This is the first of its kind of entry. My mind craves time to connect to self (to see whether the fire is still there under the ashes or just the remains of once so-called conquer-the-world daydream) – but you know that the current lifestyle gives anything but the time we need to see inward. Somehow, I had a postponed flight ticket, planned leaves, and home ministry approval after enough supporting systems fell in one place to see me away from the conveyor belt days.
The plan was very simple: be away for a week, try not to touch the phone, be with nature, away from people. Surprisingly, I managed to do it even beyond my disbelief. I landed in Banglore on the 1st of December, a fine Friday. Despite my protests, Vinoth picked me up from the airport and brought me to Krish’s home. After getting pampered, nothing short of a kid, we all went to Kubhi’s house and picked up his car for my travel plan to Coorg. While I wanted to skip dinner, they all got me to “Filter Coffee” restaurant, which served authentic Tiffin items – I loaded myself with a dosa and a shared filter coffee. My only regret staying away from India is missing these beautiful souls. No matter what I can say, our friendship will always fall short of words. I will tone down so that I don’t jinx it.
02-Dec-2023
In the morning, Krish sent me off after checking the car. Google Maps has shown a nice 5.5-hour drive from Banglore to Coorg Wilderness Resort. Traffic wasn’t bad – after crawling, I hit the Banglore-Mysore highway (NICE road), which was a cool drive by all means. After exiting that highway, the road was still okay, but I had to drive cautiously with the traffic. Despite Coorg being a hill station, we will never know when the actual climbing has started; in the best case, we would see some inclined roads, but that is it. I skipped my lunch and reached the resort by 4 pm.
I spent a lot of time to zero in on the place that am going to stay for five nights. The top contenders were Taj Madikeri, The Tamara, Motesorri Resort, Purple Palms, Ibnii, and a few more. The initial plan was some basic homestays, but who were we talking to? I had to look into the best options, telling myself I deserved that. I looked at their website, which showed old colonial-style cottages amidst the misty mountains, and went with that primarily for the reason I wanted solitude. When I came down, I was so pleasantly shocked that I couldn’t believe many things. The first, the Arch at the entrance, tells you how grand it is. Further to this, everything is about very short but inclined slopes in all directions.
It’s amazingly planned. The resort uses literally a small mountain. It’s massive, by all means. I was greeted with “Chukku Coffee” (dried ginger spices drink) and allocated to my cottage in no time. The reception itself is massive, with a beautiful veranda overseeing the nearby mountains. For a person who is used to Asian sophistication and is of a reasonable size (From the tiny shoe-box rooms in Tokyo to the spacious Indian hotel rooms), this gave a different perspective. It’s not about the resort or the idea of hospitality business or the profitability but a pure, proud attitude of what we can do with nature to coexist with our compromising the grandeur humans can indulge in. Whoever designed the resort has my massive respect, and I only wish I could dream my imagination explores that height. The whole mountain was meticulously planned with huge cottages respecting nature. It has a swimming pool that looks infinite, overseeing a mountain, a spa that makes you forget the reality for those hours inside, restaurants that are massive in size, spectacular views, and many more.
From the start, my eyes and brain confused each other in disbelief about a few things. It was right in the mountains with rich flora and fauna but had the aromatic presence of a typical lobby of a five-star hotel. Despite the dense trees and overwhelming noises of crickets chirping and 100 other insects trying to cope with that, the cottages were clean of insects, mosquitoes, moths, ants, lizards and yeah, anything you can think of. The other thing is Coorg receives about 3000mm of rain every year, which should translate to us that there is no way we can dry the washed clothes; even the cemented roads will be with moss, fungus and slippery, and the room will have mould odour, and everything will deprecate so fast because of the rich weather conditions. Now, I didn’t see any of these in the resort; everything was new, completely unaffected by any of the facts I listed and didn’t show any signs of getting old. It’s not new. I was told it was opened in 2009, but it’s the end of 2023, and it still does not make sense. Either they maintained it so well, renovated every single thing to blend in completely with the previous things, or built really with things that live forever – I am starting to believe it’s the last. While the exterior was so meticulously planned, the interior was definitely taken care of by a person, so I could take no for an answer for anything. Drapes, railings, side tables, study desks, bed frames, and wardrobes were standing proud, rich with traditions, and they stood for art lovers. Their bathrooms were as wide as the room, which made them easily the biggest washrooms I had ever used. Placement of the bathtub and, again, the interiors, lights, and the list can go on – or simply every single thing that you can touch is something unique. Not boasting, but I have seen a decent number of places, and things can’t easily sway me.
Sunset walk
After unpacking and refreshing, I was invited to a sunset walk at 5:30 pm. After a very short, quick hike (about 10 mins), I reached the top of the little mountain, which had a tower to watch the surroundings. It’s a beautiful three-toned platform which offers a 360-degree view. Despite the proximity of Madikeri town, this view is so rich with nature, and if it’s not for the distant lights or small buildings, we would feel we are in the middle of a deep jungle surrounded by layered mountains.
03-Dec-2023
Coorg is always special to me. We started our friend’s trip for the first time and decided to go to Coorg. Since then, I have made it many times here, at times with friends and at times for hiking, so Coorg brings back the best of my memories. While driving to Coorg the previous day, I remembered that once we came here with Arun and the family. As part of that, we stayed at the base of Tadiyandamol (one of the peaks I am desperate to go to – just like the Kudremukh), and during that time, based on the homestay owner’s recommendation, we went to a temple nearby and prayed which was before Akshinn was born. Vaguely, I remembered that we had a pending visit to that as Akshinn was conceived during that period. Incidentally, wifey remembered that today and asked me to check the possibility of visiting. Its two persons had the thought, so I put my cleanse-the-mind plan and drove there. Thanks to the earlier blogs from here, I managed to find the temple named “Igguthappa temple”, – which worships the son of Lord Shiva and is known as the God of Rice. Temple serves free lunches throughout the year. I had no pictures, though, only to realize that it’s not allowed to do that. It was totally a mesmerising drive in the morning from Coorg to that temple. The temple was heavily crowded, and I was lucky enough to be right there when the Pooja started.
I drove back to Coorg Wilderness in the afternoon and signed up for their one of the longest Spa treatments. For the rest of the day, I was in the semi-state of completely relaxed or in a semi-sleep mood as the treatment was that good and relaxed my senses.
Though it was a productive day, I didnt even start feeling the purpose of the day, but already had a cheat day.
My actual plan was complete silence from eveyrthing (Ofcourse, cant be that much when you are running a family at this stage – work was understandbly agreed to remain undisturbing).
Am comfortable with the chirps of the crickets and nightly nocturnals being busy at their ‘day’ but this is another realm. It was deafening and my ears are ringing so much that am unable to concentrate or sleep with that sound – it got better from the following days – just that my ears and brain signed a contract to respect the insects and move on.
04-Dec-2023
This is the real testament to the plan of being quiet for the next three full days (yes, last two nights have gone already and cant count the last day as i need to travel back to Banglore).
The realm within the realm
I thought it would be easy, but it was far from what I expected. I went to the Yoga session in the morning by 8 am for barely 30 minutes, but it stretched and told me very clearly that I was far away from where I thought I was. After breakfast, my time started ticking super slow despite having the finest views a Coorg cottage can offer. I tried to nap, bathtub-ed a while, and went for a short walk after a tiny lunch and gosh. Still, my mind was so bloody, hungry for dopamine, especially the immediate and constant bursts. The more I denied it, the more it punished me. I didn’t touch either “The Infinite Game” or “Think Again”, as my brain was so clear to defend that it was in the mood for slow and steady dopamine or anything associated with that.
I resorted back to multiple deep breathing sessions and mind was quick enough to distract me every time, still, after multiple attempts of the slow meditation with controlled breathing, guess mind started to accept things slowly.
My first win was that I was able to think freely, like a nomad, for a very brief time. I sensed it, and I couldn’t believe it. My brain was trained to be a factory worker, to follow schedules and think of the future (short, medium, a bit longer), but I never had time to wander off. I felt I was nothing more than a police-trained German Shepherd who wouldn’t blink even for a Gunshot. Momentarily, I had the break time of Shepherd, and my mind wandered off – it even tried to record a voice memo. See, this is what it does to our brain when the ‘scrolling’ takes over your short burst of free time. I don’t do much on social media apps – even there, I follow things to motivate, inspire and think big; despite that, I am here – unable to use my free time to think, despite boasting that I like my personal company as I have a lot to indulge in self-thoughts.
One thing that equally annoyed me was being away from the kids. I was guilty to the core, and a small, very small facial change from the 2.5-year-old in the video call made me even guiltier. Though I deserved it, I should have done it with them, for them. See, I am domesticated.
Either way, it was finally a start, though!
05-Dec-2023
I promised myself I would do even better. There may be more meditations with controlled breathing, etc.
I wanted this day to be better, and indeed it was. It was more manageable, and I realised I had the fatigue yesterday, which was getting better today. I tried to go for the Twitcher’s trail, which is in the resort itself, but people didn’t turn up, and I told the staff to ignore me so that I don’t push them just for me. After a lazy breakfast, I resumed the room and continued the task at hand, staring at the trees outside. It worked for a while, and soon, I was distracted again??!!. My curiosity won, and I switched on the TV just to see what was in it, but I ended up catching a small portion of Monster Hunt for its animations and the funny English voiceover.
This should have given me clarity, but out of nowhere, I skidded away from the focus a bit that I built, to be honest. It was momentary, but it had the power to distract my mind further – If it was not for the genuine, funny parts of Monster Hunt, I would have cursed myself for switching on the TV. I told myself I would never switch that on again.
I’m not a big fan of in-room dining, but I opted to avoid a long walk and wasted time and ordered light. Later, I had a 15-minute nap, and I am trying to know when it started or from which page of “Think Again”. Woke up and chose to go to the nearby farm myself. This estate is quite big and naturally shares the borders with forests on multiple sides, yet it has a place for cultivation and some farm animals/birds. It was a peaceful walk of 2 km, and back quietly to the restaurant for my evening coffee. I was nearly served high tea items, and I blamed my need to have the coffee as I ended up munching some cookies and tea cakes.
One thing that I realized was that I had better clarity. Either my mind started to settle down in the new place or something else.
What kept my sanity was this write up as well as I spent few minutes here and there so that I record everything that I can reveal.
Another night of not-so-good sleep due to the evening coffee, I would like to assume.
06-Dec-2023
This was the last whole day I had in hand, as the next was checkout. My mind was in better agreement as I started the day with a steep hill walk to see how it looked from the top in the morning. My climb was worth it; One side was a beautiful green carpet with shining rays of morning sun. Not even little was on the side; forests and hills had no mood to give away the misty, dewy blankets. Those layered mountains with the fill of these misty clouds were nothing sort of magical. After another few rounds of meditation and breathing exercises, my mind pitched the idea of completing the little spices and local crafts shopping and went on to suggest eating lunch outside. I gave in as I didn’t want this to delay me until the next day. My authentic food experience backfired, and as I ran fast at the same speed, I went into the restaurant – nothing; my tastebuds were too finicky and sensitive.
I went to Madikeri Spices on Daswal Road and picked up spices and coffee. The owner was very kind and genuine. I am equally sure the products are the best as well – no wonder why it’s rated so high in Google. Then I went to a crafts shop that had good ratings, and it was not as authentic and big enough as I thought it would be. I still bought some silly stuff and came back to stay. Guess what? I barely used up 2 hours, and I had doubts that my phone was not showing the right time. All these happened that quickly, but for good as I, that little venture didn’t do any damage to the ongoing practice. Another round of meditation with earbuds and noise cancellation to avoid the things that are not natural cleared my mind further.
I have put the Oura ring and its features to the best use possible. One thing I discovered was that Oura was crying, that my stress levels were way too high, and I clocked nearly 3.5 hours as stressed each day. I was reluctant to believe I was stressed (I was going mad but not stressed), so I observed it further. Hill station’s Oxygen level is slow, so the heart has to do extra time until acclimatised, which was misinterpreted by Oura as stress. The weather was bad as well; delayed weather made sure the Coorg was hotter during the day and ‘ok’ during the night. I had to call housekeeping after the third night and request to remove Duvey and another mattress protector layer, which was waterproof, to make my body temperature a bit better.
what worked well
- Intended break
What didn’t work well
- Most of the time, I was going crazy due to a complete cut-off from most of the regular things
What was discovered
- iPhone battery lasts two days plus if you keep your hands quiet
- If you crack the knuckles under the water, you can hear the sound outside
Conclusion:
Initially, the idea was to put the saddle on the way of thinking for the mind, but I had to let go to start thinking. It was much programmed. It was focused on the things that I needed to do to bring order in the chaos, starting from small to big. I gave the allowance, and it did arrive at some basic conclusions, but really, with the reasons, I would agree without disclaimers. First was the sleep; when the sleep is compromised, everything else follows. The stress, unfocused approach, 13th-hour rush, hardened neck and back muscles, search for immediate dopamine via some scrollings, doing things all at the same time and whatnot – and most importantly, the mood which acts like a match stick which is ready, for a brush-off to burst into flames. So yes, sleep needs to be prioritised.
The next one was that there are some time killers, which I call – the things we do to unwind. Despite the smallest portion that I give in a day, collectively, they block things that could have been done. My phone has app restrictions after 1 hour of what-ever-the-apps cumulatively. Now I need to tone it down to 30 mins, maybe.
The third one was that there is so much more to do, which are big ticket items in all directions, but what killed the day, week, and month was the focus on handling the day and day’s responsibilities – Note that responsibilities are not something that can be removed from the equation. Now, unlike the other two, this is not easy. You can’t run away from daily responsibilities, but the energy and focus should be allocated to big ticket items, bigger goals, and items that have been waiting for ages (years – like Norway entry in this blog). Though it’s not easy to choose this over that or that over this, I need to balance it really well. It might even take away the last bit of time that I have day by day, but I don’t shy away from giving up, as these are my passions. So I am going to equally enjoy it when I finish things. It’s just that I need to be long on gratification. I need to learn to read the books again. I need to start learning not to fall asleep to start with after a few pages, no matter what genre it is.
So in reality, I wont be getting the englightenment or anywhere close after these 6 days of pushing my limits (??!!) but it gave me enough time to reflect what am lacking and what I can do to make it better. Yeah, it was costly “write the problem clearly and its already half solved” version. Am going to continue doing this year after year but may be 3 nights are good enough to punish me myself for the wrong things that I did on that year.
Now, really I cant wait to go back to my battle (that I love being in) and start counting my wins. I may not get the support I need, but for sure, I feellike the Viking armed in both hands smiling for a duel.
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