A Monsoon in Coorg

Guest post by Jyothsna Jayaprakash

 The summer vacation season for tourists in Coorg ends by mid June. That is when most of the schools reopen and families get back home for their usual routines. 

Two years ago, I used to work in the reservations department of a prominent resort in Coorg. One day, stressed out from the mad rush of bookings and enquiries at the resort, and the season almost getting over, I decided to take a day off and go on a drive with my friend, Akarshan. He's the go-to person for all things adventure and I'm pretty sure he knows ALL the most secret nooks in Coorg. It had started raining on and off from the end of April and by mid June, monsoon had slowly kicked in. The monsoon season in Coorg brings in a host of leeches that I really did not want to get involved with. So I decided to do a drive instead of a trek. 

It was a fabulous drive through Coorg, through deep interior roads and lonely faraway places that I never knew existed. But soon, the weather took a turn for the worse. The rains had been torrential that year and I nearly underestimated the ruthlessness of the weather that day.  Mother nature was in fury. I had never been out like this ever. The trees were swaying dangerously and the roads were littered with leaves and barks as if a tornado had just passed through.

Our first stop was at the Harangi backwaters. Since it was a last minute decision, I wasn't well prepared for the rains too. My walking shoes were already wet pushing down the  slushy grass while I walked along the banks of the river.  With no jacket,  and holding just an umbrella, staring at the misty waters I was playing tug-o-war with the wind trying hard to pull my umbrella away. 

Driving around Harangi dam

Harangi Dam with shutters open

We got back into our van and continued on the drive. We passed a waterfall on the roadside near a place called Surlabbi, hence called Surlabbi falls. The waterfall was so swollen, it was almost about to engulf the road. 

Surlabbi falls

We then drove up a steep road to a Shiva temple located under a huge rock. The temple sits under the Kotebetta cliff and is called the Kotebetta Shiva temple. My feet were soaked in water and every time I got out of the car I was getting beautifully drenched in the rain. 

Kotebetta Shiva Temple (Pic: internet)

Stepping into that beautiful temple in that furious weather is something I will never forget! Our van was trembling with the force of the wind. A stone bench sat staring into wet white clouds. As I stood there looking into the valley, the rain mixed with untamed winds, my face was gently getting soaked by the clouds and mist sweeping over my face. 

We went a little further down to see another "small" waterfall.  Akarshan said that once you cross a tiny stream you could go to the waterfall where he and his friends always used to go for a swim. But, to his surprise (and my wonder!), this season the "small" waterfall had swollen up so much that we could spot it from afar. Up close, it was the wildest waterfall I had ever seen. We couldn't even cross the stream to get to the waterfall because the stream had turned into a mighty river. So much for planning a swim!

Surlabbi waterfalls

Then we decided to go to Mandalpatti, a beautiful peak overlooking misty blue mountains and valleys. We stopped to pick a few wild mangoes strewn on the forsaken narrow forest road. For a fleeting moment, I imagined living like this inside a forest, in a small hut, with no electricity or telephone, eating wild mangoes for breakfast!

Suddenly, we hit a road block bringing me out of my fantasy. A huge tree lay fallen across the road and had brought down some electricity lines with it. We couldn't go any further, so we tried to make a detour. Several tiny landslides, muddy roads and tree falls later , there was still no way we could go reach Mandalpatti. So we decided to abort the mission for the day and head back home. My heart wanted to go on but mind said, "No girlfriend, it's not a good idea to continue in this weather." And I guess, I'm glad I listened to my mind.

Back home in Souland Estates ,that monsoon, we had a lot of trees falling almost every other day. We were pretty much stranded at home for days with no electricity for over a month. It might be a bit shocking for some of you to imagine that. But, this wasn't anything new for us. We could cope with this situation quite easily since we have lived without electricity from childhood. Would you believe that kerosene lamps and candles, stone mortars and grinding equipments for cooking were the norm until quite recently. 

 

That same year, the monsoons got really harsh and there were floods and landslides all over Coorg. It was quite terrible for a lot of farmers as there was loss of land, lives and morale all around.  The people living in the hilly zones and on the river side were very severely hit. It practically felt like nature was waging a war against the inhumane humanity. And rightly so. But unfortunately man never quite learns his lessons. 

We were lucky enough to escape most of the tragedy as we're located in a more plain terrain and a little away from the Kaveri river that was in spate. In our estate, we woke up one morning to a non existent stream that had suddenly popped up and started flowing like a river! It drowned a lot of our coffee plants. 

The new stream that popped up in our estate!

The unnatural weather continued for several days and Coorg saw the worst rainfall and floods ever recorded in its history. 

And we were there right in the midst of it to see how it all began. Subsequent years have seen more aberrations in weather patterns with the monsoons being more and more dreadful each year. This year, as the monsoons draw near, we pray for strength, faith and a lot more water, but with a lot less fury!