The Hindu Business Line : In the coffee land, watching barbet, parakeets

“The bus has a tilt,” remarked Suresh Chengappa. We were on our way back from Honey Valley with Suresh Chengappa being good enough to drop us at Virajpet bus station for our onward ride to Bangalore in a comfortable and empty KSRTC Volvo bus.

“Some five to six years ago, land prices were ruling at around Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh per acre. Today, farm land is priced at around Rs 30-35 lakh,” said Chengappa with a smile and farmers owning rice or coffee estate lands are willing sellers.

His Canadian friend Jack added, “Five years ago there were about 50 resorts and today there are 600 resorts in Kodagu (Coorg).”

There is talk of a new 30-room home coming up at a construction cost of Rs 30 crore and corporates are sniffing the area to touch base. We did note forest clearings on the hill sides to house tourists in the future. If rice lands go, the Kodavas could be short on their staple diet in the coming years as rice and pork form the main dish for the Kodavas.

Old ways of living are giving to new styles and the youngsters prefer to migrate. Honey Valley run by Suresh and Susheela Chengappa has a few well-kept tiled roof, red brick rooms and we stayed in a room costing Rs 750 per day. There is no TV and the newspapers are irregular though we did catch a bit of the financial collapse of banks and others in US despite tough regulators and regulations. Perhaps, weak or near absent regulation of financial entities is a global habit with the balance sheets being untrustworthy pack of numbers.

“An institution valued at $100 billion last year goes bust this year. Funny, isn’t it?” asked Jack who is worried over the opening of Alaska to crude oil search.

“There is little of ice there now and it will all go when the oil companies move in,” he said. One evening we were scheduled to watch the Planet Earth but that did not happen as the electronic system choked. Some 25 years ago, the Chengappas settled down in Honey Valley in a tiled hut which is now being renovated. “They were tough times,” recalls Suresh and Susheela. Honey Valley derives its name from being one of the largest honey producing apiaries in India.

Around 1994, the Thai sac brood attack did away with the apiaries forcing the Chengappas to switch to coffee, pepper and cardamom.

“We were advised against growing coffee but we went ahead and our bets came true,” says Suresh with some pride.

The coffee served at the place is of rare taste and we did consume every day more than a few cups of strong coffee served with a smile by Tilaka, a lady who hails from Kerala. The lady reminded me of the ever-joyous Karthiayayani who would wait for this writer with cashew and banana chips in Kottarakara. Electricity is generated by a pelton wheel turbine and biogas is produced for cooking, says a Honey Valley pamphlet.

The Chengappas own 75 acres of land of which about 30 acres is under coffee and importantly they are elegant hosts. They are there and not there. Most of the trails are lined by red and yellow Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) flowers while one occasionally comes across Heliconia flowers.

On an afternoon walk, Madhukar focused on insects, butterflies, orchids and spiders while trying to avoid leeches.

Unlike humans, the leeches drop off after having their fill of human blood. The orchids grow on fig trees (though we could not identify them) and the butterflies coloured the cold air.

The cicadas were calling as Madhukar went after the butterflies like the blue mormon and common brown. He spent about 15 minutes trying to get a good shot of a Giant Wood Spider as it moved horizontally in its web.

Around this time, one saw a white-cheeked barbet (Megalaima viridis), perched on a fruit tree, swallowing fruits.

On top of a canopy, we saw the blue-winged parakeets (Psittacula columboides) with its thick, black collar and blue wings.

“I am happy today as I could click a range of the forest citizenry and not only birds,” said Madhukar.

As he left for a trek to the 5,775-ft. Tadiyendamoal (I am the tallest, in Kodugu) one spent a day in the library to know a bit about the land.

Coorg: The Land of the Kodavas; Photos: John Isaac; Text: Jeannette Isaac, is a starter of a reference book. The Kodavas are distinct from the Kannadigas or the Malayalis and the Isaacs put down their history from 1633.

A prince of the Ikkeri family managed to establish himself at Haleri, now a small village in northern Coorg, and the Haleri rajas, Lingayats by faith, ruled Coorg for the next 200 years, say the Isaacs.

In the chapter called Reflections, the Isaacs write: “Any visit, no matter what time of the day, involves an invitation for a cup of tea or coffee. A rejection is taken as an insult.

“In the olden days, a visitor was greeted by a woman of the house who was offered a small pitcher of water to wash up in. Then the person was ushered inside and seated comfortably and tea or coffee was brought out. Only then was the visitor asked the purpose of the visit.”

The book quotes the notings of a District Magistrate in the 1920s: “I hope that, on the way, we should come to a Coorg house nestling among the coconut and areca palms on the edge of a green valley of rice and there we should be invited to take off our shoes and come inside and seat ourselves near the south-west pillars of the inner court – the place of honour – and partake of that different hospitality which is all friendliness. I know I should enjoy every minute of it, and I venture to predict that so would you.”

This writer admits the Chengappas at Honey Valley, despite being in the hospitality business, do fit well the popular saying taught to every child, “Though poor be a Kodava”.

P. Devarajan

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