Gardens of Delight

A post-lockdown road trip to Chikmagalur in Karnataka is awash with sights of rolling coffee plantations, cascading falls, and important lessons in history.

- SANTOSH OJHA

GOD BLESS BABA Budan, the 17th-century Sufi saint who ‘smuggled’ seven raw coffee beans from Yemen as he was returning after hajj to his home in Chikmagalur, a hill station in Karnataka. Coffee had travelled to Yemen from Ethiopia, and coffee planters in Yemen would sell only roasted beans, lest buyers start growing their own coffee. Baba successfully planted the beans around his humble dwelling. Popularity of coffee spread, and soon enough, a large coffee plantation business began flourishing in Chikmagalur.

The rolling hills of Chikmagalur district and the rains the area receives make for the perfect setting for growing coffee. My wife and I are determined to take a break from the gloom and doom of COVID-19, and Chikmagalur makes for a splendid getaway from Bengaluru—a drive of five and a half hours. We select a property that is taking adequate sanitisation and hygiene measures. Public transport is a no-no, so it has to be a self-driven car. We opt not to stop at roadside eateries, and pack sandwiches and tea for the road.

As we make our way to Chikmagalur, we see hundreds of homestays and resorts. Most of them are in coffee plantations. Around 45 minutes uphill from the town is the plush Trivik Hotels and Resorts, our home for three nights. The resort sits atop a 1,615-metre-high peak of the Chandra Drona Range (also called the Baba Budan Range) in the Western Ghats—a perfect place to unwind and savour the charms of this dreamland.