Dubare Elephant Camp – Even though we visited on a weekday, there was a long queue to enter the Elephant Camp. After about 90 minutes, we boarded the boat for the short ride across the river Kaveri to enter the Elephant Camp. The restrictions in place due to Covid meant that activities such as elephant ride, feeding and bathing the elephants were not being offered, but we still got to see elephants up close and enjoying their time in the water.

Bylakuppe Tibetan Settlement – We visited this place again for a Tibetan lunch. It’s a shame that the monastery was closed due to Covid; it was closed for renovations the previous time we visited Coorg, which means that I have not been able to enter the monastery since a visit more than 20 years ago. The lunch, though, was delicious.

Harangi Dam and Musical Fountain – I had not heard of this place until Praveen, our host, told us about it. We visited in the evening and were treated to a gloriously hued sunset. We then took our places for the Musical Fountain show, which started at 7 pm. It was very nice, except for the highly distorted music being played at very high volume. Interestingly, the choice of songs ranged from Kannada to Hindi and English!

Cafe and Restaurants in Kushalnagar – We visited a few cafes, bakeries and restaurants in Kushalnagar. As always, it was fascinating to see the changes in small town India over the past few decades. There were a large number of cars on the roads, and the places we went to were clean, with all the amenities one can find in large cities. This could possibly be because this is a relatively well-to-do district which sees high tourist traffic. But I would love to continue exploring more small towns in India…

Contributed to this blog. Things were a bit busy over the past couple of months, but things are easing up a bit as the end of the year nears.

And what a year it’s been, yet again! A year which started on a wave of optimism when it came to Covid (here in India), only to be thoroughly shaken up when the second wave hit from March to May, followed by another phase of optimism when the pace of vaccination picked up, only to be thrown into further uncertainty with the Omicron variant as we entered the last month of the year… Am I glad this year is coming to an end? Yes. But I wish we could have entered 2022 with more optimism, as opposed to the dread of the third wave hitting us sometime in the early months of the new year…

Anyway, enough of all that. I want to acknowledge the spark that led me to resume writing. I recently came across Beatzo.net. I don’t want to reveal much more about the blog, other than strongly recommending you to visit it and read a few articles. I realise it might appeal to a certain audience only (in terms of age and interest), but what stuck with me was the dedication of the author to maintain a fairly regular blog starting way back in 2002 / 3. However, the last article was posted more than a year ago. I do hope everything is well with the author and he will resume writing on his blog.

I am writing this post from a coffee shop. As much as I have enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with my kids that working from home provided, I have had enough. This café, close to my house, provides a welcoming space when I want a change of scene. As does a WeWork – with special mention to the innovative Christmas Tree that you can see in the picture above!

Here’s wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season, and a great 2022!