India, Oct. 25 -- By Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD

Travelling between Mysuru and far off Chikkamagaluru, is something that I do very often because I have very close connections with both these places. Since my dad hailed from Chikkamagaluru, we have our ancestral coffee estate perched atop a hill in the deepest reaches of the lofty Western Ghats, 30 kms away from the town. And because my mom hails from Mysuru, where I now live and work, our family has very close ties with both these far-flung places, between which we commute quite regularly. To undertake this journey, we have a choice of two, surprisingly equidistant routes, which join at Hassan and we choose both routes, almost by turns.

While one takes us via the small towns of Pandavapura...