MaLLeyali ChaLLiyali ... Madikeri li...

Monsoon is a always a welcome change after a hot summer. Bangalore rains ditched us this time, forcing we freaks to chill out in Coorg. The plan was to visit the recently explored Mandalpatti which I would still call Mugilpete of Gallipata Movie. Suhas & Ajay came up with this plan and a casual mail from Suhas ended up crossing over 100+ mail exchanges and finally 19 of us were there loitering around Suhas's house before leaving. This was the higgest number till date in Travel freaks's history, like any other trips this time too we had 3 freshers. Cute lil cousins of Adi that was Namratha & Divya and Manu & Dani's roomie Manja!

As always Suhas had a plan, Bhavana & Adi assisted him arranging for stay & travel resp. The bus journey troubled few of us by sending jerks at few places but nothing could disturb my sleep. I was still sleeping when we reached the homestay and I just grabbed few more hours of nap after reaching my bed. And when I woke up to look around I could feel I was trembling in that freezing cold. It was raining outside. A perfect day to sip in some nice hot coffee reading a novel lying crawled on your bed watching the rain outside. Another lazy trip by this crazy bunch of people. I loved the Homestay - Ganga. It was like cozy, private and amidst so much greenery. Great choice Bhavana.

A hot water bath gave a much needed warmth. Idly and Sambhar along with kesari bath for breakfast. Around 10:30AM our jeeps were ready to drive us to Madalpatti. All the way at every turn Manu, dani & Manja recollected their bike ride to this place a year before. They had a story behind every hump ditch, every paddy field, every mountain & every water stream that came our way. And no doubt I envied them like any other time they talk about it. Every turn jeep took, Manu would say "Che Bike irbekithu Kaili" (I wish my bike was with me) and Dani, Manja would turn back to give him a admitting smile.

It was an extremely cloudy day. Forget the view of mountains around we could hardly see things 10mts ahead. It was a disappointment but we refused to stop enjoying what was in offer for us. We climbed up the view point and enjoyed the breeze for a while. We walked up another mountain and posed for pictures jumping in air, feeling the drizzle dancing on our face and decorting our face with those tiny dews. It was already lunch time and we had animals howling for food inside our stomach. Chapathi-kurma & yumm Veg bath with raitha was stuffed in quickly near a small hotel. Sipping a hot tea in that drizzling rain on those wet roads surrounded by cloudy mountains... can any combination be better than this. I loved it totally!!!

Madikeri is a place I never get bored inspite of those n number of visits. It charms me with its great beauty and makes me one with nature so naturally.

Abbey falls, another beautiful place to visit in Madikeri. The grandeur of the falls was far below than usual due to ccanty rains. But still was a treat to enjoy watching the falls dropping down on the rocks and flow down the bridge you are standing on. Little fishes seemed dancing with the water falls. I kept watching the falls waiting and enjoying those fishes performing for us. Dani sent tremors on the bridge while dancing like those fishes. He was imitating our bollywood couples running in slow motions with the waterfalls in background.

The next few places was Gaddige. I found the below details from Internet about this place – “Gadduge is a place with tombs of Kodava royalty, court dignitaries, royal priest and the royal bulls. It is situated on a hillock with a good view of the city. The monuments are built in Indo-Sarcenic style with domes in the center and turrets at the edges. The central tomb is of Doddaveerarajendra and his queen. To the right is the tomb of Lingarajendra, built by his son Chikkaveerarajendra in A.D. 1820. To the left is the tomb of the royal priest Rudrappa, built in A.D. 1834. Nearby are buried two royal officials, Biddanda Bopu who died fighting Tipu Sultan, and his son Biddanda Somaiah.”


Omkareshwara temple which I remember this temple for its huge fish tank right in the entrance. Internet says – “In 1820 a significant building built by Lingarajendra was Omkareshwara temple. This has both Islamic and Gothic style of architecture. There is a tank in front of the temple. There is a footpath leading to a small "Mantap".  The walls of temple are decorated with intriguing paintings, including Sai Baba and Raghvendra Swamy. A huge tank situated opposite the temple is populated largely by fishes; devotees are allowed to feed them. According to the legends, the Shiva Lingam worshipped in the temple has been imported from Varanasi.”


Madikeri fort is a huge wall constructed around the meuseum, Mahathma Gandhi public library and the mercara palace. Two elephant like looking structures also take their share of place inside the fort. You can walk along this wall till the other end. The monsoon rains made this fort look grey and greens covered on those wet walls.


Raja Seat – where kings spent their evenings relaxing and enjoying a spectacular view of their kingdom. A beautiful garden treats every one making those cozy to enjoy a beautiful sunset. Rains dint let us say bye to sun, it was extremely foggy. A toy train takes you around the place giving you a better view of the city around. In a pleasant weather, it is lovely place to take a stroll in the garden enjoying the lights following the sunset.

The fun was not over, it had just started on reaching our home stay. Guys dint waste much time and settled down with their favorite drinks. Endless number of dishes decorated our dinner carpet and we almost hogged in every thing offered as soon as it was served. Dinner was late as there were bluff masters bluffing around for a long time. One after the other said good night and moved to their respective rooms to catch a nice sleep inside their warm blankets.