an excellent place to hunt, and of course, Indian pork curry.
Sight-seeing is not just limited to coffee. From Kutta town, you can drive down to Iruppu for a bath in a waterfall and a good laugh at the jokers wearing sweaters. Not far away is also a place for white-water rafting in grade four rapids. Also, a good place to visit is Dubare for its elephant training camps where you can conclude that education is bad for animals too.
Iruppu falls
Can't bunk this one - Elephant training class at Dubare
In Coorg, one of the places to visit is Bylakuppe near Kushal Nagar, known for its Tibetan settlement and the Golden Temple—the largest Tibetan monastery outside Tibet. Housed are 60-feet statues of the Buddha and Padmasambhava. The eyes of one of the figures stare violently at you, an intense meditative look.
Buddha along with Padmasambhava at Golden Temple in Bylakuppe
The monks who sold their Ferraris
Don’t forget to try the steaming momos in the restaurants outside. And if you survive, spend some time watching your friends shop for Tibetan flags, mugs, jewellery and other useless things.
Being a vegetarian, I surprisingly had a good time at the homestay in Coorg. We felt like guests in somebody’s house, not a guest house. Food included fresh mushroom from the estate, pork and chicken gravy, eggs, bamboo shoots, spicy mango sambhar, rice dumplings, dosas and ghee rice.
I'm the rainbow dude...
Language is diverse in Coorg. You can count at least five different dialects and languages spoken including Coorgi, Kannada, Malayalam, and some tribal dialects. The Coorgis, believed to be descendants of a Central Asian Iranian tribe who came in with Alexander, speak a language that is similar to Malayalam.
