Coorg – The home to the brave and the beautiful. – Part 1

When Guns and Roses sang

“Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home Oh, won't you please take me home”

I dint know it was about Coorg – The home to the brave and the beautiful. It must have been about Coorg. Or at least I can relate it to Coorg. A paradise land hidden away from the crowded and the chaotic cities. A treasure which needs to be guarded and preserved.

Let me share my weekend visit to Coorg. As planned by a friend, we started off the journey in a chauffeur driven car from Bangalore by 1.00 am of 12^th May. Bangalore was quite “not Bangalore” that late night. Quite open roads and silent neighborhoods. Bangalore sped away at a greater speed, which was achievable only during such late nights.

With great anticipation and excitement all of us were so keen to reach Coorg. After couple of hours roads became narrower and started to get bumpier. The roads became lonesome and then it became curvy. It was uphill ride and somtimes downhill drive. All this made me feel that we are getting nearer to our destination. Speeding on the bumpy, curvy drunken roads was getting more exciting since we all knew that the tiring journey was gonna end. The wind became crisp and was blowing with untouched freshness. It was all more exciting because it made me feel that we are already in the vicinity of our destination. At around 5 my friend Naveen, who was the planner and architect of the whole trip, announced we are in the Coorg region. He was late in announcing that. The vegetation, the mountains, the coffee plants, the lonesome granny trees, thick green blanket of the region and the crispy fresh breeze had already sung the welcome chores. This is Coorg – The home to the brave and the beautiful.

We couldn’t resist the urge to step out of our tavera and scream out to the sleepy bushes and to the lazy mountains that “look we are here, Wake up!!” I think the best time to step in to Coorg’s premises is at dawn. One will fall in love with the place at the very first site. The greeny smell of the wind was a magical healer. It took all the tiredness away in a brisk. The crispness it carried was enough to rejuvenate our soul. I knew that I will never be enough with words to describe what I was seeing, what lay in front of my eyes. The misty flora and fauna was so proud that they belong here. They were all majestic.

The tavera took us to the home-stay where we had booked our stay. The lush-green drive way, the coffee plantation back yard and the boundaries set by the mountains was the location to our home-stay. My mind murmured “Oh dear god how happy am I to be here, how lucky these people are to be here at this paradise”. It is home to an elderly couple, who pass their days welcoming, comforting, and wishing bon voyage to many. Let me mention them as Uncle and Aunty. Uncle greeted as inside the house. A cozy home with bigger than average room dimensions.

(to be continued)