Lockdown week 14

It’s now day 96 of the lockdown in India. The unlock phase continues across most of the country but some major cities including Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai have reimposed the lockdown restrictions to reduce the rate of infections. Across the country the number of cases is rapidly increasing as workers return to their home villages.

On Sunday there was an eclipse of the sun which was partially visible from Coorg. A couple of days before the eclipse the neighbours informed me that Madikeri town would be closed on Sunday. I didn’t understand the connection until the neighbour’s son explained to me that the locals are very superstitious. They believe that the eclipse brings bad karma and so they will not leave the house on the day of an eclipse. It is also believed that the eclipse will spoil food and so you should not eat anything that was prepared before the eclipse.

As it was not raining on Sunday I decided to go for a ride around the hills around Madikeri and visit a couple of waterfalls which can be easily accessed from the road as most major view points remain closed. The roads were very quiet as most people were staying at home. The first waterfall I visited was called Abbyala Falls. The monsoon rains had eased off over the weekend and so very little water was cascading down the cliff face.

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On my way back to Madikeri town the skies clouded over and there was a heavy monsoon shower. I sheltered in at a bus stop until the rain stopped.

The second waterfall cascaded over Kootu Poley Dam which forms a reservoir supplying water to Madikeri town.

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The weather this week has been mostly dry with long periods of sunshine. I took advantage of the dry weather and laundered all my clothes. The monsoon appears to have retreated although there are still rain showers overnight and the hills are shrouded in mist in the early mornings.

Officially the monsoon has spread across the whole of India arriving this week in Delhi two weeks earlier than normal.

This week I have been experimenting with photography. I brought online a new macro lens for my camera which allows me to take better close up pictures. It was fun to photograph the wide variety of insects which have emerged since the start of the monsoon rains. This included a colourful array of dragonflies buzzing around the plantation.

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I have also come across some very weird looking and colourful insects as well.

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Spider webs cover the hedgerows and glisten in the early morning from the rains. The most common spider is the lawn wolf spider which makes a funnel like web.

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I also came across a spider guarding a clutch of silk wrapped eggs.

As I was walking along a path a colourful hairy caterpillar descended from a tree on a thin strand of silk.

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The variety of butterflies is also increasing as well.

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Grasshoppers have been feasting on the grasses which have sprung up since the start of the rains a month ago.

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In the early morning and evenings the plantation is filled with the loud shrill of cicadas. The large insects fly onto tree trunks to call out to each other.

The cicadas also make a tasty meal for the birds and I caught this white breasted kingfisher enjoying one.

The greater flame back woodpeckers have also been feasting on the insects around the plantation.

This week I have been planning a road trip around Karnataka which I hoped to start next week. I’ve kept in touch with the guy who stayed at the hostel last week. He told me that he had an amazing week and not encountered any issues due to the covid restrictions. I planned to follow a similar route heading first to the coast and the beach resort of Gokarna and then heading inland to the ancient temple city of Hampi.

On Wednesday I took my bike to the Royal Enfield Service Centre for a service as it has been nearly 3000 km since it was last serviced. The service centre was in the town of Kushalanagar which is a 45 min ride from Madikeri.

The mechanics were very efficient and my bike was ready by lunchtime. This gave me time in the afternoon to explore the Kushalanagar and surrounding area. The town is known as the ‘Gateway of Kodagu’ and is built on the banks of Kaveri river. A 170 year old bridge spans the river at the toll gate.

The bridge is designed with a number of large circular tunnels above each pillar which allows water to flow through at the height of the monsoon rains. It was hard to believe that the river rises to such a high level each year.

At one end of the bridge was a shrine and ghats were people still come to wash clothes in the river.

Nearby Kushalanagar is the small town of Bylauakke which was established by Lugsum Samdupling in 1961 as a Tibetan refuge camp. Bylakuppe is the second largest Tibetan settlement in the world outside Tibet after Dharamshala in the north of India. The Tibetan people were displaced after the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet. The town is home now to 70,000 Tibetans who established a monastery and the famous Golden Temple. I rode out to the town which was 10 minutes from the centre of Kushalanagar. Unfortunately the monastery and temple were all closed due to Covid-19 and I was not allowed to stop in the town to take any photographs.

North of Kushalanagar is the large Harangi reservoir. The reservoir is 50 km long and is formed by a dam across the Kaveri river. I rode out to the reservoir but tourist centre was closed so I was unable to see the actual reservoir. I was able to view the dam and the Kaveri river as it emerged from the reservoir. It was a lovely afternoon with beautiful cloud formations above the dam.

I rode back to Madikeri and stopped for a late lunch at a restaurant in town. My temperature was scanned as I entered the restaurant and all the waiters wore face shields. I thought this was unusual as earlier in the week they only wore face masks when I came for a coffee. When I returned to the hostel I was informed that 26 cases of Covid-19 had be confirmed in Madikeri over the past 2 days. All of the cases were migrant workers returning from Mumbai. The next day I was told that Madikeri District was back into a strict lockdown that the town would be closed until at least Monday. All hostels and hotels were forced to closedown again so my plans for travelling across Karnataka next week are now on hold again.

The hostel kittens are becoming more adventurous and are starting to explore outside.

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They enjoy playing with Dinga’s tail.

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They are very cute although I need a bigger sofa in the evening when they all come to for a nap!

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Just as I’m writing this the neighbour came to tell me that a young elephant was sighted last night in the lower plantation. It is unusual for elephants to pass through this part of Coorg. The have told everyone in the area to be careful at night as this is when the elephants come out of the forest to feed on the fruits growing in the plantation. Loud fireworks have been going off most of the afternoon to try and scare the elephant deeper back into the forest. I still haven’t seen a wild elephant even though they are so common in southern India.