[procrj]

Prologue

Suspension of disbelief strongly advised!


What defines an experience? Is it what you see, smell, hear, taste and feel? Or is it the story that you weave in your head. For me, it always been the story, for which the senses are just raw material. Its imagination, the minds eye that makes you buy into an experience and drive what is called willing suspension of disbelief. And so I will try to describe with words my experience at Sinnadorai's Kadamane - You dont have to buy into my experience but I hope my words have enough credibility to seed that desire to create your own experience at Kadamane

A breath of fresh air

[procrj]

Act 1 – The crescendo

I stood there in the middle of nowhere – a mute spectator
Strong winds blowing trough the valley – the bass note from a trumpet
Pitter patter of rain drops on tea leaves – tempo for the beat
Wisps of clouds caressing the landscape – mood lighting
Unending rolling hills of the tea plantation – center stage
Quick flash of lyrics running through your head – lead singer
you are nothing but a mute spectator

Hidden world


You pass the 2 km milestone and still dont see any sign of tea estates. You wonder where the acres and acres of tea plantations are hidden. The tower, unfinished, looms in front and then the gate – KEC. And then you see the hills draped in white wisps of clouds with a smattering of green tea leaves. Imagine taking a white canvas and then using a fat horsehair brush to paint in large swathes of grey – large wavy strokes that dominate the white. With your finger tips you spread this dark green in patches – creating the contour of hills. Some patches are dark dirty green, almost black – the thick shola forests while the smudged effervescent green on the canvas is the tea estate.

Figment of your imagination


Ethereal


Once you reach the bungalow and park the car, you can hear the tick tick of the engine cooling down. You can hear that only because the artists have taken a small break. And then they come back – the wind wraps around you and reaches into your core. Its not saying hello, its trying to reach that warm cozy inner center of yours to say -lets fly! And then comes the rain. Wind – it comes and goes but the rain, its relentless. What starts as a pitter patter soon turns into this incredible beat that can drive you insane. Imagine sharing a room with a young but talented drummer who needs to practice many many hours in a day. All you can do is make that beat, irrespective of its tempo, a part of your thought space and try and work around it. Unlike the tick tock of a clock in a silent house, the rain sounds more like an angry animal pawing at your door trying to get in – at times slow but at times desperate. You start with working around it but after a while it becomes an integral part of your internal mechanics that when it stops, you sit up and notice.

Chasing the monsoon


A measure of time


Drenched

Do you hear the beat?

https://youtu.be/leDEjWx7f20

Act 2 – The time space continuum

You walk, not to go somewhere but to get away from that sense of waiting. You dont know what you are waiting for but still you feel that tightness around that sits like a heavy blanked. When you walk, you end up exchanging the heavy blanket of waiting for the light green cloak of invisibility. All around you is this exuberant green of tea and the smell of clean fresh air. Wondering what clean fresh air feels like? Imagine drinking a cold glass of lemonade during the hot summer after a short walk in sweltering heat. Walking in clean fresh air is similar to that but the only difference is that it makes you feel invisible. Nobody can see you as there is nobody around you. You can let the little boy in you out of that locked gilded cage of civilization and see everything through his eyes.

50 shades of Green


The old & the new


A Chance encounter


Wearing down the shackles



Its fun to rediscover the joy of whiling away time without being plugged in. You end up walking down mud tracks in search of cascading water. You listen to that bird call wondering if it has a red crest or a black coat. After a while, your hands forget the need to pull out a phone & check for a message. You stop thinking about time in minutes and forget the need to be somewhere or get something done. If time & space are a continuum, then its quite logical that time here seems to bend when the space around you is a cauldron of tea hills. Wind and rain dont pass through this place, they stop here to take a break after the arduous journey over stormy seas (kadamane receives anywhere between 300-500 inches of rain a year).

Tomorrow's plan & today's view


Rust & Rain - Cause & Effect

Rain - SloMo

https://youtu.be/dfqlFYRy4Rc

Time here is bent around the narrow mud paths that lead you to the same place. You walk around the bend to see a small stream running through a patch of dark green trees. You walk past the bend in the road and you are back again in the fold of that invisible green cloak of tea leaves. Up ahead you see the path snake its way into another fold in the mountains. Another mud path, another bend, another stream - same destination. Its like a maze designed by a small kid where things are predictable but you when you walk through the maze, you do not feel the weight of repetitiveness instead you feel like icarus – with wings of dew waiting for that gust of wind to lift you up into the sky.

Cascading down a well worn path


The waiting place


Lost in a sea of green


Fading into the twilight


In search of dew


Act 3 – The green goblin

After a while, you think you have seen all the green there is to see and begin to wonder what next. A short ride through some stones & streams takes you to the abode of the green goblin. Delicate is not his forte and he welcomes you by shouting down your ears and chilling you to the bone. But you cannot feel any of that because you are almost in a state of trance. His wrinkled skin is effervescent and you can see mist raise its head from disturbed sleep. And when he quietens down, you can hear the murmur of the white maiden – calling you from her cold crystal clear depths.

5 Acres - The perfect storm




5 acres is another fold of beautiful hills which bends time. You can close your eyes and go back in time a few hundred years and sill nothing would have changed. We were lucky to have found a crack in time when the rains had still not arrived and we managed to spend a beautiful hour walking up the slopes. On a clear December night, this place would be the perfect spot to watch the sun go down and wait for the stars to light up the night.

5 acres

https://youtu.be/lpri6XrakGU

Epilogue

Sinnadorai's Kadamane bungalow is all about the location. Its picturesque, scenic, quiet, calm, peaceful, luxurious, indulgent and comfortable. Getting there is not hard - just a 5 hour drive from Bangalore and apart from a 6 km stretch of broken roads, the rest is brilliant. The rooms are comfortable and the property has this old world charm without compromising on modern day amenities.

Old & New

Road to kadamane

https://youtu.be/qDAnjkdfK7Y

I am a coffee man myself but the red cup of fragrant tea managed to convert me to a tea drinker for a few days. It rained most of the time but I was happy for that is exactly what i wanted. It was cold, wet, windy and spooky most of the time - perfect recipe for the romantic kid in me to don a new cape and go gallivanting into the mists of the mountains.

Almost perfect


Radhika & team ensure that you are as comfortable as can be and the simple but delicious food is one of the main reasons why I would visit again. The one thing i just cant get out of my head is this crooked moss covered entrance to the bungalow. I wonder what stories it could tell!

Sayonara

[SDP]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by procrj

The one thing i just cant get out of my head is this crooked moss covered entrance to the bungalow. I wonder what stories it could tell!

Sayonara

No message from Procrj over the long week end, meant only one thing, he has lost himself in the woods and I was just longing for such a type of travelogue to emerge, how correct I was (patting myself on my back).

With each travelogue my belief gets firmer that if you are not a poet, then definitely you must be a writer.

Anyways good way to start my morning. Please share with us more details about this place, its location, the route, distance covered, how the tank performed etc

[abirnale]

Awesome experience yet again! Crisp TLog and as usual great narration with apt pictures.
Is this the place you are referring to - http://www.sinnadorai.com/kadamne-location.aspx

Seems good for a weekend overnighter! Adding to the "list"

[gadadhar]

lovely snaps with excellent captions and narration, would love to have details on the place and drive.

[Renukaprasad]

very nice travelogue, Poetic words, dreamy explanation, topped up with beautiful photographs. I call this as artistic travelogue. Are you a poet? Please share more about the location of the place, as you have already inspired us to dream about a dreamy vacation.

[procrj]

Location & Drive details

Website: http://www.sinnadorai.com/kadamne-experience.aspx
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/Z44hfZimdEP2
Route: Nelamangala - Hassan - Sakleshpur - Aggalatti Road - Kadamane
Gmaps: https://goo.gl/maps/9U3tFsA23tt

Drive details:

• Nelamangala - Hassan: Beautiful 4 lane road
• Hassan - Sakleshpur: Good 2 lane road
• Sakleshpur - Aggalatti Road: Good 2 lane road with a few broken section near culverts. Watch out for the primary healthcare center on your left, which is where you need to take left.
• Aggalatti Road - Kadamane: First 2.7 km is bad with some deep potholes. After that its a good concrete road for 11-12 kms. You need to take a right hand U-turn at a bus stop where the concrete road ends and then after that for the next 3 odd kms its again potholed & washed out tar road.

Total distance: ~250 kms from Yeshwantpur metro
Drive time: Easily doable in 4.5 hrs of peaceful driving
Pit stops: Swati delicacy & Cafe Ossoor. Many other on the way to & in Sakleshpur before the hanbal turnoff

Other finer points:

• Book in advance as its mostly fully booked especially on weekends
• Book rooms in the partners wing for best views and wi-fi access
• If you have a 4x4, then take your car to 5 acres for a photo shoot
• Do drink a cup of their red tea even if you are not a tea drinker. Its so clean and refreshing
• They have bicycles which you can use to explore the estate
• They dont serve alcohol. So carry your own if needed.
• Apart from BSNL none of the other service providers have range except in some specific pockets
• Ask if tea bushes have been pruned they do this once in 3-4 years and in June this year they pruned bushes in large section near the bungalow. Did not matter to me but there were other guests at the bungalow who were disappointed that its not green all around
• Food is home cooked & delicious indian fare. Dont expect large variety or fancy urban food (like cakes, pasta etc.)

The tank as usual handled beautifully. Onward journey was a slow drive as I wanted to savor the rain, roads and the beauty of the hills. The return was a fast dash home as it was Aug 15th and I did not want to spend hours waiting at tolls. Left Kadamane at 11 am and was home by 3.15 pm with a 20 minute sandwich break at Swati Delicacy. On the 2 laned highway between Sakleshpur & Hassan I just tailed a well driven Pajero Sport and was easily keeping pace with him all thanks to the torque available on demand. On the 4 lane from Hassan - Bangalore, I was easily maintaining 110-120 kmph and the the tank was quiet responsive even at 120 kmph. Just a firm push of the A pedal and I was able to overtake vehicles with a little bit of planning. Thoroughly enjoying the ride & experience and hoping that it continues for a long long time.

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

With each travelogue my belief gets firmer that if you are not a poet, then definitely you must be a writer.

Thanks Deepak. As of now im neither a poet nor a writer. Maybe someday

Please share with us more details about this place, its location, the route, distance covered, how the tank performed etc

Done

Originally Posted by abirnale

Seems good for a weekend overnighter! Adding to the "list"

Thanks avinash. Yes that's the place and don't do an overnighter - you will regret not spending a couple of days.

Originally Posted by gadadhar

lovely snaps with excellent captions and narration, would love to have details on the place and drive.

Thanks gadadhar. Details shared.

Originally Posted by Renukaprasad

very nice travelogue, Poetic words, dreamy explanation, topped up with beautiful photographs. I call this as artistic travelogue. Are you a poet? Please share more about the location of the place, as you have already inspired us to dream about a dreamy vacation.

Thanks renuka. The hills have been my muse for a long long time and I am neither poet nor writer right now. Details of location and drive shared.

[mi2n]

Absolutely stunning captures and equally indulging narrative. Loved the perspective. Thanks.

[Fauji]

Nice one. I am not sure how many times we have been there. We were there first time when it opened. Check out my TL here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...akleshpur.html

[paragsachania]

Lovely pictures there RJ and just about the right time in awesome Malenadu

Kadamane always brings back my memories much before this opened to general public as a Holiday destination. Dates back to my school days and we have visited this umpteen number of times as part of half a day picnics from Belur .

Beyond that, along with few of my close buddies from the Plantation world from my hometown and Dad's friends, A regular but infrequent visit to these estates to study a lot of things - Vanilla, Pruning, Timber, Irrigation etc as this was one of those estates that was very well managed. So much so that we as kids even heard rumors (partially true) that the estate was surveyed through choppers rides.

The only time I have actually paid to stay in one of these estates was last year when we had an all boys Birthday party near Mallandur and we opted for a Homestay and one of the friends also included a Coffee Planter himself

Staying in such estates have their own beautiful side:

Pin Drop silence with howling wolves and wild animals through the night, Hot Water Baths from those boilers heated via firewood, Steaming hot & Fresh Tea/Coffee, Early morning walk through these estates, a real good short and effective sleep that lasts no more than 6-7 hours even if you want to sleep more. I am sure you will relate all these to the experience that you had staying there.

[NPV]

RJ - As usual, excellent Travelogue (writer/poet traits can't be missed!) with superb captures from the camera - that's great partnership

Yes, the place is heavenly and Radhika and team do a great job.
You should also visit the Sinnadorai property in Valparai, excellent place.

Did you visit Manjarabad Fort ? Having gone so far, it's just a little ahead of the Hanbal turn off.

[siddarthab]

WoW!
Mesmerizing photography and splendid writing! Ingredients for a 5 Star Travelogue. Kudos !!!

Thanks & Regards,

Siddhartha

[procrj]

Originally Posted by mi2n

Absolutely stunning captures and equally indulging narrative. Loved the perspective. Thanks.

Thanks mi2n. I'm sure you have many more such plantation in your backyard which your new tank would love

Originally Posted by Fauji

Nice one. I am not sure how many times we have been there. We were there first time when it opened. Check out my TL here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...akleshpur.html

Thanks poorna sir. Ever since I read your thread last year, I was itching to visit kadamane. Finally managed to do so this year.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I am sure you will relate all these to the experience that you had staying there.

Thanks parag. You were lucky to have grown up in and around Malenadu with plantations in your backyard. Completely agree with the points you made regarding the experience at the plantation. Sometimes I wish I could get a job in such a place and quietly enjoy life but trappings of modern day dont allow me to consider this as a serious option.

Originally Posted by NPV

You should also visit the Sinnadorai property in Valparai, excellent place.

Thanks NPV. Valparai is on the cards but not sure when.

Did you visit Manjarabad Fort ? Having gone so far, it's just a little ahead of the Hanbal turn off.

No. Was planning to do that on the return journey from Kukke but dropped both because of crowds.

Originally Posted by siddarthab

WoW!
Mesmerizing photography and splendid writing! Ingredients for a 5 Star Travelogue. Kudos !!!

Thanks siddarthab

[docmoya2007]

Great photography. Great video. Great story telling. I was mesmerized. I hate the rain. But this travelogue made monsoon beautiful all over again for me. May I ask what is the background music in the videos? It truly makes it even more beautiful.