GRATITUDE

To all the well wishers for taking out time to read my articles and giving genuine inputs thereby encouraging me to  write more and write better. 

 

         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