Journey from Coorg to Bangalore: Spectacular Stop at Bylakuppe to see the Tibetan Settlement and the Golden Temple

Journey from Coorg to Bangalore: Spectacular Stop at Bylakuppe to see the Tibetan Settlement

Sun, Jan 12, 2025:

Coorg-Bangalore-Bombay

We came finally to the last day of our travels in Karnataka after what had been a simply superb break and unimaginably fruitful family time. All of us slept well and were ready to attack another oen of Kaveri’s stupendous breakfasts before the hit the road for what would be a long ride to Bangalore airport. But en route, we had plans to stop at a place called Bylakuppe to see a most unusual settlement.

Kaveri’s Fabulous Breakfast Sets Us Off:

Kaveri’s breakfast was as substantial and delicious as it had been yesterday. It was a curious mix of Indian and Western items—as seems to be the trend in these parts. I suppose they try to appeal to the tastes of every kind of guest. The Western element was Devilled Eggs—halved hard-boiled eggs whose yolks were removed, mashed and seasoned with tasty spices and then piled up into the white shells. There was dosas with potato bhaji (I made myself a filling masala dosa) with chutney and sambar and there were batter-fried capsicum that were just wonderful. Of course, there was fresh fruit (papaya today) with excellent coffee to wash it all down. We certainly did justice to the meal and thanked Kaveri and her helper profusely for spoiling us as they did.

Our Final Goodbyes to the Ponnappas:

We said our final goodbyes and thank-yous to the Brigadier and his wife, gave our tips to their domestic help, took photographs with them on their beautiful porch (which had been the spot of so much fun for us) and then piled our backpacks and ourselves in our van and were off with Ravi behind the wheel.

Our first stop would occur in about 90 minutes in a place called Bylakuppe which is very much on the Karnataka tourist map, as we could judge by the large number of visitors there and the huge number of tour buses in the parking lot.

Visiting the Tibetan Settlement and the Golden Temple at Bylakuppe:

Who would ever expect that there would be a settlement of Tibetans in the middle of rural Karnataka? Certainly not me. I was taken quite by surprise on discovering that after China invaded Tibet, a vast number of Tibetans sought asylum from communist rule in India. In fact, India’s willingness to help led to the creation of the largest Tibetan settlement outside of Tibet. The township was founded and developed by Lugsum Samdupling in 1961. He was followed by Dickyi Larsoe in 1969. Together, they created a haven for Tibetans to practice Buddhism—every form of it—by setting up monasteries, each ascribing to a different sect. Hence, there are a vast number of monasteries that can be visited at Bylakuppe, but the largest, most spectacular and best-known of them is Namdroling Monastery also known as the Golden Temple. That’s the one most tourists visit and that was the one we too veered towards. We parked our van in the large car park and walked a few meters on foot to get to the entrance which is characterized by a large, golden arch that forms a gate.

Once inside the gate, visitors walk along a lengthy path facing an imposing structure that is one of the temples that make up the monastery complex. We followed the crowds and arrived at the building ahead of us which was closed. Instead, visitors were directed to a building at the left which is, in fact, the Golden Temple. These buildings are all constructed in typical Oriental style and leave no doubt that they are sacred Buddhist sites of worship. We left our footwear in a large bag and made our ways upstairs into the Temple itself.

If the exterior is interesting enough, the interior is simply breathtaking. You face three massive avatars of the Buddha—The Buddha himself, on the left Alokateshvara and on the right, the Maitryi Buddha. They are completely covered in gilding and are immediately striking, both for their color and their size—they simply tower above the visitors. The wall behind them and the walls along the sides of the building are simply covered with vividly-colored paintings depicting creatures from Buddhist iconography—animals and birds. The effect is to stun the viewer by the sheer size and grandeur of the spectacle. There were no guides available (unless one had come in a tour group) and we had to make the best of appreciating the place by simply taking photographs. Indeed, it was a most worthwhile visit and one that you are not likely to see often in India—unless, I suppose, one goes to the border state of Sikkim (where there are many Buddhist monasteries).

Exploring the Shops in the Monastery Complex:

It is possible, of course, to spend a great deal of time exploring the shops attached to the monastery complex. Buddhist llamas, dressed in the magenta and yellow robes of their sect, man these shops, They speak perfect English as well as Hindi and they make competent salesmen. We ended up buying a few trinkets from the shops including magnets of The Golden Temple and Bylakuppe as well as keychains. I bought a brass inlaid wooden tissue box that I had been seeking for a long while. We could easily have spent more time shopping, but we needed to avoid the stress of not arriving at Bangalore airport in time for our flight. So we resisted the temptation to shop further and made our way back to our van.

Journey to Bangalore Airport:

There’s nothing exciting to say about our returning journey to Bangalore which was about four hours away. We were all rather subdued at the fact that our wonderful travels were coming to an end and we continued to process (and laugh) over the best parts of it.

Soon, we found ourselves on the outskirts of Mysore, at Srirangapatnam, where our driver Ravi stopped at a place where we could eat lunch. It was a huge dining hall that offered vegetarian thalis—both South Indian and North Indian varieties. We used restrooms and washed hands and then, with our hunger pangs revealing themselves, we sat down to eat. Thali meals are always huge and filling. My South Indian thali had puris which I enjoyed while the North Indian ones had parathas. Everything was very substantial and tasty and reasonable too. We enjoyed our lunch and returned to the van for the last stretch of our journey.

In about three hours, we were on the outskirts of Bangalore. Sadly, we did not drive deep into the heart of the city and did not want to take a chance getting there as Bangalore’s traffic is horrendous and we could not risk being late for our flight. However, we had adequate time to drop Blossom and Menaka off at the latter’s flat before we could carry on towards the airport.

Goodbyes to Blossom and Menaka:

We spent about ten minutes unloading Blossom and Menaka’s baggage and saying goodbye to them at the point where our wonderful travels had begun. Then, we returned to our van (which suddenly felt much emptier) and drove all the way to Bangalore airport which we reached in about 45 minutes.

Return Flight to Bombay:

With about half an hour on our hands before getting to our gate, we were able to do some last-minute shopping for Mysore pak and Dharwar pedas which are specialties of the region to give away as gifts. Armed with these buys, we walked to our gate where we found that boarding was to begin shortly. Nothing much to state about our return flight to Bombay except that it was on time and comfortable and offered our Chicken Junglee sandwiches. At the suggestion of Blossom and Menaka, I requested the famous Masala Blue Tea on my Indigo flight. Apparently, they are one of the few airlines to offer it. It was actually really delicious and being caffeine-free, left me with no qualms about drinking it.

We easily found two rickshaws at the domestic airport which allowed us to get quickly to Bandra although it was almost midnight when we arrived at Home Sweet Home. It had been a wonderful trip and we gave thanks silently as we crashed for the night.

Thanks for following me on these travels. I hope you enjoyed seeing these places through my eyes. It was a marvelous trip, made better by the company and filled with the best possible memories.