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Quick weekend getaway

It's not exactly a plush resort, but if you're the out and about type, Coorg Hallimane is where you can pitch camp

FOR AN IDYLLIC HOLIDAY The resort near Kushalnagar

In the air of the night in the hills, I can feel the warmth of the bonfire and see the starlit sky. I can taste the hot onion pakodas melting in my mouth and savour the hot akki rottis with honey. But I can't hear the silence of the valley. I'm listening to electronic music on large speakers, and there's a lot of singing and clapping in the backyard of a resort in Coorg.

Sitting by the Koodige Road near Coorg's Kushalnagar, at the base of a hillock is Coorg Hallimane. A few stumps of fresh green plantain dot the border and a hill rises from somewhere far behind the "eco-friendly holiday home" — a brick and stone building with a few balconies jutting out from the first floor and a sloping tiled roof.

The whole building is structured around a sort of central courtyard — there's no formal reception area, lobby or lounge. A thin curtain fluttering in the wind separates the kitchen. "We wanted to keep off the five star resort ambience," says R. K. Bhat, MD of the resort.

But I'm just wondering if a steel almirah sitting awkwardly in the courtyard is part of that deal. "We are attempting to make a resort that will be in touch with the grassroots. We are not corporates. There are no gimmicks, there is no glitter. We are from the village and it is that innocence that we would like to show here."

The resort at present has eight double rooms. Each has furniture and cots hewn from a different kind of local wood — coconut, areca nut, teak and even bamboo have been used extensively to make doors and window frames too. All the rooms open into the courtyard and it is supposed to give a close-knit family feel. "In fact, it's ideal for a family to book it so that each generation can stay in a different room and have their space and yet come together for any activity."

The food is good — traditional Coorg fare, with a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. A breakfast of kadambuttu (rice balls) and nool puttu (rice flour vermicelli) with kaayi rasa and honey for accompaniment complete with coffee starts the day with vigour and energy. There's also bread and omelettes or idlis for those who can't do without their standard fare. Lunch consists of a full-course meal with traditional delicacies like the fiery hurali-saaru (horse-gram sambar) and ghee-soaked payasam!

You could also request an Ayurvedic massage.

While a lot is still in the planning stage, (they don't have a formal dining area yet!), right now it looks like a very basic place where you can dump your baggage and hit the road.

A visit to the falls

There is plenty to see and do. One of the packages that they offer is a trek to the little-known Mallalli Falls that doesn't really feature in the tourist circuit. Most people tend to head toward the more popular Iruppu and Abbey falls.

Mallalli Falls is about an hour's drive from the resort and then a six-km trek literally up and down a foot-track takes you to this waterfall. The waterfalls is on the Kumaradhara river and you can see the Kumaraparvata far off in the distance from beautiful viewing points atop big black boulders. The resort's adventure guide Shaji with manager Chandru will lead you to the point of a cliff from where the river falls off, allowing you a rare peek at a waterfall from above.

After some playing about in the water and walking in the sun, a meal of saaru-anna, coconut-loaded beans curry and fish curry at the Anchetira family home (the family cooks for trekkers on request from the resort) makes for a day well spent.

The resort is 230 km from Bangalore (about five hour's drive away) and three kilometres from Kushalnagar town, at Koodlur. The resort charges Rs. 1,200 per head including food.

It's free for children up to age five; those aged five to 12 are charged half the price. If you don't want the food, and prefer to eat on the move, a room comes at Rs. 1,500 per day. Log onto www.bgrowholidays.com or call 94490-78126/ 08276-320617.

BHUMIKA K.

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