DIVINE EXPERIENCE IN COORG   

Sharing my reminiscences in Coorg with the optimism to travel again to such fascinating places once the pandemic is over.

The melodious song of the Malabar whistling thrush, breaking the early morning stillness, is a surreal experience. The same elongated symphony heard every day at the same time becomes a pleasing alarm, to wake up refreshed after a long trek in the hills. In the resort’s jungle like accommodation, living amongst nature brings calm and harmony. The cool breeze around the heritage setup surrounded by the aromatic coffee plants make you sit back, close your eyes and live through the charmed morning.

The promise kept to a unit officer ages ago to visit his estate made the Coorg trip a possibility. Moving from the hustle and bustle of Bangalore and steadily towards the smaller city of Mysore to the thick jungles of teak, bamboos, sandalwood, mahogany and coffee plantations of the famous Coorg, is a memorable experience. One feels as if time is slowing down to essential and deliberate movement of Medikeri in Coorg. It is almost like meditation, the clatter of the city leading to the calmness of the green jungle. It is no wonder that it is not linked to rail or air. The only link is through the road. Coorg’s misty cool mountains earned the name of ‘The Scotland of India’ by the British.  

Coorg known for its rich history, pictorial scenery, rare birds, waterfalls, coffee and foliage is rightly a paradise for any nature lover. The clean and fresh air of the plantations is interspersed by the sweet aroma of coffee flower with the whiff of black pepper. The aesthetically built houses have gardens full of vibrant flowers and plants of the region. Every few meters there are shops selling local spices and homemade chocolates.

Understanding the history and culture of a place is important to appreciate it fully. Coorgis are assumed to be the direct descendants of the armed forces of Alexander the Great, who stayed back and settled down in India.  Kodavas or the Coorgis live on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats. They were the earliest agriculturists in Kodagu, having lived there for centuries, so says Wikipedia. As warriors, they carried arms during times of war and had their own chieftains. The martial race of Coorgis has given India many brave soldiers and the two exceptional generals; Gen K S  Thimayya and Field Marshal K M Cariappa.

The Coorgis have discernible protected culture. They are known to worship nature, river Kaveri and weapons. It is no wonder that their festivals; Kailpoldu (Festival of arms) Kaveri Sankramana (worship of the  Kaveri) and Puttari (harvest festival) are so based. They are proud of their culture and follow it with élan. It varies from their unique dresses, Kodava folk songs and the traditional dances.

The trip to Coorg, trekking amid the jungles with alluring waterfalls, is not complete without the visit to one of the coffee estates. Walking among the coffee plantations interspersed with exotic flowers feels heavenly. Watching the workers collecting, sorting, drying and grinding the coffee beans and then quintessential coffee tasting are lifetime experiences.

A dirt road leads to a magnificent villa, set amongst the jungle like coffee plantations. The officer and his wife living amongst the jungles are definitely much healthier, happier than the people living in the concrete jungles. They are growing lots of fruits along with coffee, vanilla and pepper. They were showing us the estate and introducing the plants and trees like their children. When asked about the management of water and nutrition for the trees and the plantations with a handful staff, the reply touched my heart. Every morning as the gentleman walks amongst the estate, he talk to the plants and trees and they tell him about the need of water or nutrition. The lady, a botanical scientist, has a huge collection of rare plants which are again taken care like small babies. Their newly constructed bungalow, next to a four hundred year old tree with numerous varieties of nesting birds, is an ideal place. The bungalow itself is a marvel in architecture where old and new mingles so well. The furniture and the doors built from the fallen and seasoned trees on the estate look divine with the artifacts collected all over the country during their sojourns in the army life.  

My long cherished dream,   to sit and sip home grown coffee in the company of this beautiful hostess with some homemade biscuits and sandwiches, has come true. Fresh air and the aroma of the coffee are uplifting for the whole being. We leave our Fauji family with the most precious organic gifts of vanilla pods, cardamom and pepper and most of all their love and care. This in turn gives us hope to visit them in the future which is some consolation to the city bound nature lover in me. I carry a dream to live there someday. With this hope we leave the plantations for our lives in the milling urban jungles ahead.

On our trip back, the rain soaked Madikeri plantations with the fragrant air of coffee flowers, was exhilarating. Misty fragrant rain soaked coffee plantations are a nature’s indication to visit again. It was a nonpareil experience of being in the wilderness and yet amidst civilization.

Travel is indeed a transformation. You come back as a novel person with an unsullied outlook of life. 

                       GRATITUDE

 

Sharing a  punjabi poem on"Books" by a friend (Mandeep Toor) who is more like a family.....

           PLEASURES OF READING 

“It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own.” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The excitement of going to Punjab Book Centre in Chandigarh as kids, for the Russian story books, has stayed with me. The  journey then began, is still continuing and it has gradually  passed  on to my daughter who loves books and has been visiting libraries and book stores with me since she was two years old. What surprises me are  her skills in  weaving stories and  writing small pieces on her school and friends, even a loving letter to her pet dog, Bruno. There seems to be a sense of fulfillment to see your child learning skills just by observation. 

In times of lockdown, reading as a hobby is a blessing when we are stuck at our respective homes.

Reading is bonding with the author, with his thoughts and ideas. It is like author coming to life and having a tete-a-tete with us. Books become our friends and true friends who will never desert us.

 Reading broadens our perception and clears various qualms and thoughts about the philosophy of life and the things connected with it.

Good reading invokes ingenuity and improves expression particularly the writing part. It improves thoughts and gives motivation whether it is writing or any other inspired proficiency. A good writer is foremost a good reader. 

Reading is an active activity which makes one use one’s brain and helps in its development unlike watching television which is a passive activity.  Reading exercises the mind and helps one focus on various things. Reading improves memory, self-worth, discipline and imagination and brings in analytical thinking. It reduces monotony; in fact a person used to reading rarely gets jaded. Reading brings in regulation, concentration and in turn makes an individual consistent with the routine. Through reading we can understand people, diverse places, customs and religions which in turn make us tolerant of other people and religions. Reading settles the fidgety mind and helps an individual observe situations and ideas in clearer perspective. It is calming to the frayed nerves and improves attentiveness. In addition it helps an individual observe life in a fresh perspective.

One should be cautious about what one reads as Francis Bacon rightly observed, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested :that is, some are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.” One should not do reading for the sake of reading or for the numbers to boast about it. Reflecting on what one has read is important as it develops our mind.  Mindless reading is like eating without chewing. Bertrand Russell puts it rightly,

“There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.”

Regardless of the distractions of television, computer games, internet, reading habit can be imbibed in children. The finest approach to do this is to read to them when they are very small. Children should be encouraged to read by first making them read for pleasure. This will build up their vocabulary and language to relate and communicate which will stay with them for life. In the process parent-child bond is strengthened and it opens a wide world of imagination, fun and fantasy. One is giving one’s child a buddy for life by introducing reading. The child will never be lonely or bored and the hidden talent of a child is explored.

         (Reproducing my article with some changes from southasiapost.org)                 

                   AMELIA THE FIRE BUSH

GRATITUDE

               

             POWER OF SILENCE

Being silent does not mean keeping quiet, it is going within and finding your true self. The discovery is enchanting as it fills your being with abundant love and joy.

We were filling our life with so much noise, working tirelessly round the clock like machines. There was no time to stop and ponder and being silent was equated to boredom or wasting of time. In the lockdown times we are in a new normal situation. When we are literally locked inside our homes and are forced to look inwards. This is the right time to learn to be in silence by thinking inwards and rediscovering ourselves. Self-discipline and practice is mandatory to be comfortable in silence. Some people have innate calm but for some it takes a little more effort. Our worries and fears are hindrance to our achieving silence. It can be achieved by yoga, exercise, meditation, breathing exercises or by just being in the company of nature.

The noises in the modern world or the situations are no excuse of not being in silence. It is all up to us as poet Khalil Gibran says, "I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers." One can find it by sitting in a noisy train or sitting in a crowd.

 We as humans can realize our own selves through silence. Our mind is like a muddy pond, one has to gaze long enough to seek clarity. There is abundant joy and strength in our inner recesses which we can discover by being in silence. Silence also helps solve many queries which were haunting us for a long time. It makes us see life in a clear light. Sit silently for a while to think about your life goals and realize your true potential. Silence helps one differentiate right from wrong, to know the truth and take appropriate decisions.

Being in silence, we understand relationships, resolve issues and become tolerant. Silence clears the mind, thoughts become lucid and mature which eventually gives one peace of mind. It is like recharging our battery. It helps in concentrating on some work and doing it well in silence. In silence one can take delight in the beauty of nature. Silence is in nature--- air water, waves, ocean etc. Mother Teresa fittingly said, “See how nature - trees, flowers, grass – grow in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence….we need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Silence eventually leads to reduction of conflicts, tolerance, contentment, and a spiritual understanding. One's true potential is realized, there is inner satisfaction. Silence helps in tranquility of mind of individuals and making them coherent beings and leading to harmony in the communities, nations and indeed humanity. There are no regrets of silence as can be of speech.  “Ek chup sau sukh” rightly goes the Punjabi proverb which my (dadi) grandmother practised.

 Silence is a true friend which never betrays.

CLOUD SOIREE.......

                                  GRATITUDE

NOURISHING NATURE

  On Rabindranath Tagore’s birthday, an ardent nature lover, sharing my thoughts on nature……      

           

            NOURISHING NATURE

I was always enchanted with nature as a kid thanks to growing up in a house with a garden full of flowers and fruits and of course the annual summer trip to the hills. My love for nature was nurtured, seeing my dad grow mangoes, grapes, guavas, figs,  rows of fragrant roses, geraniums, plumerias and my favorite night blooming jasmine, so much that I preferred tending to my garden in the evenings than going out with my friends. My friends had to visit me in my nature’s haven to have any conversations with me. Tending to the garden relaxed and energized me and I went back to my studies refreshed. During exams I used to wake up early to water my garden to rejuvenate myself. Seeing the garden bloom especially with the winter annuals was an exhilarating experience. The result was that there was no sign of teenaged tantrums. “Working in the garden gives me something beyond the enjoyment of the senses. It gives me a profound feeling of inner peace.” rightly says Ruth Stout, an American author known for her books on gardening.

When I am amongst nature, I feel in a different world which is beautifully expressed by Rabindranath Tagore and it seems as if he is expressing my own feelings. He says, “The sort of feelings that arise in my mind when I am in the midst of nature seemed to be beyond my own powers, my own character. All my feelings have that ingredient of something that is more than me.”

Being in the nature especially in the time of lockdown and social distancing has a therapeutic effect. We are enjoying our share of nature and nourishing it with love and care. It is the perfect time to be in the nature and enjoy its abundance and bountiful joy. This atmosphere drowns away all the worries and renews the spirit. Close your eyes and hear the sweet song of the red whiskered bulbul interspersed with the constant tittering of dove and long calls of the cuckoo and see your problems wither away and frayed nerves are soothed. 

In Amritsar, the mornings are refreshed from the cool air from the north. New leaves are dancing to the chorus of the wind and the bird songs. The breathtaking sweet fragrance of malti, manokamini, champa and chameli along with the fragrance of mango flowers is cooling, to say the least. Stillness in the morning with only the bird songs for company is meditative. The first rays of the sun wake up the Portulica flowers with a sweet lullaby and it wakes up like a smiling child.

Ruskin Bond rightly says in The Book of Nature, ‘I wouldn’t go so far to say that a garden is the answer to all problems, but it’s amazing how a little digging and friendly dialogue with the good earth can help reactivate us when we grow sluggish.’ He got lot of inspiration from nature and further says that, ‘Not all gardeners are writers, but you don’t have to be a writer to benefit from the goodness of your garden.’ Anyone can enjoy and benefit from nature. Being in nature is not exhausting but is gratifying. It fills our hearts with love so fulfilling. Nature has voluminous archive that reveals itself to only those who preserve. Nature does not promise anything or gives rewards as nature is reward itself. It is there to be appreciated, lived and loved. In a way it gives us everything from air, water and food………..things we take for granted.

“There is always music amongst the trees in the garden but our heart must be very quiet to hear it.” wrote Minnie Aumbnier, 19 century poet.

Being in the nature and tending to it is both my meditation and medicine.