Chikmagalur/HASSAN Resort (Sept.2024 partial member ) Dufferin 1961-63 Reunion
PARTICIPANTS : SOMESH BATRA WITH UMA
SOMAN MANI WITH COUSIN BENITA
CARL ALEXANDER WITH SHANTHA
SANAT BHATE WITH COUSIN NAGARAJ KASHYAP
SANAT’S PUPILS GIRISH JOSHI WITH WIFE GAURI
SHASHI SHANTAGIRI WITH SHAILA and GRANDSON SHIVJEET
Report by Carl Alexander
Between 26th and 27th September we had arrived in Bengaluru Soman and cousin Benita along with Carl and Shantha Alexander as did Somesh and Uma Batra. Shashi had organized two Inova six seater vehicles to pick the group to travel to Chikmungalur. One vehicle went to Racecourse View Hotel Bengaluru to pick Soman and Carl. The other picked Somesh and Uma from the Taj Hotel Benguluru and Nagaraja a cousin of Sanat. Both groups along headed to Chikmangalur initially independently.
On the way we stopped for breakfast, so the two vehicles caught up to travel onwards together. Shashi and Shaila and their grandson Sivjeet had arrived a day earlier with very important luggage for the success of the reunion and Sanat Bhate ’s and his students Giri and Gauri both lawyers drove from Pune
The Resort had a number of semi-detached cottages. We were able to be accommodated in 6 cottages. All were fairly self-contained air conditioned rooms. All had an alcove with a separated double bed making accommodating the groups as necessary.
Meals were served at a separate dining room. All meals were buffet style with quite a spread of dishes that varied every meal.
Day one was spent settling in and meet and greet. Everyday at about 11am we had drinks and again at about 6:30pm all congregated in the pavilion outside the diner for drinks and chat in general.
Day two after breakfast we drove to visit the World Heritage Hoysaleswara Temple built in the 12th Century. Hoysaleswara Temple is located in Halebeedu town of Hassan District. It is another masterpiece of Indian temple architecture. The Hoysaleswara temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and exhibits Hoysala architectural style. This temple was sponsored by King Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala Empire. The construction of this temple was started around 1121 and was completed in 1160. Hoysaleswara temple is notable for its sculptures, intricate , detailed friezes as well as its history, iconography, inscriptions in North Indian and South Indian scripts.
The temple complex has a couple of temples within it; one is dedicated to Hoysaleswara, and the other is dedicated to Shantaladevi, the queen of King Vishnuvardhana, who built the temple. Both the temples consist of Shiva Lingum. The base of the temple consists of 8 rows of friezes carved with elephants, lions, horses, and floral scrolls. The walls of the temples are adorned with intricately carved Hindu deities, sages, stylized animals, birds, and friezes depicting the life of Hoysala kings. The temple has four entrances. The Northside gate is normally used by visitors as the main entry. Also, there are one entry on the south side and two entries friezes on the east side. It has two Nandi shrines outside, where each seated Nandi face the respective Shiva linga inside.[11] The temple includes a smaller sanctum for the Hindu Sun god Surya. It once had superstructure towers, but no longer and the temple looks flat.[12] The temple faces east, though the monument is presently visited from the north side. Both the main temples and the Nandi shrines are based on a square plan.[13] The temple was carved from soapstone that has weathered overtime to turn into more rugged stone .
We had a post educational enlightenment after our visit to the cultural high lights of the Hoysaleswara friezes depicting the high cultural art of the era. Soman Mani enlightened us on the detail of thal in a dance routine. It was the importance of adhering to special rules in the kathak dance. An enlightening talk was followed by a dance performance by Soman demonstrating the art of the dance performers. This was followed by a quiz to see if we could comprehend the rules of dance performance. Shaila was quick to answer the concept and won a prize Soman had set aside to award.
Day Three following the routine again after breakfast we drove to a nearby coffee estate. The estate manager along with the two vehicles took us around the coffee estate. Unfortunately, it began to drizzle so we did not alight from the vehicles, that went though the fairly rugged terrain of the estate. We learnt a bit about the two types of coffee grown arabica and robusta. Because of the susceptibility of the arabica bush to borer fly invasion and loss, robusta coffee bean is mainly grown as it is a hardier plant. Being earlier in the season the bean processing was not being done.
The coffee bushes require partial shade so silver oak trees are interspersed between the bushes. The shade trees are planted a few years prior the coffee plantation as it takes 15-20 years for them to establish. The coffee bushes require frequent pruning to encourage new growth that grows the coffee bean on the new shoots. The growth of the silver oak enables pepper creepers to be grown maximizing the harvesting and land usage. We also saw some areas where ginger was grown, apparently to avail of the monsoon rains for an additional harvest.
The obvious harvesting of the various crops has lead to the unusual combination of he ginger and coffee into a new brew, that seems to be popular in the region.
In the evening we had our routine together for a drink, again we had a dance performance by Soman which was enlightening again, as we learnt more about the other rules of bharthnatyam. Soman’s daughter in the USA who is a highly qualified dance and cultural understanding, has obviously made an impression on her father.
Day four was a day to rest and socialize so the day had a late start with the 11 am tea break being held in the Gautam Buddha gazebo to socialize. After siesta evening drinks were held in the gazebo outside the dinning room. Dinner was more ala carte as the numbers decreased and a buffet was not available.
Day five we now woke up to collect our belongings and travel back to our destinations. The drive was fast with a break at about 11:30 to arrive intermediate destinations be it Bengaluru or for the long distance travellers Sanat Giri and Gauri to Belgaum and then on to Pune