Bylakuppe and Elephant bathing?!

Would never have thought that I could see a part of Tibet in Karnataka! But it does exist! Bylakuppe is home to two of the many Tibetan settlements in India, established by Lugsum Samdupling (in 1961) and Dickyi Larsoe (in 1969).  It is located to the west of the Mysore district in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin town Kushalanagara is about 6 kilometers from Bylakuppe.

Bylakuppe is the 3000 acres of land that was leased out by the Indian Government to the fleeing Tibetans in 1961 and they are here to stay! It is the largest Tibetan community in exile with about 40,000 people in five settlements containing monasteries, kindergarten to higher level secondary schools, health care clinics, a hospital and a traditional Tibetan medical facility.

The most visited temple here is Namdroling (The Golden Temple)

Three beautiful larger than life gold plated statues look down at visitors above the altar.

The walls are adorned with colourful paintings depicting gods and demons from Tibetan Buddhist mythology.

The one thing that one must witness is the prayer of the monks. The harmony of their chants is enchanting.

The exterior of the new Zangdokpalri temple looks majestic with a majestic rainbow arch.

We are so used to being told not to photograph the idols in temples, that the ready willingness of the monks to let the idols in their temples being photographed is such a pleasant and welcome surprise.

If you wish to taste Tibetan food you can do that too! There are restaurants in there where you can indulge your adventuorous tastebuds.

All this was amazing alright but then due to shortage of time we missed going to Dubare Elephant camp that was just 40kms away. However this wonderful video by Godrej Cinthol has given a glimpse of what we 

missed. An elephant bath! So if you are ever going anywhere near Madikeri, do not forget to go to Dubare and bathe and be bathed by an elephant! Sure feels to be Alive is Awesome! Once you get back to your room use the real cool Cinthol soap to feel refreshed after the bathing with the elephants experience!

Bath at the village well!

The Cinthol ad being aired on Television these days brings to fore the ‘Alive Is Awesome Bathing experience’. It has fired the desire in me to undertake some of those amazing bathing adventures. Am sure you too will be enthused to do so after watching the ad or maybe after reading this post! For me, it will be the fun of travel combined with new bathing experiences.

There is one which seems quite doable in terms of not having to spend a lot of money and that is a bath at the village well. For us city dwellers, this will be an adventure, travelling to a village nearby and getting refreshed using this method to bathe. Especially now that rural tourism is picking up in India, this should not be difficult at all! All it would need is your willingness to step out of your comfort zone and live it up to the fullest. As they say, life happens outside the comfort zone!

So my next trip is going to be in Morachi Chincholi, a village near Pune in Maharashtra that tends to peacocks! Every morning and evening you will have peacocks strutting around doing their thing in the village

and you can hear them calling their mates and watch them dancing too! The villagers have woken up tothe tourist potential of this event and offer day and overnight packages. You can experience the village life to the fullest. Go for a bullock cart and/or tractor rides. Give the buffaloes a bath in the village pond. After all that go to the village well and get set for the Alive Is Awesome Bathing experience! Get hold of a few young boys

to help you experience it. Sit or stand next to the well and ensure that the boys have enough of buckets of water ready. And then at the count of three, as advised, the boys will splash bucketfuls of water at you. Ooooooh the chilling shivers that will pass through your body will be awesome! You will come alive to a bathing experience that has been waiting to be had!!

After that refreshing experience, eat what the villagers eat – bhakri with spicy chutney and veggies! Aah life is awesome!

So go for it guys! Do the ‘Alive Is Awesome Bathing experience’

Watch a video of a village bath