A road trip to Scotland of India

In a small town of western Maharashtra, the excitement as the itenary seemed was on the next level. Folks were excited bags were packed, the only thing remaining was starting the engine. We loaded our luggage in our car and started our journey.

First day was not as happening as we spent most of it in car. Yet we made sure no moment is wasted and played the games, listened to loud yet blissful music, cracking jokes. Oh! By the way I was on a trip with my family. This trip was planned as my mom was fed up with her daily chores and wanted a break. The target for us on first day was mysuru. But however due to heavy traffic and innumerable snacks breaks we had to stay back in a town called shravanbelgola.

We were staying at a dharmashala at shravanbelgola as no hotels had as clean room as the dharmashala. Shravanbelgola is like Mecca for jain people. Jain by religion, we decided to pay a visit to the holy idol of Bahubali. We started early in morning to avoid heat as well as crowd. We climbed like 1000 steps carved in mountain. But when we saw the huge statue the pain in the limbs surprisingly vanished and the sweat seemed worth for a heritage like this. Looking at the idol we realised how small we are in this cosmos. Oh by the way the entire idol is carved in a mountain from head to toe. And at this place the biggest festival of jains the MAHAMASTAKABHISHEK is held every 12 years. When we came down we took a break at dharmashala as my parents were tired as hell. After lunch we continued our journey and reached mysuru in late evening. it was getting dark so we decided to get into our hotel first and freshen up and go to Vrindavan garden to experience it's light show. The light was good but we weren't getting those vibes as songs were Kannada. The light show ended with Vande Mataram, where every individual joined the song. It clearly depicted the unity amongst indians. We took our boat ride back. Oh the Vrindavan garden is situated at the foot of a dam. The water from dam is used in garden to create lakes and fountains. Oh that garden was so beautiful!!!

It was time to explore mysuru. The cultural heritage of Karnataka,one of the cleanest cities in India. Mysuru had a lot. We first visited it's famous zoo where there was a little guilt of watching caged animals. The zoo was so big that it took almost 3 hrs to explore it. There was a 3 or 4 km walk in total. The zoo has alot to see from birds to tigers. Every kind of animal. From zoo we heated to Tipu Sultan museum. Vising the museum the vibes of warrior surrounded us. From there on we saw Chamundi hills and mysore palace. The grandeur of the king was witnessable. No reason the palace is the identity of mysuru. There on we saw some gardens and then back to hotel. The day was unforgettable. I feel blessed to explore the heritage of Mysore.

Today the morning was blissful as we were all set to explore coorg. Coorg was my dream place since I heard it from a friend and going there I realised why it is called Scotland of India. After morning shopping in mysuru we started headingb towards coorg. Oh by the way Mysore is very famous for its sandal and sandal products,they are highly recommended.

As coorg neared there was change in surroundinngs. There were cool breezes flowing, the greenery everywhere,the coffee plantations on roadside...ahhh!. I was witnessing heaven. The evening when we reached coorg we first visited rajas seat. After reaching there we got to know from a local that there is no point to visit rajas seat after 9 am, as it seemed like a normal park. So we booked a hotel near rajas seat and next morning went early in morning to rajas seat. And then we realised why that local was insisting us to come in morning. We could see valleys covered with fog. The strong wind flew at us...the feeling is indescribable.then on we went to duble forest to play with elephant. Ya play with elephants! Elephants throw water at us through their trunks. From there on we went to nisargdhama, a large nature park. By the time we completed nisargdhama it was afternoon so we decided to go to a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. The peace there was indescribable. After monastery we went to witness Abbey falls. Oh it was so blissful....

That ended our day in coorg

At morning we received a call from home as there was some emergency and we had to leave. I was so damn upset as we hadn't even explored whole of coorg and we were supposed to go to utti also. But priorities couldn't be changed. So with heavy hearts we left coorg. But on the way back we explored mandalpatti. The mandalpatti was more about drive. Because to reach mandalpatti you have to hire a Jeep and it takes you up on the mountain with offroading. That drive will never be forgotten. To know it you have to experience it. But the destination was worth seeing.It was heaven! That's all I can say.