Musafir

Continued from the Previous Post…

We were all tired from the hectic climb to the Bramhagiri hill where Talacauvery is located. We had lunch and immediately set off to Abbi Falls.

Abbi means “Waterfalls” in Kannada. This area was a British Colony once upon a time and the British used to called it as the Jessey waterfall in memory of Jessey, the daughter of Madikere’s first Chaplain.

The water falls from a height of almost 300 feet over a huge pile of rocks and into a stream, thereby creating white water. Going to the Abbi Falls in the evening gives a pleasure with water particles falling on your face. A wooden bridge is constructed over the stream at a good height to have a good view of the falls. There were many school children who had come for a trip. In Karnataka wherever i had been, the one common sight i had seen is loads of school children.

We stayed there for half an hour and set off to Madikere Fort.

Mercara, the headquarters of Coorg or Kodagu district, was founded by a prince Mudduraja of Haleri Dynasty in 1681 A.D and was named after him as “Muddurajanakeri” which turned into “Muddukayray” and later “Madikere” by locals. The British called it “Mercara”. Mudduraja built a mud fort and a palace inside in the last quarter of the 17^th century. This fort was later re – built in granite masonry. It was captured by Tipu Sultan who named it “Jaffarabad”. In 1790, Doddaveer Rajendra took possession and later in 1834, the British took over.

Madikere Fort Complex today, houses the Local Administrative Offices(palace renovated by Lingarajendra Wodeyar – II, built in 1812–1814) and a Church (built in 1855). The building which houses the administrative office is old and with good architecture having statues of horses at the entrance. There are statues of Black Elephants which are very good. Part of the Madikere Fort holds the local prison and it is not accessible to outsiders.

The fort has an elevated wall with holes big enough to insert a gun through it. There are enclosures to keep a watch on the outside. There are six circular bastions at the angles. The entrance at the east is intricate and circuitous and guarded by three successive gates. After Madikere Fort we set off to the final destination that day, the Raja’s seat.

If you have not visited Raja’s Seat while in Coorg, you are missing something. Raja’s seat is an elevated platform on which the Raja of Madikere used to Sit and watch the Sunset.

There is a good musical fountain setup here and the show runs for half an hour from 7.00 PM. I found this far better than the one in Brindavan Gardens, Mysore. Its one good thing to watch. After the show we spent in the garden for some time and set off to our stay.

Its not over yet.

We returned to our stay and took bath in hot water. We were too tired and so, the hot water was a relief. The weather outside was dead chilling and the boozing program started. We started boozing sometime at 8.30 PM. That was the time when i boozed the most quantity ever in my life. The housekeepers setup a bonfire and that was amazing boozing sitting all round the fire. It was 3.30 AM in the morning until everyone was asleep. So we were boozing for 7 hours talking and talking and talking.

We got up at around 8.00 AM the next morning. Due to the heavy boozing the previous night, many could not get up on time. By the time we were ready to leave, it was 11.00 AM. Again we had nice breakfast with local cuisine. Before breakfast many of us boozed again a bit. We bid the coffee estate and the housekeepers goodbye, thanked them for the hospitality and set off to our destination, Dubare Forest which was a 2 hour drive from Madikere.

To be continued…..