A month ago I was at Janapada Jaatre in Bangalore, a cultural fair held fortnightly to showcase folk arts from various parts of Karnataka. It was a great event and every minute of the entire two-hour show was an awesome entertainment. Here are some images from the show.
Artists assemble on the stage with traditional attire before their performance begins.
Goravara Kunita is a form of dance where performers dress up and dance wildly with small drums called “thamate” in hand. It can be scary for children. In the yester years, the dance was meant to ward off evil, and was practiced in the some parts Southern Karnataka.
Yakshagana is the state’s official art form, and is popular in coastal Karnataka and parts of Malnad region. Yakshagana is a type of Opera, where performers dance to the songs depicting stories from Mahabharatha. Interestingly, it mixes dance and drama. After dancing with the drums for a verse, performers break into a conversation to elaborate the theme of the verse. As you can see from the picture, lot of work goes into the dress and makeup of the artists.
A traditional dance to the tunes of a folk song – “Moodal Kunigal Kere..”
Another character from a Yakshagana. He is a comedian, as is evident from the image. Jokers, or Haasyagaara as they are called, are part of nearly every episode of Yakshagana. The episode they were playing on the day I was there was “Sreekrishna Paarijaatha”, the story of stealing the divine flower from Indra’s gardens.
Bhootada Kola was the star-event of the day, performed at the end. Kola is another custom to ward off evil, performed in the southern coastal regions of Dakshina Kannada.
Janapada Jaatre Information
Janapada Jaatre is a festival held at 6pm every 2nd and 4th weekend(both Saturday and Sunday), at Lalbag Botanical Gardens, Bangalore. The location of the festival is as interesting as the festival itself – it happens in an open air arena, where audience sit on a hillock, making it a Cinema hall like arrangement under the stars. This is an event organized as part of celebration of 50th year of forming Karnataka – Suvarna Karnataka Varsha. The event started in November 2006 and is expected to go on till November 2007.
Also see: More images of Janapada Jaatre on my India Image Gallery
+For more information and places to see in Coorg, see my comrehensive post on travel to Coorg.
As we drove up the hills beyond Kushalnagar early in the morning, the ubiquitous fog announced the arrival of the town of Madikeri. On a wet, cold and foggy Saturday morning, with visibility reduced to near nothingness and no soul seen on the roads, we arrived at Madikeri on our way to Kakkabe in Coorg. I first drove to Raja Seat – a garden where the king of Kodagu once used to sit and relax against a picturesque valley, but was predictably rebuffed by endless fog blocking the views, and the incessant drizzle of the cold morning. Despite the fog and the drizzle, it was beautiful, comforting and elating. A plate of steaming Idlis and hot coffee later, we were quickly on our way to Kakkabe.
More about Coorg on paintedstork.com
* Hiking up the Brahmagiri
* Driving to Coorg
On the few occasions when the rains did not lash the car‘s windscreen, a constant drizzle still kept the wipers busy. Every inch of the road was wet and every bit of earth was green. Distant hills were covered with clouds indicating many more rainy sessions ahead in the day. We were on our way to climbing Thadiyandamol, the tallest peak in Kodagu or its more popular anglicized name – Coorg.
Views of the distant hills from the place where we stayed
We reached Kakkabe village at the base of Thadiyandamol at around nine in the morning. One look at the cold and cloudy weather and we decided against climbing the mountain and check-in to the cozy and comfortable home-stay resort run by Poovannas on the way. To tell you the truth, even when we started from Bangalore, I secretly dreamt of sitting and relaxing in the lobby of a warm Coorgi house, though I put up a brave face and made claims of climbing up Thadiyandamol. To my delight, I realized that my fellow travellers were no different and had the same thing in mind! And the fact that I had already climbed up Thadiyandamol twice earlier helped making the decisions. But end of the day, that‘s just an excuse, and we were just being lazy and looking forward to indulge in good things that came with the rains!
The estate of Poovannas is at a picturesque location
We settled down to the warm hospitality of Poovannas and hot fresh coffee made from homegrown beans. We did not need much to do beyond sitting on the lobby and relax with a book or a cup of coffee while we watched the raindrops come down. In fact when I called the Poovannas previous evening telling that we shall be arriving tomorrow, the lady of the house said – “It‘s raining heavily here, are you sure you want to come?” And we had smiled, since it is the rain that we wanted to experience.
There is water and greenery where-ever you see
After we settled down, Prasad, the younger one of the Poovannas directed us to a waterfall close by. It turned out that the fiercely roaring waterfall was just five minutes walk behind the house and right inside their coffee estate.
Waterfall at the estate
I wonder how does it feel to live in a coffee estate with plenty of greenery and a private waterfall at your expense! We definitely relished the experience as we walked into the stream that flowed with full vigour. We stood in front of the fall, with its droplets lashing us as the wind blew into us, making us all wet, but completely amused. But for the cold weather, it was tempting to walk right into the falling water and get a back-massage from the pouring water – something I always look forward to when I am at a waterfall.
The stream is beautiful and was full of water when we were there
When we were not visiting the waterfall, watching the heavens bless the earth with raindrops or not indulging in the coffee, we spend our time talking to the Poovannas. By their own admission, they seemed to live a happy life with little to worry about. They spent a good part of their time looking after the coffee estate or setting little things right, like fixing the small leak in the roof or worrying about the slippery ground on the rainy days.
Coffee estate
But not everything was that simple. Being a little far from town, they had a hard time trying to get a mechanic to come all the way to where they live and see what‘s wrong with their new Maruti Omni. And then they spoke about all the good time they had entertaining eccentric foreign guests like the one who loved climbing tree after tree or the one who walked and walked and ate coconuts and nothing else!
The estate is a quiet place to relax and rejuvenate
Wind, rain and good views were always there
Another thing that we looked up to was food. The good thing that comes with a home stay is sharing the meal with the family and enjoying good local food cooked with love. You don‘t need bother to tackle professional waiters with a fake smile sticking on their face or run through obscure menus only to find nothing worth eating. Instead, sit with the hosts in the dining hall and serve yourself with all the delicious home cooked food piled on to you over an interesting conversation. Kodava food is delicious and especially worth remembering is the Kadambuttu with great chutney, ghee and honey to go with!
The Nalknad palace
View of the hills from the palace
The next morning we walked down to Nalknad palace that is just five minutes walk from the estate. The palace, built nearly 250 years ago was a retreat of then king of Kodagu – Doddaveera Rajendra. It looks hardly palatial but is pretty and is an ideal retreat. Anand, the resident in-charge who was looking after the palace showed us around and explained us of the courtyards, darbar hall, living room, escape routes for the king etc. It is built using plenty of teak pillars with carvings of designs and pictures of reptiles. Some faded paintings of animals and images of king‘s court on the wall are now being restored.
Darbar hall of the palace
Courtyard of the palace
After returning from the palace, I decided to sit quietly and listen to the sounds of the forest. Having missed my usual bird-watching sessions due to incessant rains, I decided to listen to them instead. The most raucous of the forest dwellers are the cicadas that never seem to get tired. Occasionally a bird or two was heard close to us somewhere in the bushes of the estate or in the forest near the waterfall. A pair of magpie robins and a few red whiskered bulbuls that I spotted moving around were the most prominent. Sunbirds and flower peckers came and went occasionally. Not to be seen, but heard often were woodpeckers and an army of malabar parakeets. The loudest of the lot was the unmistakable call of greater coucals. There was so much life in the estate and the surrounding forest, but it needed some careful listening to realize them. Unlike us human beings who always look for a shelter, they seem to go on with their life, come rain or come shine!
Along with coffee, they grow many other things in
the palace, including oranges
As the sun moved up(which we never actually got to see, thanks for the ever-present cloud cover) it was time for us to move on. We thanked the Poovannas for their wonderful hospitality and the great time they gave us. It was a pleasant journey back on the curved and inclined roads of Kodagu that gave way to the plains of Mysore and then Bangalore, with Dr.Rajkumar‘s melodies running on the tape. And as I write this, it is raining outside and I am still thinking of delicious Kadambuttu, the non-stop rains and the call of the cicadas.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The home-stay resort of Poovannas, called Palace Estate is located in the village of Kakkabe, around 40km from Madikeri and approximately 250km from Bangalore. The trek to Coorg‘s tallest peak Thadiyandamol starts from here. Other nearby attraction includes the Nalknad palace, which is just 5 minutes walk from the estate, a seasonal waterfall within the estate and the well-known Iguthappa temple that is a 10-minute drive.
To reach Palace Estate from Bangalore, drive on the Mysore road. Turn right 2km after Srirangapatna and continue till Madikeri. From Madikeri, take Bhagamandala road and ask for directions to Kakkabe. Once you are in Kakkabe village, it is another 10 minutes drive to Palace Estate. There are also state government buses to Madikeri and Virajpet from Bangalore, and Kakkabe is well connected by buses from both the towns.
For more on things to do and places to see, see my comprehensive story on travel to Coorg.
