Chikamaglur Trip-16th-18th
May,2014
It all started one Friday morning when my youngest sister
who was on leave called us and said lets go to Chikamaglur. My elder sister
comes every year and stays for a couple of months. And both of us meaning my
younger sister and me travelling she has
been always complaining that this time you all take leave as she also wanted to
travel. I could not as I already had taken some 10 days leave in April and my new company certainly would
not give me leave within a span of one month .So I was really not sure whether
I should go or not. In fact my family had travelled to Coorg and Mysore and
came back two weeks back without me. But this time I was tempted to as it was a
weekend and I had not till now seen Chikamaglur. So I decided to buy time and
suggested we leave in the 2nd half preferably after 4 pm as I would
have finished my work too. First my younger sister Kala did not agree as it
would be late by the time we reached as she was the one who was supposed to
drive and the second thing was we were only ladies travelling this time three
sisters and my mom. But the most important thing was to first check out the
place where we had to stay as it was an impromto decision and none of us was
first of all ready and also did not know the place where we could stay so
booking was out of question. Kala and me were
busy calling friends and checking
out the best place to stay. Finally she suggested a couple of resorts
which I checked out which were a little costly but then as there were ladies
only in this trip we said okay. But then the last minute I too remembered one
of my contacts and then called him .He suggested a place which was not listed
in the website but I knew it will be the best as I trusted him . Kala wanted to
go to her choice of resort and I wanted to go the one which my friend
suggested. Finally we decided at least to leave the house first and on the way
we can decide which place to go.
We all four of us left late around 3:30 -4 pm and we started
calling all the places that Kala had decided first. Luckily for me all the
places were booked in advance and hence no rooms were available in any of her
place .So finally it came to me. I called up my friend and had the rooms booked
in the place called Bagmane Heritage. Chickamaglur is some 280-300 kms from
Bangalore and the place where we were going was another 25 kms from Bangalore. We
took the Hassan Highway as that was the best route and I had travelled earlier
in that road when I had been to Kalasa, another place near to Chikamaglur. One of the best
highway roads travelled I must say. Whenever I have travelled this road I have
enjoyed as there is no traffic
,smooth road and you feel that you are the only ones on the road .Good we took
that route as we could reach faster as we had left late. We reached Hassan in
an hour and a half and Kala also is a good driver. From Hassan we took the
Belur and Chikamaglur route. We did not
stop in between which I wanted to as the scenery on the way tempts you to stop
and enjoy and take snaps which I had done last time I travelled with Mushtaq
and Suma to Kalasa which is the same route by the way. By 6:30 we had reached
Chikamaglur and from there we still had another 25 kms to go and it was getting
dark. I started calling Krishi who was the owner of the Homestay who gave us
directions but then we got a little confused .And the network was also getting
weaker as we were in Ghat section. So we took a u turn and came back to a place
where I got network, called up Krishi again and took directions once again and
continued. This place where we had to go is in Mallandur and we reached there by 7:30 pm .The Homestay
is still in the interiors and we had to continue for another half an hour in a badly maintained mud road .My mom and
sisters got scared as it was dark and we could not see one single person on the
road. And in these places which are mainly coffee plantations each house is
very far from another one. Also there is no proper lighting. Kala was losing
her cool blaming me for bringing us to a
place where there is no proper roads and getting scared and all that driving
had exhausted her as well and she started telling that we will go back .Plus
there was no network in any of our
mobiles to call Krishi and recheck once again. All around us was only forest
and mud road ahead with not a single soul in sight. We did not know what to do
and as this was the first time we ladies only were travelling we decided to
turn back and head towards Chikamaglur. We had almost gone some 5 minutes that
we saw one car coming behind us .He started honking his car horn and kept
following us. Kala was panicking I do not know why .I told Kala to slow down saying
it could be Krishi .Well it was Krishi who had seen our car lights from his Homestay and saw us
reversing and came behind us.He told us to follow his car we took a u turn once
again and followed him. To our surprise, we
saw that the place where we had backed out earlier was just 5 minutes from his Homestay. So we
finally reached Bagmane Heritage at
around 8:30 -9 pm.
I loved the place instantly as it reminded me of Nammane in
Kalasa .This place was even ancient than that place. The front portion of this
place is 250 years old and the back portion is 300 years old.I am always
fascinated by ancient homes, scenic beauties, no network, farms, a typical home stay where you get the
feel of staying in a home and not a hotel
with all the basic facilities and comforts being provided so the minute I entered I knew
I was going to love my stay here. This place is in a very secluded place.My mom
too liked it. But the problem started with both my sisters Kala and Vandana.
Kala is someone who would opt for a nice resorts with hi tech facilities . Vandana
was okay but this time she was influenced by Kala. Anyways we could not do
anything that late. So we thought of deciding tomorrow. Meantime Krishi introduced his family, His wife Pallavi,
which we learned after someone is an excellent cook, his two kids Akyan ,son
and daughter Prakyan and 2 dogs Bingo ,
a 3 year old German Shephard and Ruby, one and a half year old local breed. I
instantly fell in love with Ruby who is very active and a naughty one and also extremely jealous if we petted Bingo .The
family is very hospitable. As we were all tired first we had tea. After
sometime, Krishi arranged for a bonfire in his estate. Then he offered us
betelnut wine which had an excellent taste. Usually I take a sip but this time
I had the entire glass. In fact all of loved the wine. We invited Krishi’s
family also to join us but because Pallavi had to cook dinner for us , she went
to the kitchen. Meantime we had a good time around the bonfire enjoying wine
and starters, taking all kinds of funny snaps. By the time we finished it was
around 11 pm. We had our dinner by 11.30-12 am .Pallavi had cooked biryani,
chicken, mutton ,rice ,sambar ,rasam and
raita .We were famished. We ate
well and retired to bed. Before going to bed krishi had told us about the next
day itinerary. He wanted us to take us for a small trek in the mountain. I was
ready but the challenge was to make Kala and Vandana agree as they had their
inhibitions of staying there and they wanted to decide that first. I told
Krishi I will inform him tomorrow and we all went to sleep.
Next day morning Vandana started to like the place and by
the time Kala also agreed to stay back it was already 9 am. I heaved a sigh of
relief. So we went off for a plantation walk in Krishi’s estate. But before
that Krishi got some toddy to taste. This toddy is made from Byne tree which he
later showed us in his plantation. I had never tasted one so was tempted to try
it. It tasted somewhat like buttermilk and I had one big glass .Krishi said it should
be tasted in empty stomach. If tasted in the evening you start getting that
high. It is some 300- 400 acres of his land where he has grown coffee, pepper
which are the main crop here. He showed us two different varieties of coffee –Robusta
and Arabica out of which Arabica yields higher returns. In his plantation we
saw different varieties of beautiful, poisonous mushroom. He also showed us
Bison marks-wild buffaloes which were quite common in his plantation he said. Well
the walk lasted for an hour. After we returned we had a heavy breakfast of
dosa, idlis, chicken etc which was very well prepared. We also saw around the house
which has everything which will now be an antique piece from an old Palki. We
saw Krishi’s old collection of coins,old brass and copper vessels. Upstairs
there is a large hall which can house some 25 people and has a large open
window where you can have a lovely view of the mountains. Behind their house
they have grown lot of spices.I saw a Cardamom plant too. Now that we had only
one day in fact half a day, we had to plan our itinerary well. After taking an
hour break, Krishi took us to Kavikal Matha which is on very high altitude with
nice scenery on top. Normal cars cannot go as it was a very steep climb so we
had to hire a jeep which took us there. I must say it was a lovely view on top
where we could view Mulyanagiri hills on the opposite side. But definitely not
like the one we saw in Kalasa. Kalasa was excellent. We took a small trek down
the hill , took snaps and came back on the top. By that time it started
raining. While returning we visited the Matha which worships Shiva. Krishi told
us that there is tale of how if one does not leave slippers at the designated place,
the bees which reside in the hills beside the temple come and sting those
people. The temple was closed and the idol had been moved to the priest’s home
.We prayed, took coffee in the priest’s place and returned. It was around 4 pm
when we reached the Homestay .We had a late lunch which Pallavi had prepared
.By that time Krishi had taken permission from the wildlife sanctuary .Our next
trip was to Bhadra Wildlife sanctuary located in Mutthodi forest. It is a
reserve for tigers. The entry is Rs 400 per person. I was hoping to see one as I
was not able to see it in Ranthambore, Rajasthan. The entry timing is from 3 pm
to 6 pm. By the time we finished lunch and went there it was 5:30 pm. The last
jeep which takes visitors had gone inside. I was not sure if we could go inside
as there was only one jeep and by the time it came back it would be closing
time as it is a one and a half hour safari inside. Krishi somehow managed to
arrange for a jeep for us which was not a safari jeep but the one that the
forest ranger uses. By the time we left inside it was already 6 pm. We all were
excited hoping since it was evening we might sight some tiger as it is a
nocturnal animal. As it not an open jeep ,it was covered on both sides and top
by the plastic sheet. So it was a fight between 3 of us sisters to sit in the
corner where we could view and take pictures. I did not budge .So Vandana gave
the other seat to Kala. Kala had her Zoom camera and I was clicking pictures
from my Tab. The only animals we saw in abundance was only Bisons, not even one
single peacock. The funny part was that there were a lot of fleas around in the
evening and in the jeep and they were all biting Kala only. Krishi told her
that these fleas usually come near Bisons, wild buffaloes. The entire journey
the fleas troubled Kala. She was busy slapping her body everywhere. I just
could not control my laughter. We were highly disappointed. But the journey
still continued as we had paid. By 6:15 pm it was already dark. Both my two
sisters are Big Darpoks. They were so scared of travelling in the dark inside
the jungle.in fact they kept telling me to close the plastic cover in the back
of the jeep for the fear where some predator might jump at the back of the jeep
as it was open. But I did not. So Kala who had been fighting for her seat in
the corner kept sliding slowly from the corner to the middle and finally to the
other corner just behind the driver’s seat. It really was a funny scene to
watch. In fact it was really pitch dark inside the jungle and the driver also
drove very fast putting the flashlights of the jeep only later. Finally we made
it to the entrance at 7:30 pm.The driver told us later it was the first time
that any visitors was so late in side the forest. I guess it makes our first
Night Safari in our Lives.But like I told very disappointing as we did not
sight any animals except Bisons. We came out of the santuary by 8 pm and you
can call it irony we sighted Sambar Deer on the main road. We paid Rs 400 for
seeing nothing in the forest.
We reached Bagmane by 8:30 pm. All of us had tea and coffee.
By that time Pallavi had prepared some nice kebabs for starters. This time she
had also prepared some desserts along with the dinner. My stomach was really
full from a heavy lunch so I had only desserts for dinner. We again had a late
dinner and by this time Kala’s mind had also changed because she was chatting a
lot with Pallavi and taking her recipes. We slept of late.
Next day it was time for us to leave. We had to check out at
8 am as we had plans to see Belur and Halebid on the way to Bangalore both of
which are Heritage sites and also Kala wanted to reach Bangalore before evening
for fear of getting struck in traffic. We took leave of the wonderful family of
Krishi’s who were excellent hosts after taking few pictures with them. This
time Kala took Krishi’s number. I am sure she will have plans to visit this
place again as she had really enjoyed. Visiting this palce once again with my
friend’s definitely is in my Itinerary.
