Karnataka

Spending a long vacation at least once in a year is our family tradition which we follow rigorously. We always travel on our own and never with any Tour Operators, & without engaging services of any travel agency.

During last seven-eight years, thrice we planned trip to Bangalore / Mysore circuit and every time we were forced to change our plan. Once we cancelled railway Reservation as my mother was hospitalized. Second time also something went wrong and we cancelled the trip. Third time, on the last moment we changed our plan and instead went to Vaisho Devi / Patani Top / Dalhousie/ Dharamshala / Palampur / Amrutsar /Wagha Border. This year, after my son’s Board exams were over, I was determined to take my wife and son to Karnataka under any circumstances, no matter what so ever obstacles comes in the way. My son, poor chap needed the break badly. He was completely exhausted under the stress and tension. I also wanted to meet my colleague in Bangalore.

After railway reservations, I called Maharashtra Mandal, Gandhi Nagar and requested for accommodation booking. Coldly my request was turned down. The person on the other side of the phone was very unfriendly and uncooperative. Not ready to listen to anything. He just said “we do not make any advance reservation. When you reach Bangalore give us a ring, if rooms are available it will be provided or else you will have to stay in a big common hall and he cut down the conversations. At least while answering long distance phone call from Maharashtra he should have shown some courtesy. Can you imagine that I had to make three, four phone calls just to find out if there was a commode in the toilet? This behavior defects the reason for the existence of Maharashtra Mandal that is, to help travelers from Maharashtra. What a bitter experience. My son and wife were against my idea of staying at Mah.Mandal still I insisted as we had excellent experience of staying at Mah.Mandal, Hazra Road, Calcutta.

Well, we then decided to stay at Kamat Yatri Niwas against advice from my colleague who was insisting on booking accommodation at Ajanta Guest House, M.G Road. Kamat Yatri Niwas turned out to be glory of the past. It good days are seems to be over. We were supposed to spend two, three days in Bangalore, but my wife and son were disappointed with Hotel and Bangalore in general and then we decided to move on the very next day. Very rarely we do that. Unfortunately I could not meet my friend during the short stay. I know he must be furious and annoyed. Sorry sir, I could not help it.

In Bangalore, we spend whole day in Malls, At M.G. Road, Brigade Road, Iscon Temple (It’s a more of commercial place than temple), India Coffee House, and Café Day. I waited over the years to eat traditionally Karnataka food at M.T.R Lalbaug, or Kamat Yatri Niwas, and ended up having lunch in Copper Chimney and dinner in Garuda mall. One more disappointment.

Next day early in the morning, we headed for Mysore by Airavat Bus. Ticket is just Rs.135.00. (Representatives from Maharashtra State Transport Corpn. should visit Karnataka and study the Bus Depot, Satellite Bus Depot, Bus services, and Airavat (Volvo Bus Service) and implement the same over here. Just compare the Mumbai-Pune Asiad Bus Stand at Dadar. We are fed up of your lal khatara dabba S.T.bus).

The drive in to Mysore is a good one. Excellent straight, well maintained road across the plain from Bangalore. We reached Mysore within no time and choose to stay in Siddhartha Hotel. Few years back, before marriage I had stayed in Siddhartha Hotel, and it was stored in my memory. It’s a lovely hotel, comfortable rooms, friendly staff, the service is warm and most importantly it’s having excellent restaurant and very helpful Travel Desk with Mr. Potdar over the counter. Mysore is historic city fames for its magnificent palaces, and majestic buildings, sprawling gardens and tree-lined boulevards, broad avenues. We liked the city and specially the main shopping area at Sayaji Road and Devaraja Urs Market and Jhashi Laxmi Bai Road. I must say that if one doesn’t visit to Guru Sweets for Mysore Pak, he has wasted his whole trip.

This was supposed to be our economical tour. I was broke as usual and I was trying to restrict it to Bangalore / Mysore only. We had stayed in coonnoor for 2 weeks earlier when my son was small, and another two weeks before my marriage, and therefore were not much interest in going to Ooty again. But my plan failed. My son and Shri Kanta, driver of tourist car were the main culprits. It’s a long story. Evening we hired a car at Travel desk at Siddhartha Hotel for Brindavan Garden. While waiting for sundown, when Brindavan Garden transforms into a magical fairyland when musical fountains bathed in colored lights, my son kept on insisting and brainwashing me that he wants to see wildlife of Karnataka. On the way back, I found Kanta was very cooperative and enthusiastic person and he was very eager to share his knowledge with us. He entices me about Bandipur and Mudumalai wildlife and we fell for a trap which we never repent. He also stimulated my desire to visit Kodagu. We hired Indica, brand new car from Travel Desk for three days and next day morning started our adventurous trip.

First destination was Madikeri, Coorg or Kodagu. Coorg is a romantic Hill Station, birthplace of the river Cauvery, noted for its natural scenic beauty. The extremely scenic drive takes you to through some of the most beautiful countryside in Karnataka. Lush pepper vines climb the tall trees, and cardamom, vanilla and other spices grow well here. Coorg reveals its manicured beauty in the hundreds of estates that grow vast acres of coffee, oranges and silver oaks rising tall to provide shade. For nature lover, this is paradise. (I have borrowed this para. from article titled “West Country Magic” by Shri Prasad Bidapa). On the way to Coorg we satisfied our soul with traditional authentic karnataki meals on plantain leaves somewhere near Hunsur.

En route, Shri Kanta on his own took us to the Tibetan settlement at Bylakuppe, followed by a glimpse of the huge 40ft statue of Buddha and his disciples in high ceilinged halls of the Namdroling Monastery. We received another pleasant surprise when he took us to Dubare Reserve forest which is famed for its amazing variety of avian fauna, and an elephant training camp. After crossing Cauvery, we found ourselves surrounded by elephants in the middle of jungle. What a lovely evening it was. We will never forget the experience in our life time. Thanks. Kanta. We owe it to you. We reached Madikeri, late in the evening and stayed in a bungalow under Homestay program near Raja’s seat. My wife was as usual keen on empting my wallet with shopping. She bought lots of spices, coorgi Honey etc. Unfortunately we could not spend much time in Coorg.

Next day’s attraction was Safaris at Bandipur and Mudumalai. The Mysore-Ooty road passes through those two national parks. On the way, we visited Chamunda Hill for darshan of Chamundeshwari and headed for much awaited Bandipur / Mudumalai / Masinagudi wild life sanctuaries.

I wish I could stay my whole life in this region. Deep jungle which covers three states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka is full of herds of bison, spotted deer, sambar, leopards, monkey, peacocks, mongoose and elephants. I wished, we had more time and made advance reservation for accommodation at KSTDC’ Holiday Homes in the middle of the jungle. At both the places we opt for bus safari’s and opt out for costly elephant rides. I had read so much about Masinagudi in the book by Shri Krishnamegh Kunte and was really trilled when we passed thru Masinagudi. Night we reached Ooty, fully commercialized hill station and stayed at Hotel Nahar. Good hotel with excellent restaurant having fire place. We had tasty dinner by fire place. Breakfast with Idlis and Rava Dosa was splendid. After that we moved on to Coonoor, and spend some time in Sims Park in particular remembering the good old days. On the way back we visited Botanical Garden at Ooty. My son was keen on going to the best restaurant around for lunch and Kanta took us to Hotel Savoy of Taj Groups, The ultimate. Restaurant is in grand old mansion. We ordered for Chinese cuisine and all I can say is delicacy thy name of the meals served. It was really unique experience and worth it.

I have realized that best way to travel is after reaching the main destination, hire a car and just travel, travel and travel.

We are glad that we found extraordinary Travel Desk at Hotel Siddhartha, and very efficient driver Kanta, who knows his job very Well. Without him we would not have enjoyed so much. Thanks, Kanta once again.

And in the end, we returned Pune happily with golden memories.