Coagulated with reminiscence, archived with colorful pictures of my childhood memories, and having been desperate to unleash the kind of attachments I have had with this stunningly beautiful, serene and enchanting place called Kudremukh, I have decided to discharge some of the electrifying moments I have had over there. Nonetheless, My verbatim shall not be able to exceed the limitless beauty of her, yet I shall try my best to emulate her.
A snapshot from the Google Earth showing the complete Kudremukh range:
Overlooking the Arabian sea, situated near a mountainous range of Chikamagalur district lies, yet, a secluded town that most of you people aren’t aware of. Kudremukh, being the largest reserve of tropical wet evergreen forest in Karnataka and also my birth place, is situated right in the middle of a relatively dense and wild basin (10th standard Geography :), famously known for its wildlife reserve. I spent most of my summer holidays during my school days with my cousins over there and It has always been a pleasant trip whatsoever.
Being calculative of number of days of stays over there, I would pack my clothes accordingly. My bus journey would be scheduled during nights wherein the departure time would be around 9:30 pm. Seated near the window, I would stare outside and see chaos, a chaos of mumbling passengers, distinctive voice of a lady announcing the bus schedules which no one could understand, and a faint smell of freshly loaded Diesel. With two 50 paisa coins in my hand, in the mean time of departure, I would get off the bus and run towards the weighing machine, a machine with colorful LEDs blinking with kaleidoscopic patters. As I stand on this machine, I would be asked to insert a 50 paisa coin and out comes a cardboard slip apparently showing wrong weight, but with a phrase quoted by some famous personality which is worth Crores of rupees. The diesel streaming towards the preheated engine, mixed with the air of busy Bangalore Bus stand, ignited by auspicious prayers of the passengers sitting beside me, including me, compressed by the force of mother Nature, and a sustaining torque ensured by a familiar Driver and a conductor, shall voyage me towards my destination for the next 9 hours, during which I shall do anything but be awake.
The dim light of a typical 6’o’clock in the morning occluded by the aromatic spell of the eucalyptus trees, making fringes on my covered eyelid, would wake me up to present herself in the form of a cool perennial breeze and hair pin curves impeding the throttle totter, the driver, wearing a scarf covering his ears and neck from the chilling cold aboard the altitude 1894 meters above the seal level. People of familiar attires of Uttar Kannada walking besides the road, with tethered cows and calves in their hands, smoking tobacco buds and greeting one another, is more than that meets the eye.
My uncle, Aunt, Grandma with a stick in her hand trying to scare away the oxens and cows from the garden full of blooming flowers and unusual herbs, and my three Cousin sisters would wait outside with anticipation and exhilaration. Hard water, derived mainly from the surrounding mountain lakes, rich of Calcium and Magnesium with depressed traces of Iron, Aluminum and manganese, may sound like a mineral booster but having a bath would be a disappointment due to the hydrophobic dispute between the soap lather and the skin. Leeches, crabs and red ants have been my acquaintances during my course of stay.
My cousins house:
The day life would be spent with Cartoon network with yogi bear, Scooby doo, and Laff-A-Lympics followed by Star TV, Sony TV and Zee TV soaps. The fun would begin after the sunset when we would head towards the Sports club. A bedazing group of Adults with their young ones trying to flap their tiny little arms in the swimming pool located just besides an expatriate, a group of old ladies with their glasses on their nose, pen in their hands and anticipation in their thoughts, playing the game of Lotto in the ballroom and we would either head towards the indoor badminton court or the downstairs Table Tennis court, the place where I saw the demise of one of my maxillary Lateral Incisors when a gentleman pounded his Table tennis racket onto my mouth while giving a smash to the opponent. After a ho-hum evening, we would have a chatty walk-n-talk either to a tacit Krishna Temple with a bonny pair of Marble sculpted Radha and Krisha floored at an altitude, or head back to the pavilion. The night is playacted in the nearby Nehru Circle where we, along with the neighbors, would play the I-Spy. An erected statue of Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru in the middle of the circle is the counting spot where I, being the youngest one, would be victimized all the time, for making the first count to ten. A whistle from the watchman (we also call him Goorkah) and we would run back home without making even a bit of noise.
The Nehru Circle:
The expatriate amalgamated with the club:
A bridge taking us to the circle below: The river below is dried up most of the times except in monsoon.
The main circle:
A view from the expatriate:
A fruits n vegetables market nearby:
Just a few steps from the house and we are closer to the Kendria Vidyalaya Kudremukh (KVK) and a few Kilometers into the cross roads and we have waterfalls, caves, Sanctuary, Bridges and importantly Lakhya Dam and Kudremukh Children park. Most of the times, with paltry inhabitants around, we rule the spot. Whatever it be, these noisome tourists are ironically the ones who mess up the places with polythene bags, empty whiskey bottles and cigarette buds; they are the perfect killjoys.
The same waterfall as above,but with me in it: Believe me, the mountain water was so chilly and pure that I spent an hour there: I found colorful and weathered stones, I saw eggs of Hornets on the wet rock. Placing my feet in the flowing water, I felt something that I can't really explain.
Kudremukh Park:
Soft stones weathered by aeonic mountain water carbureted with magic spells of coniferous ambiance, I cannot put more words than this for it shall remain by itself without my expressions. They are Mother Nature’s formula and I have no rights to interpose into describing her. You have to give her a visit and you shall know the density of my words. I am proud to be born here. Thank you.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, July 21, 2009
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