Two things which I am unable to resist: A strong freshly brewed filter coffee and rain drenched and ever so little sun kissed Malanad. The combination of these two is my view of paradise
Well, as September rolled by this year, the rain gods decided to spend a lot more time with its eternal love - Mother Earth. There was water everywhere, fields inundated, Dams pushing to the Brim, and greenery everywhere you could look
Even cities like Bangalore which is devoid of much greenery turned a bit green
Standing outside my office and looking at the rains pounding the concrete walk paths. i was deeply immersed into its melancholy and at that very moment, my thoughts drifted away from the office to the world outside, the places where I have set my foot, the places where I have slept through the night listening to the Night Jars and the Cicadas, The Mountains which I have climbed which has humbled me ... The western ghats and the Malanad.
A picture of Malanad is not complete without its gushing waterfalls and in a jiffy i was thinking about the gorgeous Jog Falls.
That was it...I decided It is time for me to pay a visit to the Malanad and have some conversations with my long lasting love
Well for me Jog falls is not just about visiting the magnanimous falls, take some pictures of the falls, selfies and updating to social sites. For me it is a journey to serenity.
I will talk to you about this in a moment
As i made my plans, the day was 24th Aug 2018, I timed my trip to coincide with my nephew's wedding at Sagar. Sagar is the outlet to Malnad if I can say
I landed at 5:30 am in Sagar bus stand after a tiring night journey and as a ritual I found the first hotel where i could get my morning cup of my brew
I decided to walk around the city and experience the day break....As i trudged along enjoying the cool breeze made even more sweeter with the overnight rains, I could see on the horizon, the shadows of the mountains, i could see the areca plants swinging slightly to awaken the sleeping dawn
In few moments, i saw the perennial fight of the sun and the clouds which is so synonymous to maland rainy day break's. It took a while and the war-ravaged sun final broke out
While this was happening, I realized the town which few minutes back was so dead, just leap out into action. I saw people out on the road, carrying their large umbrellas heading to the market. Few hard men trying to load 2-3 sacks of flower into an auto which was just unloaded from a bus
A tea seller on the street setting up his impromptu vending machine, Auto's with draped tarpaulin's starting up their engine. Private bus conductors yelling the nearby places to draw attention to possible commuters
This ecosystem is so tightly integrated and works so harmoniously, you have to see it to believe it
This was where I felt I belonged
After a quick freshen-up, I headed to the wedding...after a heart warming and belly filling lunch I was eager to hit the road
I went to the local bus stop and boarded the first bus to Jog Falls. Enroute to Jogfalls, you will encounter two small town's Talguppa and Kargal where you will see a quick churn of passengers
Once I was seated next, i struck a conversation with the old man next to me. As it turned out, it was a very interesting conversation
We initially talked about our wherabouts and when we comfortably chatting, he told me he was 80 years old. He was born in 1938 and when India got independence he was 9. He narrated a strange story
He said during the freedom struggle, people in his village wanted to take Britisher's head-on and wanted to fill up their jails. So they decided to cut sandalwood trees which was banned from cutting. The British would then arrest them and put them in Jail. Very soon the Britisher's realized this wasn't working, so they came up with a unique way of punishing the offenders
They would take the offenders to the middle of the jungles around and leave them there. The offenders would then have to find a way back to civilization which most would but with some hardship. We all know what happened after that.
Any way this is where my conversation with him stopped on pre-independance and continued towards what he feels about the cities, how he makes those few annual trips to Bangalore with the farmer community
How his grand children working in Bangalore cant see him when he is in Bangalore due to long commute times
This banter went on for a while and his destination arrived. He bade me a good bye and smiled at me...I wish i could have spent more time with this unknown stranger, but there was the larger cause beckoning me
A 45 minute conversation, thought me history which I am sure was never recorded in any wiki page or found in any mobile app. Truly sometimes putting your phones off and talking to people you meet gives you a new perspective to everything...It is soul searching at times
As we headed towards the falls, the bus did multiple stops in the Jog town which is predominantly occupied people working in the Power generation plant
Finally it was my time to alight, I quickly bought the entrance ticket and headed towards the falls. As i approached it I could hear the loud cheers and roars of people as they got a quick glimpse of the falls
With rain's showing no mercy and nothing to give me cover, i decided it is time to let go any apprehensions and enjoy the rainy moment
As i stepped towards the well maintained viewing area, the rain got heavy, I decided to wait it out all the while gazing at the carpet of fog in front of me
As i waited out in the wet and cold rain, water dripping from my forehead into my eyes, running into the back of my wet shirt, i could see the fog lift.
It was like unveiling the most beautiful painting painted ever. I strained my eyes and crained my neck to get over a hundred other people out there, to see visuals of a lifetime
Slowly behold the fog started to move right to left
Roarer and Rocket was in its full glory. If you know they are two of the four parts of the falls - Raja, Rani, Roarer and Rocket
Roarer is a two step drop, the first is a small drop and then the water drops further down and as it drops, it twirls and hurls itself down. Maybe thats why they call him the roarer
If roarer is the young and angry brat, Rocket is the good boy, a mommy's no-nonsense child dropping down in a straight line. It just feels as if Rocket has nothing to do with its family and is completely unnerved by the antics of Roarer
While I was admiring these two boy's in full glory. It seemed that Raja and Rani were in a state of bliss. They wanted to be uneventful and covered. I hardly got to see them except for a brief second when I could get a glimpse of the hurtling Raja filled to its content with a milllion gallons of water. Rani decided to play the rightful wife and kept herself so very close to Raja so much that she was enveloped in his gushing droplets
I stood there for more than an hour and this hide-and-seek game continued. Between me and Jog, Rain and the cloud break's.
Finally my nemesis - Hot filter coffee was the tie breaker, the urge to have a good coffee found me heading to the nearby Kamat restaurant.
Hot filter coffee and Pakoras was so good that before i realized it was gone. On a cold wet rainy evening, nothing can taste better. As i savoured the after taste of the pakoras mixed with the thickness of grounded coffee, rain drops constantly pounding the ground, sweet smell of the green and visuals of Jog falls playing endlessly in my head, i felt this was the moment of truth - an unexplainable malanad odyssey.
It was getting dark, the clouds were getting thicker and the rain stronger. I headed out of the restaurant and then saw that the crowd had thinned out
I took this opportunity to spend some more time with my love. I decided to find another point from where i could see the falls from a different view
When the clouds' parted now i could see the valley behold, the valley which in its abode is a living heaven full of native endemics of the malanad ranging from the newly discovered ants to medicinal herbs. The abundant flora and fauna here is a micro ecosystem of its own. The Sharavathi wildlife reserve is very unique bio-diversity region and i have been blessed to have explored them on foot few years ago
As i decided to head back I waited for one last time for the fog to lift up. I looked at the mighty falls and thought nature was kind enough to let me see her in her crowning glory
I headed towards the main gate with the wind beating down my cold back and a blank mind gazing into the twilight. At this moment I couldn't resist to look back once and as i did i could see the defining roar of the crying child was now being put to sleep by the ever thickening fog and the lullaby of the birds returning to their roosting bays
I felt light in my head, and with a happy hearty singing an unknown song I made my way to the bus shelter to take the bus back.
Well, as September rolled by this year, the rain gods decided to spend a lot more time with its eternal love - Mother Earth. There was water everywhere, fields inundated, Dams pushing to the Brim, and greenery everywhere you could look
Even cities like Bangalore which is devoid of much greenery turned a bit green
Standing outside my office and looking at the rains pounding the concrete walk paths. i was deeply immersed into its melancholy and at that very moment, my thoughts drifted away from the office to the world outside, the places where I have set my foot, the places where I have slept through the night listening to the Night Jars and the Cicadas, The Mountains which I have climbed which has humbled me ... The western ghats and the Malanad.
A picture of Malanad is not complete without its gushing waterfalls and in a jiffy i was thinking about the gorgeous Jog Falls.
That was it...I decided It is time for me to pay a visit to the Malanad and have some conversations with my long lasting love
Well for me Jog falls is not just about visiting the magnanimous falls, take some pictures of the falls, selfies and updating to social sites. For me it is a journey to serenity.
I will talk to you about this in a moment
As i made my plans, the day was 24th Aug 2018, I timed my trip to coincide with my nephew's wedding at Sagar. Sagar is the outlet to Malnad if I can say
I landed at 5:30 am in Sagar bus stand after a tiring night journey and as a ritual I found the first hotel where i could get my morning cup of my brew
I decided to walk around the city and experience the day break....As i trudged along enjoying the cool breeze made even more sweeter with the overnight rains, I could see on the horizon, the shadows of the mountains, i could see the areca plants swinging slightly to awaken the sleeping dawn
In few moments, i saw the perennial fight of the sun and the clouds which is so synonymous to maland rainy day break's. It took a while and the war-ravaged sun final broke out
While this was happening, I realized the town which few minutes back was so dead, just leap out into action. I saw people out on the road, carrying their large umbrellas heading to the market. Few hard men trying to load 2-3 sacks of flower into an auto which was just unloaded from a bus
A tea seller on the street setting up his impromptu vending machine, Auto's with draped tarpaulin's starting up their engine. Private bus conductors yelling the nearby places to draw attention to possible commuters
This ecosystem is so tightly integrated and works so harmoniously, you have to see it to believe it
This was where I felt I belonged
After a quick freshen-up, I headed to the wedding...after a heart warming and belly filling lunch I was eager to hit the road
I went to the local bus stop and boarded the first bus to Jog Falls. Enroute to Jogfalls, you will encounter two small town's Talguppa and Kargal where you will see a quick churn of passengers
Once I was seated next, i struck a conversation with the old man next to me. As it turned out, it was a very interesting conversation
We initially talked about our wherabouts and when we comfortably chatting, he told me he was 80 years old. He was born in 1938 and when India got independence he was 9. He narrated a strange story
He said during the freedom struggle, people in his village wanted to take Britisher's head-on and wanted to fill up their jails. So they decided to cut sandalwood trees which was banned from cutting. The British would then arrest them and put them in Jail. Very soon the Britisher's realized this wasn't working, so they came up with a unique way of punishing the offenders
They would take the offenders to the middle of the jungles around and leave them there. The offenders would then have to find a way back to civilization which most would but with some hardship. We all know what happened after that.
Any way this is where my conversation with him stopped on pre-independance and continued towards what he feels about the cities, how he makes those few annual trips to Bangalore with the farmer community
How his grand children working in Bangalore cant see him when he is in Bangalore due to long commute times
This banter went on for a while and his destination arrived. He bade me a good bye and smiled at me...I wish i could have spent more time with this unknown stranger, but there was the larger cause beckoning me
A 45 minute conversation, thought me history which I am sure was never recorded in any wiki page or found in any mobile app. Truly sometimes putting your phones off and talking to people you meet gives you a new perspective to everything...It is soul searching at times
As we headed towards the falls, the bus did multiple stops in the Jog town which is predominantly occupied people working in the Power generation plant
Finally it was my time to alight, I quickly bought the entrance ticket and headed towards the falls. As i approached it I could hear the loud cheers and roars of people as they got a quick glimpse of the falls
With rain's showing no mercy and nothing to give me cover, i decided it is time to let go any apprehensions and enjoy the rainy moment
As i stepped towards the well maintained viewing area, the rain got heavy, I decided to wait it out all the while gazing at the carpet of fog in front of me
As i waited out in the wet and cold rain, water dripping from my forehead into my eyes, running into the back of my wet shirt, i could see the fog lift.
It was like unveiling the most beautiful painting painted ever. I strained my eyes and crained my neck to get over a hundred other people out there, to see visuals of a lifetime
Slowly behold the fog started to move right to left
Roarer and Rocket was in its full glory. If you know they are two of the four parts of the falls - Raja, Rani, Roarer and Rocket
Roarer is a two step drop, the first is a small drop and then the water drops further down and as it drops, it twirls and hurls itself down. Maybe thats why they call him the roarer
If roarer is the young and angry brat, Rocket is the good boy, a mommy's no-nonsense child dropping down in a straight line. It just feels as if Rocket has nothing to do with its family and is completely unnerved by the antics of Roarer
While I was admiring these two boy's in full glory. It seemed that Raja and Rani were in a state of bliss. They wanted to be uneventful and covered. I hardly got to see them except for a brief second when I could get a glimpse of the hurtling Raja filled to its content with a milllion gallons of water. Rani decided to play the rightful wife and kept herself so very close to Raja so much that she was enveloped in his gushing droplets
I stood there for more than an hour and this hide-and-seek game continued. Between me and Jog, Rain and the cloud break's.
Finally my nemesis - Hot filter coffee was the tie breaker, the urge to have a good coffee found me heading to the nearby Kamat restaurant.
Hot filter coffee and Pakoras was so good that before i realized it was gone. On a cold wet rainy evening, nothing can taste better. As i savoured the after taste of the pakoras mixed with the thickness of grounded coffee, rain drops constantly pounding the ground, sweet smell of the green and visuals of Jog falls playing endlessly in my head, i felt this was the moment of truth - an unexplainable malanad odyssey.
It was getting dark, the clouds were getting thicker and the rain stronger. I headed out of the restaurant and then saw that the crowd had thinned out
I took this opportunity to spend some more time with my love. I decided to find another point from where i could see the falls from a different view
When the clouds' parted now i could see the valley behold, the valley which in its abode is a living heaven full of native endemics of the malanad ranging from the newly discovered ants to medicinal herbs. The abundant flora and fauna here is a micro ecosystem of its own. The Sharavathi wildlife reserve is very unique bio-diversity region and i have been blessed to have explored them on foot few years ago
As i decided to head back I waited for one last time for the fog to lift up. I looked at the mighty falls and thought nature was kind enough to let me see her in her crowning glory
I headed towards the main gate with the wind beating down my cold back and a blank mind gazing into the twilight. At this moment I couldn't resist to look back once and as i did i could see the defining roar of the crying child was now being put to sleep by the ever thickening fog and the lullaby of the birds returning to their roosting bays
I felt light in my head, and with a happy hearty singing an unknown song I made my way to the bus shelter to take the bus back.
4 comments:
Super sir 👍 very well described..
Awesome Giri, I felt as if I am physically in the place viewing the beautiful nature such a good expression.
Thank you
Thank you
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