Early Saturday morning Tom and I headed West to the forest region known as Coorg, right next to Sidapur on the map below. The people there are known as 'Coorgies' and are mostly made up of tribal people that have inhabited the region for hundreds of years. They are skilled farmers and expert honey-finders. Apparently they are best known for being able to follow a flying honeybee back to its hive. They then make a fire to smoke out the bees and sell the honey at the market. Pretty cool.
We met up with Viju, a friend of Dr. Vara's, and he was really excited to show us around his hometown. He took us on a 1.5 Km hike up a huge hill, which would not been so bad of a walk had I not been wearing Rainbows. We saw a huge, blue-ish-green scorpion on the trail and a wild elephant from far away. There was a Shiva temple on the top of the hill, as well as some pretty amazing views of the forest below.
You can't tell by the pictures, but it was pretty hot and muggy the whole day.
The trail was scattered with small temples for Shiva, and Viju described the different Hindu gods and Hinduism beliefs for us. It is a fascinating religion that dominates this region, more than its usual dominance in the Southern part of India.
That night we stayed at a house on a coffee plantation. I have never seen coffee trees before but they are really pretty when they are blooming. The farm was really shady, and offered a nice break from the hot weather, but the mosquitoes were out in herds. The house was also butt up against a tropical forest, so there were plenty of exotic bugs sleeping with me that night. The food was amazing and the coffee was spectacular.
Karnataka State Park
The following morning, after some delicious egg curry, we headed to a wildlife park owned by the state of Karnataka. We mainly went to see some elephants, which there were plenty. We rode a small boat, packed twice too full of people, across a small river to get into the park. The Mahut (elephant shepherd) was washing a mom, dad, and baby elephant when we pulled up in the boat. The little guy was a crowd favorite and was fooling around the whole time. I am not sure how old it was, but it looks pretty young. I wonder how heavy elephants are when they are born? It was a little sad to see some of the other elephants, who were giving rides, chained around the ankles. Not fun to see animals in chains.
We also walked through a conservation part of the forest, where they try to show all the bad things humans do to plants and animals. After this, ironically enough, we came to a ton of white spotted deer that were in a fenced-in area. We fed them cucumbers, and they posed for pictures.
On the way back to Mysore, we stopped at the largest Tibetan settlement outside of Tibet. Most live in commune-style living and I believe there are approximately 8,000 Tibetan monks there. The temples were amazingly large and seemed out of place next to the flat farmland that surrounds them. Each temple is decorated with intricately designed murals that cover the walls. Some of the paintings were extremely racy, especially considering the audience. A lot different from the paintings the Catholic church would allow. I would have posted them here, but I am afraid to get flagged by Blogspot for having obscene pictures. There were monks everywhere and all were adorned in the traditional attire. There were about 250 monks (in training I think) reciting prayers and playing drums in a massive prayer hall. It was pretty cool to walk around this town and be able to hear masses of people praying in unison.
The most amazing site in this community was the Golden Temple. It contains three massive statues of Buddhas. One is 60 feet tall, while the other two are 58 feet tall, and each is made from copper, but plated with pure gold. I can't remember how much they weighed, but I am pretty sure it was a whole lot. It is so strange to see these incredible temples when the grounds are surrounded by crushing poverty. The town was one of the most impoverished sections of human society I have ever seen.
Leaving the temple grounds, we passed scores of beggars, many of whom were small children. There was a small baby lying on a towel on the ground who looked to be a textbook case of malnourishment with a large, oddly shaped head, big eyes, and bony arms and legs. We are always advised not to give money, but I couldn't resist this time. I gave the mother only 20 Rupees (about 50 cents), and she was very thankful. Before I had realized what happened I was surrounded by children asking me for money. They were touching their hands to my feet, which is an ultimate sign of respect in India. I could not give money to everyone, and that killed me. Some followed us to our car, despite my insistence that I was not going to give them money. As we were pulling away, I could resist the sadness and desperation on their faces no more, and I caved. I did not give them much, by our standards, but enough to buy them a couple of meals and maybe some other comfort. Who knows. The driver scolded me about this, telling me that these people are simply lazy. For some reason I just can't buy that they would rather sit on a corner, completely emaciated and begging for change, rather than work. Needless to say, I felt sick to my stomach for the remainder of the car ride, as these sort of things weigh heavy on my mind. It is something that I don't think (and hope) I will ever get accustomed to.
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