Kodaikanal attracts people from all over India, and Coaker’s Walk is a stop for every tourist that visits this area. We are fortunate to be living just outside the entrance to one end of this famous pathway.  It’s a wonderful alternate route to walking into town as it offers a scenic detour for pedestrians. There are 2 huge benefits to taking this route  – no cars, buses, scooters or trucks, and no cows.

It is a wide, red brick pathway that takes you around the edge of the mountain. It has an iron fence that lets you safely view the valley below without fear of tumbling down the cliff. There are food, clothing and trinket vendors along the walkway, and the halfway point has a scenic bump-out that extends over the valley that is equipped with telescopes.

I enjoy a quiet walk to town along this route almost every day, but those quiet walks don’t happen all that often. Waiting for things to calm down here would be comparable to hoping for a quiet stroll down Main Street, Banff. It could happen, but it is very rare.

There are many long weekends here in India,. It seems that almost every weekend marks some sort of Hindu or Muslim festival. That means that Coaker’s walk is always busy – especially on weekends.

Living here has made us feel like celebrities. Daily we are asked if we would mind having our pictures taken. It was kind of humorous at first, but then wiser voices guided us in how to handle all these requests. You have no idea who those people are and letting them take your picture could be a bad decision If they end up being in any trouble at all. We were told that Kodaikanal can be a great hide-away for people who might be in trouble with the law for various reasons, and the last thing you want is to have posed for a picture with them on their phone.

Warning was heeded. Even as I sit here writing this, (the old fashioned way: with pen and paper), two different people have asked me if they could take a picture with me. I have learned to graciously say no, but there is always the persistent photographer who tries to snap a picture without me noticing. That may happen more often than I realize as I am severely lacking peripheral vision, but at least I’m not looking like their best friend! In this day and age, how safe is it anyway to let a perfect stranger take your photo? (Third refusal just happened!)

On to other things. I love what I hear as I sit here writing. There is the constant conversations in Tamil or Hindi (I can’t tell), there is the sound of feet shuffling by and there are birds. Beyond that is a stillness that is rare. The odd horn honking disturbs the setting, but I’ll take this buffet of sounds any day.

The history of this place also draws me. Mom and Dad Amstutz spoke of Coaker’s walk so often. The Hospital where Harold was born is just up the hill behind me. I try to imagine what it looked like here 50 years ago when they would walk this pathway with baby Harold. Just being here now is such a treat.

I am prepared for my day in town – I’ve brought my shopping bag and my umbrella. My plan today is to hang out at the school for a while, then do some grocery shopping. Hopefully it can all happen before the afternoon monsoon rain hits, but we’ll see. Right now the sun is shining while the valley is filled with white clouds that obliterate the view below.

Time for a rant. While I was sitting here minding my own business, a group of men approached me. They were all nattering at me at the same time apparently trying to tell me their names – all at the same time. Then one fellow tried to impress me with his friends official title and job description. I was not so impressed. I was struggling to understand what they were saying! But I knew what was coming. They all wanted pictures with me. I said No, sorry, and some of them left graciously. But a couple of them stuck around trying to persuade me to change my mind. I still said no, but then in the face of my refusal, one guy stuck out his hand like I was supposed to shake it and look at the camera and smile. This just made me angry. I told him NO one more time while watching his buddy raise his cell phone ready to take a picture. I turned away to pick up my things, then just left. I don’t get it! I’m no celebrity! I’m just a middle-aged woman trying to write a blog in the middle of a foreign country. That brought my total of selfie requests to 5.  It was definitely time to go.

Our life above the clouds on this mountain is so different from where we were just 2 months ago. What we’re seeing and experiencing is beyond what we could have imagined.

Thank you for your interest in taking this journey with us.