Second of a two part account of a road ride through the hills of far south Karnataka down onto the plains of Tamil Nadu. We were heading for the city of Coimbatore and from there taking an excursion 30 km or so west of it to the ashram of an Indian spiritual teacher by the name of Sadhguru. Known as Isha Yoga Centre, it is a place of some considerable size and a magnet for many thousands of visitors throughout the course of the year.
After a rest on my bed in the Kiscol Grands, where I was fighting off a headache from the ride to Sadhguru’s Isha Yoga Centre, I was due to meet Sonam Tashi and Ranga down in the foyer at seven in order to go and find somewhere to eat. I did a bit of searching on Google for restaurants in Coimbatore and saw that our best bet was gonna be a place called Barbecue Nation which was located in the Hotel Metro City. It was five stars all the way as far as the reviews were concerned and for some reason I felt a little bit of meat eating was in order. Dunno why, usually I try to be veg as much as I can, but just there an’ then I wanted to eat some chicken. Maybe the need to ground myself was kicking in after my close shave with that headache, a possible thumper, anyway whatever, Barbecue Nation was the place I came up with so that was what I suggested to Sonam Tashi and Ranga when I met up with them. Thankfully the effect of those Nurofens I popped was already kicking in and I was beginning to feel more like facing the blinding lights and dust clouds of evening time Coimbatore, which was probably just as well because on the roads it was going be a take no prisoners situation, with headlights full beam and all manner of vehicles coming at us from wherever we looked.
Sonam Tashi had different ideas with regard to heading straight over to Barbecue Nation, by way of suggesting that we first went to a shopping mall, something which come early evening time, a lot of people in Indian cities tend to do. After a bit of intense negotiation with a rickshaw driver outside the Hotel Kiscol Grands, we got him to agree to take us to a nearby shopping mall for a fare of 80 rupees. Once we arrived, after what was a ten minute ride across town with all horns honkin’, the stores on offer inside the mall included the likes of –
First Avenue, Van Huesen, Reliance, MAX, Pantaloons, M&S, American Apparel, Lifestyle, Woodlands
– Indian and Western shops all mixed up together, but mainly Indian, selling brands such as Yashil, Burford and Sliderz, but as far as the food outlets were concerned it was strictly Burger King, KFC, Dominos, Taco Bell and McDonald’s. They were the only game in town as far as the locals were concerned, a bit of a shocker really, with nothing in the way of local fare getting so much as a look in, but there you go, that was just how it was.
Took a walk around the mall, thankful that my potential humdinger of a headache had been shaken off, where I guess this is the way it works for me in this life’s incarnation. There is the lifting of the veil a tiny fraction, which lets me glimpse the rumble tumble of infinity beneath the fallen stars, before once again the drawing of the curtain. Sure, it leaves a tear in my eye, leaves me standin’ on the highway of an eternal longin’ larger an’ greater than the whole damn cosmos, but that has to be canned, a lid put on it, a sweet song sung of we shall overcome, where I pick up my shovel to carry the load an’ just get on with it, once more settin’ off on the inexplicable trail of any eventuality.
End of rap then, and back to the mall!
So there I was in Coimbatore, centre city mall walkin’ early evening time with Sonam Tashi and Ranga for company. I was glad to be doin’ a little bit of leg stretchin’ after a day of car ridin’ and ashram pacin’ in the hot bright sun, checking out the Sadhguru Kingdom an’ feelin’ pretty glad that I had done so, even if by the end of it when rollin’ into Kiscol, the wear an’ tear had nearly seen me come a cropper. But now, so to speak, I was breathin’ fresh air again, feelin’ alright now, so much so that I bought a short sleeved shirt XL size from Pantaloons, glad that I did too, and all for 799 rupees. Something fresh for me to wear the next day because on the road in India, no matter what the length of the trip, you can sometimes end up stinkin’.
The location of Barbecue Nation was by Coimbatore town hall and in the bright lights of the traffic intensity on the street outside the mall, where all manner of vehicles were kickin’ up dust, it was damn bloody difficult to get a rickshaw ride over there for anything under 100 rupees. Thanks to the dogged persistence of Sonam Tashi we finally managed to get a driver who would take us for 70, which under the circumstances was a bit of a result, and once the deal was done we were in the back of the cab, off once again into the crazy city of Coimbatore where roads spun off in any which way direction, each an’ every one of them leading to different unknown destinations in the cycle spinnin’ dark.
Barbecue Nation turned out to be on the top floor of the Metro City Hotel and after ascending in a rather small an’ tightly packed lift we were then faced with a situation where it was fully booked until 9.30. I had read on Google it was one of the most popular places in Coimbatore and now I saw that indeed turned out to be true. The time slot was gonna be too late for us, it was only just comin’ up to 8 an’ there was no way we wanted to hang around the town hall part of town for one and a half hours, no matter how good the cluckin’ food might turn out to be. Thought to myself we might as well just keep it simple, we’d tried to get into Barbecue Nation, to sink our teeth into some of their succulent chicken kebabs, but it hadn’t turned out that way and now the solution was to head back to the mall where Sonam Tashi and Ranga could have a KFC and I would go to Dominos for a nice veggie pizza, with all thoughts of meat eating now receding from my mind.
Before that however, once we got back down to the ground floor of the Metro City Hotel, we saw there was a pub in the basement by the name of The Restro Bar and at the suggestion of Sonam Tashi it was decided we would go down there for a nice chilled beer. Sounded pretty good to me, after the rigours of the day I could most certainly sink a cold one, and so it was that we descended the stairs before ending up in a typically dim light drinking den where Tamils sat at tables with bottles of beer whilst filling their glass mugs in front of them and picking from complimentary plates of snacks. It was the Tamil pub scene all over again, last visited by me a couple of years ago down in the depths of Madurai, where that time there had been a massive flat screen TV fixed to the wall pumpin’ out the latest Bollywood hits and where I’d had a couple of brewed under licence bottles of Indian Carlsberg.
Turned out that it was an excellent decision to hit The Restro Bar because the beer on offer was a Tamil brand by the name of British Empire, and it came in 660 ml bottles extremely well chilled with a very nice kick to them. So it was a bottle each for me and Sonam Tashi, but water for Ranga who was tea total and had to make do with that, along with munchin’ his way through a plate of complimentary snacks which consisted of hard boiled eggs cut into quarters, pineapple pieces, hot chicken, sliced cucumber and some savoury crunches. Snacks were not for me this time around because I was only interested in sinking a cold one before headin’ back to the mall for a Dominos pizza. Come to think of it, I’d drunk a bottle of British Empire once before, three years ago down in another cellar bar, that time in a hotel next to the New Woodlands Hotel in Chennai, just when I was at the beginning of one of my trips to Tiruvannamalai.
Somehow, after that nice cold British Empire in The Restro Bar, the rickshaw ride back to the mall seemed to be so much smoother, the effect of the beer takin’ away any pains from those bumps on the road and fumes from the traffic. This time it was impossible for us to get back to the mall for under 100 rupees. Needless to say it must have been pretty bad to have ended up being a rickshaw driver in Coimbatore, so no wonder they all stuck together and talked to you as one when it came to prices. They knew damn well the cut from this deal called life they had was a tough one, so for them to act in solidarity was the only way to get through it and really, who could blame them?
Back at the mall and on the top floor where all the food outlets were located, Sonam Tashi and Ranga ploughed their way through a KFC Big Bucket whilst I had a Veggie Deluxe pizza from Dominos and a bottle of 7 UP Nimbu to wash it down with. My pizza came with pieces of paneer on top, along with mushrooms and some other tasty veg, but if push came to shove I would have to say it didn’t quite hit the spot in the same way that a Farmhouse Veggie had a week or so ago when I was up in the hill station town of Madikeri. That one had been so good as to be almost off the scale, just like an incredible McMaharaj Meal that I’d once had in a McDonald’s back in 2018 in Mysore Forum Mall. All the same, the Dominos in Coimbatore was not bad at all and as usual I wolfed it down to the very last slice, not really bothering to offer any to either Sonam Tashi or Ranga since they were still both lost inside their Big Bucket of KFC.
Guess we got back to Kiscol Grands at somewhere between 10 & 10.15, where after setting up Monsters Exist by Orbital to play on Spotify, I lay down on my double bed and soon went out like a light. Woke up once for a trip to the loo but then crashed out again in the dark of what was turning out to be a quiet and clean city centre hotel, which at the end of the day was pretty much all that could be asked for, especially after that earlier encounter of mine with the bang, bang, tap, tap of the renovation works going on there.
By 6 in the morning I was up and meditating. I have to say it was a refreshingly pure sittin’ session, where the effect of having been to the Dhyanalinga at the Isha Yoga Centre the day before fully hit home, because the vibe I felt was pretty incredible. Sadhguru has stated that the Dhyanalinga is a lingam consecrated and created strictly for the purpose of meditation along with chakra re-alignment, and after that early morning sit in my room at the Hotel Kiscol Grands, I can only say he is right. Whatever Sadhguru is doing over there at the Isha Yoga Centre, 30 km west of Coimbatore, with his creation of sacred power spaces for energy purification, it is something which I can only describe as amazing. There is really not much more I can say, other than I felt something really strong, that teachers such as Sadhguru are beyond categorisation in terms of what is usually applied to normal people. Whatever his purpose is – by way of all those inner and outer activities he is engaged in – it is something so profound it defies rational explanation. It was great to have had the chance to step into the Sadhguru Kingdom, especially within the depths of the Dhyanalinga, even if my time there had passed in little more than a blink of a tired eye, but it was even greater when meditating in the early morning light of my room in the Hotel Kiscol Grands.
It was as if by way of my meditation session, the reason for my trek out to Isha Yoga Centre finally came home to me. At the time of making it I was struggling in the heat, not totally but definitely a little, but now in my room at the Hotel Kiscol Grands it was a different story and I can only say I now felt wonderful because of it. A trip then, which was well worth making and I was glad that I had done so, glad to the point where I thought it was not beyond the realms of possibility that if the heavens allowed, by way of a slant of the sun in the parting of the clouds spun into our cosmic karmic mystery, I would indeed make the trek out there again. Maybe it would be under different circumstances next time around. Maybe I would get to see the Adi Yogi statue at night rather than in the bright light of the day, get to go there when feeling refreshed rather than at the end of a 5 hour sleigh ride through the hills and then down onto the plains so as to chop through the choke of Coimbatore and out the other side of it. No, I can plan it better next time that’s for sure, but what there’s been on this little trip was more than enough for starters, and like I said, after my early morning meditation in the Kiscol I knew deep down it had been a trip well worth making.
rockin’ days
in the memory
of an invisible city
was what I was after,
meditation gone solar
from out of which
lay the path to
i-n-f-i-n-i-t-y
So anyway, after our breakfast, all of which was included in the room price – watermelon slices for me along with papaya and coffee before porris and chickpeas followed by a masala omelette – it was back into the great wide open of Coimbatore for a 15 km ride up the road and into the hills behind the city. This was in order to check out the (Lord Murugan) Marudhachalamurthy Temple in Marudamalai, a holy site dating all the way back to the 12th century. Murugan being the Hindu god of war, son of Parvati & Shiva, and brother of Ganesha.
Since we were out of the blocks by 9.30, the roads once we were away from the city centre were not yet as busy compared to the previous day, when of course we’d arrived slap bang in the middle of the hottest part of it. The temple up on the hill was quiet, which worked out well because it meant that both Ranga and I were able to witness at close quarters the pujas being performed there in front of the shrine by Brahmin priests. We were also able to make offerings and receive in return sacred scented grasses, plus vibhuti ash and red kum kum powder, all of which pleased Ranga immensely because as a devout Hindu he took such things as a good sign. It was another trip well worth making then, with views of the city of Coimbatore spread out in the haze of the plains below, where countless numbers of people went about their daily lives whilst the gods of Marudamalai watched over them from up on the hill. When we were done it was something like 11 in the morning which seemed as good a time as any to hit the road back to Kollegal in Karnataka.
kiscol in neon
sign for the city
as pulsation red
dusty old back shacks
and railway tracks
trace our destinies
only to shred
all the evidence
when we’re dead
The swing back symphony across the plains of Tamil Nadu and over the hills to once again reach the Tibetan settlement of Dhondenling saw us take in a stop at the Banariaman Temple just before our ascent by way of the road with 27 hairpin bends. It was an ancient Hindu temple with a Ganesha shrine which people flocked to, where limes were offered and vibhuti ash given by way of return, also red flowers. Further on up into the hills in that part of the world, on the Karnataka side of the border, there are large numbers of temples dedicated to the Hindu god Mahadeshwara who practices meditation as a yogi siddha. All of them in an area which has its centre in Male-Mahadeshware Hill, a pilgrim town drawing in many thousands of devotees from Karnataka & Tamil Nadu each and every day.
Once in the hills and away from the plains, we took a tea stop before riding back in what was by now the late afternoon light in the far south of Karnataka, where the views of the lands before us were at times really quite tremendous, whilst the air we breathed was sweet, very sweet.
TracelessTrails 
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