Holiday in Covid Times - BR Hills

thefitfoodietravel
Apr 12, 2021
9 min read

I had no idea that my short 3 day holiday in February 2019 would be the last in a long time to come. None of us had any idea about the time to come. The months of fear, uncertainty and separation. To be honest, my lockdown period was wonderful. I had my whole family around me, I worked out like a maniac, got 4 pack abs :P, ate super healthy, had movie marathons and finished a lot of my pending projects! No complains. Nothing compared to what a lot of people had to suffer through.

I have been off on a holiday quite often in the last few years. Surprisingly, I didn't miss it during this period either. But, once the plan for a holiday was made in December, I was definitely looking forward to it. A road trip (Our favourite way to travel and the only safe way in the current pandemic times) with our friends and the kids. What else did we need?

We needed a safe and secluded place, where we can enjoy ourselves and be safe from busy crowds. Our friend Nikhil had been to Biligiriranga hills in Karnataka the year before on a bike ride and he had only high praises. We decided to just go for it! Christmas vacation was set!

Thanks to Nikhil, we had a direct contact for a place to stay. I called Mr.Ramesh to fix up our rooms. We were told the accommodation was modest, only vegetarian food and no alcohol! What a bummer! So, I started on my mission to get that part sorted for us. Mr. Ramesh informed that his property was full but he would house us at a nearby guest house and sent us the pictures of the rooms, which by the way looked great. He said it was Premium rooms and honestly, we were just happy to have clean beds and bathrooms. He promised to arrange some non vegetarian food for our non vegetarian group members when we arrive.

It was a long drive from Hyderabad and we aimed to leave at 3:30 am on the 24th of December but as plans go, we were delayed by almost an hour. Due to the COVID situation we decided to pack all the food that we might need and try and keep halts to the minimum. Our first break came barely an hour since we left to connect with Ananth and family who were coming from the ORR and we were driving in from the city. Stop at the Hillside café, eat a round of sandwiches at 5 am and dump the kids in their car. Well, dump is the wrong word because the kids absolutely love to sit together and with Ananth and Vasu. And obviously, we are always thrilled!

By 8 we stopped at a roadside Dhaba where we all ate our sandwiches and Idlis, had chai, used the rest room and continued ahead. The highway was great and we faced no difficulties till we hit the Bangalore Mysore road. It was an absolute nightmare with roads under repair and traffic jams. We made our last stop at a Coffee day. Everyone was sick of Sandwiches, Idlis and Pulihora. We had to head back quickly and reach before nightfall. To get to our place of stay, we had to pass the forest check post which shuts at 6 pm.

As is the tradition of every road trip, I got the one of the most horrible stretches of road to drive. Post the traffic ridden highway, it was single lane village roads and I kept cursing my luck. Fortunately a few really good looking spots came up where I stopped to take a few pictures and hand over the steering wheel to Abhinav. Again, as my luck goes, within a few kilometers we reached the check post and to some absolutely gorgeous roads.

We hoped against hope to spot some animals, but all I saw was dented boards and signboards. It definitely looked like Elephants work. When we reached the place where we were supposed to stay, a helper boy took us to another building as mentioned earlier. When we got there, we were up for a shock. It was a math/matha! It basically is a religiously associated building. I come from a community that is quite involved with it, something that I do not enjoy or rather keep myself away from. At this point we were sure, our holiday dreams were over.

Once we get in, the rooms were nice and neat. It was a dorm style accommodation with private rooms. The helper asked us to leave our footwear out, as a sign of respect to the God that resides in the building. It irked me . I asked my son, to leave his shoes out but put his slippers on. I was ready for a fight. The kids were thrilled to be out of the car and started running around on playing. He rudely asked us to keep our voices down. That was it. We were in Karnataka and he was talking in Kannada. I replied back asking him how could he expect kids to be quiet on a holiday?! Not replied, I snapped back at him. He meekly responded that some other guests might come in the other rooms. I ignored him and let the kids do what they do.

The place was absolutely beautiful. We were in a coffee estate with balconies looking into the thicket. Later in the evening, Ramesh the proprietor of the original property came by to greet us. After the customary chit chat, we asked him about the non vegetarian food situation. He assured us that he will arrange something from a restaurant to be delivered during our meal times. We were finally happy and satisfied!

The dinner is served at 8 and we walked up to Ramesh's property. It was cold and pitch dark. We were told that leopards have picked up stray dogs quite often from there. We all were super exhausted. We had been up since 2 am and driven all day. I could barely eat, before calling it a night.

The dinner was simple rice, rotis, sambar, rasam and poriyals. Very south Indian, extremely homely and tasty affair. That was the end of day 1.

Day 2 Christmas morning!

We got up early to go on a nature walk with their in house Naturalist. It was foggy and absolutely beautiful morning! He showed us some birds but I couldn't spot them and I wasn't mighty interested in them. We walked up to a pretty point that is the Government guest house and spent some time doing a bit of photo session. The kids enjoyed playing with the touch me nots and looking at slugs.

We walked further down the road but soon the kids got bored and hungry. So, Ananth, Chandu and the kids headed back while Abhinav, Vasu and I went walking ahead with him. He showed us some special trees, birds etc. We did a total of 3km walk through the beautiful green village and didn't feel tired at all. We were starving by the time we got there, but there still was time for breakfast to get ready. The moment it did, monkeys joined us. An absolute ruckus trying to jump in, grab food and intimidate us.

Post breakfast, we went back to the room, changed and went for a walk in the coffee estate. Then, there began a long photo op. We did some hilarious poses. I was a scaredy cat as always and needed everyone else available to hold me up on a tree trunk. Every body else was just so comfortable and natural. We tried to a jump in the air and Sanju turned out to be a pro coming up with some absolutely cool poses. I tried to imitate them and looked like an absolute fool.

Back to the room, a shower and hearing Aren and Sanju sing "Smooth criminal" the 387th time. Yes, this trip, it was "THE" song. We got ready to hit the safari post lunch which is all about first come, first serve basis. We planned to go out and check out some waterfalls too, but the staff disuaded us from doing that. Going that far would mean, no coming back in before the 6 p.m. forest gate closing time. We would be left stranded.

So, we ate like there was no tomorrow, which had become the norm of this holiday. I could feel my pants tighten and my shirts unable to hide my belly in. But, hey! I wasn't going to think about that now. Post lunch we drove to the forest gate and saw the whole world there. It was full of people waiting for a safari. When I went to book our spot, I was told to wait for an hour. We had to be back at the counter at the mentioned time, or else our spot would be given to someone else.

We walked around and found a shaded spot next to the lake and plonked down. Ananth took a nap, the kids played and Vasu did another round of photo ops with me. In the spirit of Christmas, I was dressed as an elf and looked like a cartoon. Everyone was looking at me weirdly and I was finding it super funny. We saw a herd of deer on the other side of the lake and wished we could see a Tiger making it's kill too. We had monkeys around us and it was a great pass time seeing the little ones.

It was finally time for the safari. We had quick chais before it, I fortunately got a nice lemon tea. All I saw during that one hour is stars! The vehicle rattled and shook so much that I could feel me innards displaced. And yeah, we also saw some Deer and a Malabar Squirrel. I took forever to spot it and finally did when we were ready to move. It made me wonder if I needed an eye check up. It was surprising that we didn't see a single elephant when that forest belt has 600+ elephants. In a way, I was glad. it meant the forest was so dense that they could live in it peacefully without coming across us humans.

Tik Tok crazy teens

After the supposed safari, we drove to the Biligiri Ranga temple, on which the village has been named. The temple is 400 years old and was undergoing renovation. There was a flight of stairs to climb and I was happy for some exercise. The kids were busy showing off that they could climb up faster than us adults. Let's talk in 30 years dearies, when you have your kids.

We took a few pictures, it was already getting dark. Vasu and Ananth wanted to stay back as Vasu wanted to chant the Vishnu sahasranam. We took the kids and headed back home to freshen up for dinner. We saw a few wild boars when we were leaving the temple and later Vasu told us that the place was full of them and it has gotten really scary. They had to leave and come back before she finished her chanting.

When we reached the bonfire there were a few new families with kids. Our kids wanted a horror story around the fire. The adults in our group starting making fun of my 2015 stint of falling from a handmade merry go round and breaking my bones. Yes, it was just crazy but not worth any of our time right now to go into more details. I was successful in making it a scary story ending with a moral too! I wanted to pee real bad and had to walk back to my house. It was pitch dark and a bit scary.

Day 3 26th December. Next morning and our last day.

We went back to the govt bungalow spot. Vasu and I meditated for a while and then we started walking to explore it further. Ananth kept saying he could see a deer, I still don't know if it was true or one of his usual jokes. We Our own path, our own way. We had a good time climbing up and then down the hill. We went till we could go and till the forest stopped our path. Of course, we had a nice, long round of Photo ops. On our way back we heard Aren and Sanju chant "smooth criminal" again. I just want them to move on to another song as soon as possible! We went back to our house through an ashram and almost disturbed a deep meditation session. Once back for breakfast we were told that we had gone into prohibited areas! We could have been arrested! Phew! That was an escape.

After coming back, I practiced my headstand and of course took some pictures! Still crooked, but getting there.

Abhinav and I went driving buying local honey, spices and grapefruit. Later in the evening, I walked to a local nursery with Vasu and Chandana as a translator. I had been seeing this bell flowers throughout the area and wanted it. I was told it was a wild plant and the girls plucked some from the side of the road and gave me. One last dinner and early to bed.