Day 2 | Coorg in Monsoon, A Hidden Treasure

On the second day of the trip, I woke up at 5:20AM (one of the rare days when I get up in such an early hour), as I’m somewhat insomniac when I am out for a trip. After a short while, stepped down from the bed and came out on the terrace of my home (stay). For a few minutes, I almost got numb felt like I had lost my senses. I was standing there and was living my dream. The view for which I always dreamed of was in front of me and that too in a very unexpected way and place. On the back of my home was a huge hill covered with morning mist and clouds, on the other side was small homes all around and in between was I… also covered with clouds. Wherever my eyes were going, it was green and misty. A jaw dropping scene it was for any hill station and had seen it only in movies. For some time I stood there almost like a statue without even blinking once. It was tough to believe that I was not dreaming and that all was really happening. There can be no “Good Morning” better than that.

We got ready and planned to visit Omkareshwara Temple first which we missed the last day.

Omkareshwara Temple

Timings: 06:30-12:00, 17:00-20:00                                                                                    No Entry Fee

Just after the entrance of the temple, we were welcomed by a huge pond having a Mantapa in the center… reminding me of the Golden Temple of Amritsar. The specialty of this temple lies in its architecture which is hybrid of Gothic and Islamic styles. It has a tomb on the top in the middle and four towers at the four corners… quite similar to the ones seen in Muslim Dargah.  This temple is a very popular religious center in Coorg, present in the list of almost all tourists who come to visit Kodagu. It was early in the morning when we reached there so it was very calm, peaceful and full of divinity. We visited the temple having Shivalinga as main shrine and took blessings of the God. There are a number of fishes present in the pond which get attracted towards you if you will put your hand in the water.

Mantapa in Omkareshwara Temple

Just like many other temples, this temple also has an interesting story which is quite famous among the locals. It was built by King Lingarajendra II in the 18^th century. It is said that he killed an innocent Brahmin for his political ambitions. For whatever reason he killed him, but he could not get rid of Brahmin’s spirit who kept on troubling him. Then he was advised by some wise people to get a special lingam from Kashi and install it at the place where he killed the Brahmin. He followed their advice and constructed the temple. It is said that he got relief from the spirit after the temple was built. From then on, this Shivalinga is worshipped as Omkareshwara.

Notice the Towers at the corners...

Madikeri Fort
Timings: 09:00-17:00                                                                                                         No Entry Fee

Madikeri Fort is just a stone’s throw away from Omkareshwara Temple on the opposite side of the road, located right in the center of Madikeri Town. Once a grand fort that changed hands from one ruler to another, now most of its part is used for Administrative purpose by Madikeri Government and it being a Sunday major part of it was closed. Even on weekdays, it is not open for tourists as now it is Deputy Commissioner’s office. Two huge masonry elephants were the next to catch our attention on the opposite side of the palace. They were standing there framing a picture of perfect guards, tall black in color. There is a way behind the elephants’ to go up on the rampart. The rampart is long enough to have a nice walk and view the entire fort. Also lush green lawns which are very well maintained around the elephants invite the tourists to have a tryst with them. Then we saw the steps to go inside the lawn from the rampart but they were very narrow. So after clicking pictures we came again to the rampart instead of going down. Fort is on considerable height, offers panoramic views of Madikeri town.

Madikeri Fort

Masonry Elephants at Madikeri Fort

Although, there is nothing much to do here but if you want to feel the History and charm of the place then a one time visit is must. We all were already soaked in the beauty of Kodagu, so without wasting no time started to click pictures. There was also a Ganesha temple present in the fort premises. It was a small temple but like other temples was soaked in divinity.

Birthday Celebration…

It was time to had breakfast and without wasting time we were heading towards Neel Sagar again ;) . No doubt the food was good again. Around 10AM we left the restaurant with some water bottles so that they could be used on the way. It was the birthday of one of the friend so we decided to buy a cake and planned for a small cake ceremony. Next destination for the day was Talacauvery.

Random click enroute

On the outskirts of town towards Talacauvery, among the coffee plantations was a small Coffee Pub having their sitting area by the side of the road, a perfect place for enjoying the cake ceremony. That coffee pub is operated by a Self Help Women group named Rajarajeshwari Self Help Women’s Association means that it is under the ownership of a group of women and two women remain present there at a point of time. We took their permission to enjoy and started to cut the cake. My friend got very happy as till then she was not aware of this plan of ours. After enjoying a lot we realized that it had been too long and it was time to leave. But then we ordered coffee there and believe me its taste was out of the world which I am going to remember for the rest of my life. Also those ladies were very happy and interacted with all of us. I must say they were very nice… at the end after waving them bye we left their place.

Talakaveri

By watch, it was 12 in the noon but there was no sign of noon there. Our surrounding was not letting us believe our watches. On the top of that just after we got down from our car… clouds started to cover that area, they were coming towards us like they were racing with each other that who will cover us first and within some time we were also inside clouds and this feel had already taken us on seventh cloud. On the other side were the steps for the Origin… Yes Talakaveri is basically the place from where river Kaveri originates. It was a very small square with a small temple where a Brahmin was worshipping and water in that square was totally transparent (Photography was not allowed there so we couldn’t take any picture of it). But I’m still lost in the thoughts that how such a small square can be the origin of such a mighty river.

Just outside Talacauvery

A kund (tank) is also there just beside the small square and considered sacred. I believe sometimes people take bath there as indicated by unclaimed clothes lying there but no swimming is allowed in it. Later we got to know that a dip in this tank is considered auspicious by Hindus. Just beside this one, another sacred tank is also there in which people were throwing coins and hoping for their wishes to come true. Here was actually the face of the Nandi from where water was coming but where that water was going i.e. a link from this place to the main river is not visible here. Water is said to be flown underground and visible as the main stream some distance away.

There are two temples; one of them houses an ancient linga which is dedicated to Lord Shiva while other temple is dedicated to Lord Ganesha. After visiting both the temples our eyes were on endless stairs which leads to the peak of Brahmagiri Hills. We started to ascend slowly feeling the mesmerizing views which were spread all around us. Although we were covered with misty clouds and were not able to see the distant views but still every step was a new point to click pictures. Steps would be more than 300 but it was not tiring because of the weather. When I reached on the peak, my friends were already resting there.

Who can throw the coin at the correct place?

Temples

On the peak was the scene that is not so common in Southern part of India that you can see yourself to be completely inside clouds and able to remind of mighty Himalayas. We were not able to distinguish that where one cloud is ending and other is getting started. We all were standing there in serenity and nobody was talking to the other infact we were left speechless. Suddenly a drop of water dropped on my face awakening me from my deep thoughts. We realized that it is going to rain any time soon, so started to have group pictures. On a clear day you can enjoy the panoramic views of whole Talacauvery from here. Anyways we waited for the rain to stop but after sometime started to come down… with our fun continued. Again at the entrance of the temple we sat down in the shelter. I think in the whole trip this was the place where we enjoyed most. Although this place is devotional but definitely a must visit place for the tourists visiting Coorg because of its breathtaking location. 

View Point

In between Talacauvery and Bhagmandala lies a View Point which offers the panoramic view of the green meadows and the undulating hills. From that point we could see a view of distant hills. Also roads were lonely, so it was time for us to click pictures from every angle. Sometimes we were on the middle of the road the next instant in between the rocky hill on the other side of it just to get one perfect angle :P .

Road opposite to View Point

Bhagmandala

Bhagmandala, the place of Triveni Sangama, which we left on the way while going to Talacauvery is only 8kms downwards. It is the meeting point of three rivers; Cauvery, Kannike and the hidden Sujyothi. The point behind calling Sujyothi hidden is that we can clearly see the other two meeting but there was no sign of the third one, then I enquired with the locals present there and they told us that the third river Sujyothi remains hidden and can be seen only on some special occasions. Normally people take a dip in the Sangama and then proceed towards Talacauvery. On the other side is the Bhagandeshwara temple with the large gopuram and having idols of Bhagandeshwara, Subramanya, Mahavishnu and Ganapati. After the dip in Sangama, people worship in this temple.

Confluence of three rivers: Kaveri, Kannike and hidden Sujyothi

It gets closed at 1:30PM to reopen at 3:00 PM; by the time we reached there it was 2:20PM so we decided to have our lunch by then. It’s a small place so you do not have too many options except some small ones. After lunch we went towards the confluence and removed our shoes before entering in the water. In the water was a small Shiva lingam, we offered our prayers there after washing our face with the water instead of taking dip. Rain had again started to pour in so we went in the temple and worshiped there.

It was 3:30PM; we were again running on SH90 towards Todiandamol Hill. We had plan to see a palace in the foot of the hills but then we realized that we can see only one either the Palace or Iruppu Falls. So we decided for Iruppu falls. We reached there by 5:50PM after driving at max possible speed (A big thanks goes to the driver) but unfortunately it closes at 5PM. So we could not get in as it is not considered safe to enter late there. As it was monsoon season, so rain was also playing with us. Outside the gate is a small shop where we placed our order for tea and enjoyed it with rain. But truly, we were in no regret that we could not see the fall as we enjoyed every moment of the day and because of rain, enjoyment increased to a  level high.

Iruppu Fall as seen from the road

After deciding to visit Nagarhole and Iruppu next time, we left for Bangalore. But only 1 km away from the main gate, we could see a distant view of Iruppu Fall. So clicked some more pictures before final departure. It was time to get lost in our gossip sessions and the whole discussion about the trip started which continued till Bangalore.

We got into our old rooms at 2:20AM in the morning and while stepping in it, my heart got filled with one word “NOOOO”… because it wanted to go back at that moment itself.

With a little more calculation you can visit Coorg in monsoon too as it is purely romantic at that time. You can find some days when rain will be less with the help of weather forecasting sites.. and if it is light rain for 4-5 days then you can safely visit on sixth day.. going in rain will give a completely different experience.. I promise :) :) :)