VISWANATH S

Family Outing to Hudikeri, Iruppu Falls 

To get away from the choitic Bangalore traffic and with Air, Sound and Water Pollution,  3 families  (MySelf, Jayalakshmi, Prashanth, Pallavi), (Krishna Murthy, Asha, Shruthi, Swaroop) and (Ravi Kumar, Poornima and Kowshik) stayed at  Golden Harvest Holiday Home situated in Hudikeri, Virajpet Taluk, south Coorg. it is a small village 40 km distance from its District main City Madikeri and is 206 km distance from the City of Bangalore. It can be reached on the highway from Gonikopal to Nagarahole National Park off the Kutta Road after Srimangala. 

It had rained heavily the previous 2 days and the weather was quite wonderfull, with clouds kissing the mountains, and small falls on the roadside.

The Home stay is near Sai Baba Mandir on the Ponnampet, Hudikeri main road. It is situated on a bund with a pictureque paddy fields facing, admist the Coffee plantations. There are 2 big family rooms, and one room on the first floor with 6 bed.

We were welcomed warmly by Nachappa family, with a fruit Juice. The food prepared with traditional Madikeri food, North Indian and also Non-Veg is available if informed before reaching. The Hospitatlity by the Nacahappa family is superb. indoor games like Chess, Caroom, traditional Ludo games are available. 

After having lunch, we stayed indoors playing carrom and some male member playing chess in their rooms. ladies prepared Bhel Puri and Tikki by evening and had hot tea/cofee and left for Sharadashram near Ponnampet run by Ramakrishna Mutt and Ramakrishna Mission, known for its Philanthropic activities irrespective of caste, creed, religion and gender.

We prayed and sung Bhajans for over an hour in the temple dedicated to Sri Ramakrishna. leaving back to our Home Stay with prasadam.

 

The next day we visited Iruppu falls located in the Brahamagiri Range, bordering the Waynad district of Kerala. It is a fresh water cascade.  The Falls are also known as the Lakshmana Tirtha Falls derived from the name of the tributary of Cauvery which starts from these falls, the Lakshmana Thirtha River.

A forest trail leads from these falls to the Brahmagiri Peak in Southern Kodagu. Irupu falls is a major tourist attraction as well as a pilgrimage spot. A famous Siva temple, the Rameshwara Temple is situated on the banks of theLakshmana Thirtha River, en route to the Falls. This temple attracts a large number of pilgrims during the festival of Shivaratri.

According to popular legend, Rama and Lakshmana, passed along the Bhramagiri range whilst searching for Rama's beloved Sita. When Rama asked Lakshmana to fetch him drinking water, Lakshmana shot an arrow into the Brahmagiri hills and brought into being the river Lakshmana Tirtha. Due to this legend, the Falls is believed to possess the power to cleanse sins and is visited by thousands of devotees on Shivaratri day.