A Trip to Coorg

In December, we went to Virajpet (Coorg) to celebrate our anniversary,so naturally it was just two of us. It was a very nice place and could hardly find anything associated with city including good eat-out,transportation and a guide.This cottage where we stayed was looked after by a great army man and I guess he believed in one man army so he had only one man to cook,to serve,to house-keep,to gate-keep. He was like the opposite of 'Master of All..'. There was also a dog with him.

As it was away from the city and there was nothing close to civilization could be found we wanted to know about the security factor. My hubby asked about the dog to this guy and he said " hehehehhe, no saar. It's a nice dog,it doesn't bite anybody.Very soft." We looked at each other as he said that.He added that he would keep the gate in his house in the night for safety measures as he had to do a bit of gate-keeping as well.

Whenever he felt like preparing food he would appear before us to ask what we wanted. My hubby being a pure non-vegetarian (pure because he drinks Cauvery water) and me a vegetarian in purest form ( I boil Cauvery water and then filter it using the water filter) would ask him for our favorite dishes.That round guy would wait until we completed and would tell us what would he want to make.He would always say " Saar I will make Keema for you " in his classic style. My hubby heard it as " Saar I will make Keema out of you" the very first time he said it and after that he never disagreed with the guy through out our stay.Since he couldn't say " Ma'm I will make daal out of you", I was brave enough to disagree with him and sleep empty stomach.

As the round guy wouldn't make good coffee my hubby wanted me to make it in the room.So we went to buy milk as we had seen plenty of boards saying 'Illi Nandini Haalu Siguthade' ( Nandini Milk is available here).We went to a house where they had hung that board and asked for half a litre Nandini milk. The moment I asked the man sitting outside, he shouted " Nandini,come here.We have customers asking for milk." My hubby gave me a frightened look and walked two steps back. He said " Chellom,you get the milk and walk a mile before you catch up with me."As we moved on we saw another such board but 'Mother Diary' suffixed.My huby looked at me in disbelief and asked " What's this chellom?" to which I said "Family business, baby".

Once we reached the cottage,the round man smiled at us and came to greet us. My hubby was looking for the key and said " Where's the chavi(key)?". That round guy didn't get what he said so he asked him to repeat. My hubby asked again " Chavi...mmm as in Key.." even before he could complete ,the round guy said " Ohhh,Kee? as in Keema?" We looked at each other in amazement.