The Travel Connection

If you don’t know what a twitcher is then, this might not interest you. No it has nothing to do with the Blair witch project or maybe it could. In the Blair witch project, there were three film makers who hiked into black hills to film the legend.  In the twitch project, three of us had journeyed through the hard roads of Karnataka, fought the potholes, and conquered the crowd to film the migratory birds. Like with all discoveries, we chanced upon Ranganthittu on our way back to Bangalore as we had taken some crossroads. Our driver tried to dissuade us from venturing into the waters claiming that the sanctuary closes by 4.00pm. But nothing can stop us “the mighty twitchers”. OK technically I am not a twitcher as I don’t walk the distance to spot the rare birds, but even the everyday birds are becoming a rare sight. So I guess the term twitcher is fine. It was a mixed crowd on the boat. As most of us were birding enthusiasts, our guide agreed to take us on a long...

Weekend day trips – Can anything be better than heading out of the city. But before heading out, one has to get over the hurdle of getting the group to agree on a place and the date. After a long time, a big group of us had managed to make plans. But on the day of the trip, from a group of 8, we were down to 4. Why don’t plans always fall in place? All days trips lead to Mysore road. This was no different.We were about 5 kms into the trip when we were stopped by the Bangalore traffic police. It was the end of the month and the cops are like werewolves on a full moon day. Is that politically incorrect? Now twihard fans know werewolves can be good too! They always look out for their loved ones. Don't you agree? So Getting back to the  honest cop. He claimed we had run a red light and without batting an eyelid, asked us to grease his palms. Grease is a very useful lubricant. It can make you dance like Travolta, let you transfer money without  IFS...

When I got to know this place is called the "Scotland of east" I was eager to holiday there once again. Considering Scotland is one of my favorite spots, Coorg had lot to keep up to. Coorg is a district in Karnataka and you can either stay in the plains by the river Cauvery or in a coffee plantation high up in the hills. Considering it is summer, I choose to go up into the hills as high as possible.  The place I wanted to unwind in was situated at foothills of the highest peak in the region - Thadiyandamol about 5700 feet above sea level. The palace estate got its name from the nearby 17th-century Nalnad Palace and is one amazing home stay in the Kakabe area of Coorg. The quaint little wooden structured rooms with the balcony overlooking the valley are a perfect place to rejuvenate. The friendly hosts, the amazing local food for breakfast, simple home cooked food for lunch and dinner made the trip to this place worthwhile. To the dismay of ...