An uncommon bout of heat wave in Bangalore in January drove us city dwellers to seek out cooler climes and tranquil realms that offered a little respite. Given the city’s claim to fame being its agreeable temperature (besides its infamous traffic), I am rather convinced of an evil eye cast on the weather, than of climate change.
As we dredged social media, discarding suggestions offered by most travel influencers, an interesting sounding place around 250-km from Bangalore caught our attention. That weekend found us driving over to Gopinatham Mystery Trails, a small nature camp run by Jungle Lodges & Resorts (JLR), and located in the village of Gopinatham in Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar district, near the Tamil Nadu border. A little research told us that Gopinatham was the birthplace of the now-deceased, dreaded jungle brigand Veerappan – a name I had grown up hearing even in the far north-eastern corners of the country. The village, today, has settled down to normalcy and relative obscurity, nearly two decades since he was shot down in 2004.
The turbulent past has yielded to serene tranquility, the expansive lake beside the camp exuding a deceptively calm demeanour, while tales from bygone days simmered beneath.
Still waters of the lake and the JLR camp beside it
The errant son and the valiant officer
Despite the passage of time, every household in Gopinatham has its own stories which revolve around Veerappan. “I was an infant when he was absconding in the jungle. He used to be a family friend,” said one youth we met. “My father used to drive his vehicle before he gained notoriety,” said another.
Evidently, the village had not forgotten its transgressing son.
But as they say – your karma defines your destiny. And so, while stories of Veerappan abound in whispered tones, it is the hallowed presence of P Srinivas that is felt more strongly in Gopinatham.
A brilliant forest officer, a dedicated conservationist and a staunch humanitarian till his last breath, Srinivas was the only person who could turn the tide against Veerappan in his own village. Led by his belief that the ruthless sandalwood and ivory smuggler could be brought to surrender with enough conviction, Srinivas made Gopinatham his own abode. He worked for the upliftment of the village, often with his own salary, and managed to rehabilitate many of Veerappan’s gang members, providing them employment opportunities in the forest department. There was hardly any household in Gopinatham that had not been touched by the generosity of this kind man.
Yet, this was not to be a happy story. In July 1991, Srinivas was cunningly summoned by Veerappan, decoying him with the interest of surrender, and brutally beheaded beside a creek near Gopinatham. Srinivas was only 37 at the time of his deceitful murder, but his legacy lives on within the hearts of the people from Veerappan’s village. Today, his picture is placed alongside the deity at Goddess Mariamman temple in Gopinatham – the temple that he had helped to build. Further, as a mark of respect, a beautiful memorial has been built by the forest department, at the spot where his body was found. The jungle safari by JLR makes it a point to halt at this memorial.
When you visit the site, do send out a heartfelt thanks to this gentle yet brave soul. Let his heroism not go unheard and unsung as many of the forest officers’ deeds do.
Memorial built in P Srinivas’s honour, at the spot where his body was found
As for Veerappan, his is a classic tale of small-time poaching that greed magnified into becoming a smuggler and a bandit, the romanticism of which I now find in hit South movies such as Pushpa and Kantara. But even such stories never end well, and infamy isn’t a good way to be remembered.
A new identity
Change is the only constant, and Gopinatham has moved on, carving a new identity for itself. The region harbours a rich variety of flora and fauna, the life forms protected and nurtured by the imposing MM hills range. For nature lovers, this comes as a breath of fresh air, and JLR has prudently banked in on this sentiment. The camp has comfortable, quaint-looking, tent accommodation, and I couldn’t help remarking to my husband that the tents flaunted quite a retro-inspired fringe-cut hairstyle!
Accommodation at Gopinatham Mystery Trails camp
A stroll around the camp premises brought us face to face with the resident spotted owlet, its curiosity piqued by the antics of city slickers. A hard stare met our gaze as the plucky fellow did its best to scare us off its property. In contrast, the lake did its best to entice us, offering glimpses of its deliciously cool waters from vantage points at the camp, as the sun hammered down upon us relentlessly. A few cormorants sat preening synchronously, taking a break from their “dive, disappear and surface with a fish” antics.
The resident Spotted Owlet at the camp
Peekaboo with the lake
Cormorants busy in a synchronous preening session
A mysterious artist of the wild
Wildflowers fascinate me no end and as most of them are found hidden in plain sight, I was scanning the lakeside ground when I came upon an interesting phenomenon. There were several six-petaled scorpion weed plants around, sporting beautiful, delicate white flowers. Imagine my wonder when I saw that each petal had a circular part cut out neatly! This definitely was ingenuity on the part of some insect (bee? caterpillar? ant? worm?), who was no less than an artist to have rendered such perfect holes in the flower petals.
For a moment, I thought that the flower had this design all along!
Mysterious artist, who art thou, I asked as I noted this down on my mental list of ‘interesting things’ in Gopinatham. Too bad I could not catch the artist at his work.
The case of the mysterious artist behind the perfect holes in the scorpion weed plant flowers
Come evening, the place resonated with the euphony of birds coming to roost, and as if on cue, a lively band of cicadas started their orchestra. A picturesque scene unfolded before us as the sun descended on the horizon, casting myriad hues of crimson across the evening sky. We sat sipping cups of tea at the Gol Ghar, cherishing the serene ambiance. That ended an eventful day at Gopinatham and we couldn’t wait to see what new mysteries the next day held for us.
Coming up in the next part: Birds of several feather flock together, a mysterious flying snake, ancient inscriptions on rock faces, and the tale of a Daivya and an uncourteous British officer. Like they say, stay tuned!
Read the second part here:
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