July 06, 2006

Agumbe!

remember swami and friends? mr. sampath- the printer? the man eater of malgudi, the painter of signs?

the Malgudi days series by Shankar nag was shot in Agumbe. and now i come to the heart of the matter. ladies and gents, i present before you- Agumbe!
(bows)

the cherapunji of the south, they call it, and you can see why.



there's two delightful places to stay- the one above, and one run by kasturi akka.
contact them at: jenny bai (08181) 233085
kasturi akka (08181) 233075

Apart from looking at Malgudi memorabilia and the king cobra research station, what else can one do in agumbe?

- One can sit in a slowly darkening room with large windows, listening to the dripping of the rain on the roof, and the shuffling footsteps of the lil ol lady in white downstairs. while one reads about toru climbing down into the well. and eats jackfruit chipce. it's all delightfully chilling. except the jackfr. ch. they're yum.

-one can visit the jogigundi and barkana falls nearby.


-or go on a 7km walk down to someshwara village

its quite rewarding for the views and mistiness. and for the neer dosai and banana stuffed pooris called buns. it's always plural (buns, never bun) probably because no one in their right mind would want to have only one anyway. when you need to start walking and its raining heavily outside, there's nothing that passes the time quite like a plate teeming with bunce.

the drive back to shimoga is charming. but charming, i protest! there's the interlaced bamboo

the mandagadde bird sanctuary along the way and the elephant spa at sakkarebailu.

round it off with some paddu -stumpy looking idlies with sambar-to-kill-for. and avlaki mosru -pohe + dahi at meenakshi bhavan in shimoga.

pics by: andrea and AC