This past week was the Dasara holiday, when Hindus all over celebrate, among other things, the conclusion of the Ramayana mythology.  Here in South India, it is the biggest holiday of the year. The town of Madikeri went ballistic with crazy lights all over and semi-creepy floats depicting all sorts of monsters, gods and goddesses from Hindu mythology. We took a drive into town last night for the celebration. Of the thousands of people, we seemed to be the only westerners in town - this brings a few stares, but many more smiles. We circum-navigated the town in its entirety, walking from one large blinking building to another, stopping periodically to sip some sweet chai.  The party went on late into the night - though we made it back to the rainforest retreat by 1am.  It seems like Indian men may not have that many opportunities for freaking out, dancing and acting generally crazy (I saw no women in this state), so Dasara is a welcome treat to witness.

At the farm, things got very busy this weekend. We operate an eco-tourism facility, of which I act as manager/guide. I run around and enforce some quality-control, interact with the guests and make sure they’re happy, lead them on some early-morning birding adventures etc. Between my guesthouse duties and the research projects (more later on that), my hours are kept quite busy. This past weekend, we had about 20 guests each night; we house them in 6 separate guesthouses and 2 tents. About half of the guests are Indian, and the other half are westerners, mostly Europeans. Inevitably, we end up meeting all sorts of fascinating characters – like Saresh from Bangalore who has spent 30 years in the non-profit sector fighting public corruption, or Swapnil from Pune (near Mumbai), an eccentric birdwatcher who runs a private eco-tourism company, leading trips to exotic locales in South Africa and Sri Lanka. In only 3 weeks, we have made so many good contacts throughout India – some of which we will end up meeting up with again in our travels here.

This weekend, we took the guests on a couple treks – one to the top of the Kaloor ridge, which offers wonderful views of the nearby valleys.  The other was to too-crowded Abby Falls, which at one time must have been quite beautiful. Now it’s just flooded with people, trash, vendors, etc.
Along the way to Abby Falls, you have to cross this ridiculous wooden bridge, with the help of a metal cable.  The water is rushing quite fast beneath, which makes it that much more exciting!  A hike through a leech-infested plantation, and before you know it you emerge from the green into a throng of people.  I am sure that some of the crowd could be contributed to the Dasara holiday, but I can’t imagine the site ever being peaceful.  Upon seeing the state of things at the falls, I doubt if we will be leading many more treks there. The tourist season is ramping up – coming into full swing within the next month or two – and we are still oiling up the gears.

Tags: abby falls, coorg, dasara, festival, india, karnataka, kodagu, madikeri, ramayana, trek

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