The road to nirvana

A last-minute booking for a much-awaited vacation from the city
led us to the oldest & smallest of the Nilgiri hill stations, Kotagiri

Taking left, from Aravenu junction seeking ‘The Door to Nirvana’

we lumbered down the last 2.5 kms on foot, starving for a banana

The Door to Nirvana hostel ;)

With the first whiff of tea, I was carried away to a virginal terrain

wrapped in amaranthine greens, rolling clouds & rhythmical rain

Gingerly peppered with old tea factories and brick roofed villages,

the path opened such soul-stirring vistas that I could walk for ages

Later in the day, I crossed a stream to hoist myself up a plantation

Only to find myself watching raptly a serpentine dragon in action

A li’l behind was Catherine, a charming double-cascaded water fall

From where arose the beasts & the butterflies, entrancing one & all

Wikipedia showed the average elevation to be around 1850 meters

But my happiness was already flying up there in the misty theatres

Sitting in the middle of the tea plantation, I tried to pen it all down

But the words slipped away with the clouds sliding past my crown

So, here’s a tip on things to do in Kotagiri; sip a lot of fragrant tea,

undo your to-do list & let your inner child take over & set you free!

Srirangam - a tmesis

A sliver of land appeared, bound by two light blue strips

when I zoomed on to the Google map for one of my trips

Pronto, I knew I had to be there, for rivers were my calling

Little did I know, that there was more to it than just lolling

Driving down the flood banks to guesthouse ‘Tranquility’

parked next to a butterfly park; could it be just serendipity?

The jute charpoy and cane swing on the veranda beckoned     

While a plate of fragrant mangoes indulgently summoned

Stealing off the last drop down till the elbow we swooned

And collapsed on the bed, secretly hoping to be marooned

When the sun yielded, we set off for the river, meandering

through the trees and the vast stretch of sand, wondering

if we were the only souls there to see that prismatic sunset.

Had the breeze had carried our wish to the temple to beget

the long-forsaken dream of wading through a placid river

watching the cows nibble quietly, the ruins of the summer

      

                 

But that’s just the prelude to this paradisiacal temple tale

For there’s more to this island, that I am about to unveil!

E.g. Sri Ranganathan temple is the world’s largest running

with its 239 ft. Rajagopuram (Royal tower) quite stunning.

Rising loftily from the divine world within the seven walls,

it was incomplete for 400 years until taken up for final call

Banked by twin rivers Cauvery and Coleroon on either sides,  

here the self-manifested, Lanka facing Lord Vishnu resides!

Also, Srirangam, earlier the hinterland of Coromandel Coast

has the best coffee at Murli’s; open until 7 pm, well almost!

Strolling through the ramparts for more such unwritten gems,

I sought blessings to keep me away from scripted mayhems!!