DAY ONE
MOST OF THE PERSONS ARRIVED IN BANGALORE
EVENING GET TOGETHER IN KORAMANGALA CLUB – OTHER EX CADETS FROM OTHER BATCHES
CAPT/MRS KELKAR
CAPT INDERJIT SINGH
DAY TWO
A tolal of 10 INNOVA cars had been arranged to transport the persons with PICK UP at Bangalore and DROP OFF at Bangalore after the reunion. In addition a tempo van had been arranged to transport the baggage as it was felt the Innova cars may not be able to accommodate the baggage.
The first leg of the journey was from Bangalore to SRIRANGAPATNAM (which is about 15 kms before MYSORE). Srirangapatnam is a historical place and houses TIPU SULTAN’S FORT , PALACE, ARMOURY and also the famous RANGANATHITU BIRD SANCTUARY.
THE MAYURA RIVERSIDE HOTEL whose capacity was 18 rooms was fully booked by our group. The couples were accommodated here and THE BACHELORS (guys without their wives) were accommodated in the adjacent resort AMBLEE RESORT.
Both these are on the riverside, with the lunch and dinner being served on the steps/dining area abutting the river.
Some of the persons had come the previous day and the balance arrived on this day and they came directly from the airport to this hotel.
DAY THREE
After leaving Srirangapatnam we drove to BYLAKUPPE which is on the way to COORG.
Bylakuppe is an area in Karnataka which is home to the Indian town Bylakuppe and several Tibetan settlements, established by Lugsum Samdupling and Dickyi Larsoe. Bylakuppe is the second largest Tibetan settlement in the world outside Tibet after Dharmashala. Wikipedia
It also house the
The Namdroling Nyingmapa Monastery which is the largest teaching center of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. Wikipedia
It took about 3 hours to see the sights in Bylakuppe.
We then proceeded to KUSHALNAGAR where beer and lunch had been arranged.
After lunch we were on our way to POLLIBETTA, which was our destination in COORG.
TATA COFFEE have their coffee estates in Pollibetta and they have converted their various excess MANAGERS BUNGALOWS into HOME STAYS. It is named PLANTATION TRAILS. These beautiful bungalows (some of which are more than 100years) are exquisitely maintained. In the 5 bungalows accommodation was 18 rooms, in which the couples were accommodated.
The batchelors ( 6 persons) were put up in PORCUPINE CASTLE RESORT which was about 2 Kms from these bungalows.
Activities engaged in during our stay in COORG on various days (3 days)
1, Visit to TATA COFFEES TEA ESTATE/ TEA FACTORY which was about 1.5 hrs drive. After walking through the tea estate, visited the TEA FACTORY and observed various aspects of TEA PRODUCTION (Manufacturing). This was followed by beer and Lunch in the Tea Estate Managers bungalow, (which was converted in to a Home Stay).
2, Visit to DUBARE ELEPHANT CAMP, where tamed elephants are kept and cared for. This is a popular tourist centre where the tourists are allowed to bathe, feed and ride the elephants (all for a fee of course). This was followed by a visit to NISARGA DHAMA which is a small forested area with a zoo (small number of animals). It also had a shopping area where local tribes people displayed their wares along with other forest produce.
Most of the couples went to see the above two, whilst the batchelors decided to stay back.
This was followed by lunch back at the plantation trails.
3, The third day was spent in roaming around in the Coffee estates and seeing nature. Lunch with beer was served in one of the BUNGALOWS which had a beautiful view of the hills surrounding the coffee estate.
SOME LOVELY GIFTS WERE DISTRIBUTED – Leather purses, for the ladies and leather bags + coasters for the men(Thanks to Thoma who arranged these from Lucknow).
The main estate, where TATA COFFEE have their head office also has a Golf course.
The enthusiastics amongst the group visited the course regularly and had good rounds of Golf.
On the final day, quite a number of persons visited Mysore (on the way back to Bangalore) while some went directly to Bangalore to catch their various flights back home.
One interesting episode on the way back was when Lambu and a couple of others stopped on the way to have Fresh Coconut water . It was reckoned that Lambu may have consumed coconut water from atle