Udupi

I was on a two day vacation to Udupi, coastal Karnataka, located 60km from Mangalore and 415km from Bangalore.
May 16:
We started our journey along with ten more people at 7:30pm on Friday night via Tumkur, Shimoga to reach Udupi by 5:30am the next day. Though, we prayed we reach Tumkur at the earliest, it took us 2.5 hours due to the heavy traffic vehicles. Others at Tumkur had been eagerly waiting to occupy their seats in the tempo traveller(TT) and we had a mini-dinner during the journey. The TT had a TV and the little devils pestered the driver for a movie which ruined everyone's sleep :( Sometime later, everyone dozed off, except the driver and the TV was still ON.
May 17:
At 3am, the headlights conked off on the highway and made our journey pathetic. The driver could no longer take risk and drive, since Agumbe(Western Ghat section) was too near and too dangerous to drive without headlight. We reached Thirthahalli. The driver waited until the first rays of sun hit the earth and then started. By this time, I had slept off. Suddenly, I felt the chill air blowing my face and I opened my eyes to see what was happening. Oh My!!! Scenic beauty of Agumbe. Why are all beautiful places so dangerous, located so high and one has to take so much risk to relish the joy of a lifetime?? I took out my camera to capture from the window and the driver accelerated. I missed a beautiful shot :( Down the ghats, there were lush green fields, chill air, and I covered myself with a blanket.
At 9am, we reached Udupi, finally. It was a long and tiring journey. My knees and neck were aching as I moved them. As we occupied the rooms, I dropped my luggage thud on the floor and dozed off for a while.
Everyone got ready and reached the Sri Krishna Temple/Mutt. Udupi is famous for Lord Krishna Temple. There is an interesting story behind it: In the earlier days, only the upper caste people were allowed to enter the temple premise. A devotee named Kanakadasa who did not belong to the upper caste was forbidden to enter the temple and see the lord. His both the hands were tied to the pillar and he sings with utmost devotion. The lord, pleased with the devotion, turns the idol such that Kanaka dasa could catch a glimpse of him. Hence, the name Kanakana Kindi is given to the small opening on the wall.
The temple is well maintained. At the garba gudi(garba=main, gudi=temple), the chill air AC blows and I never wanted to leave the place. The idol of the Lord is small and yet attractive! Photography, inside main temple where the idol is, prohibited. I appreciate the devotees, including me, who obediently followed the rule and didn't dare to click :)
Bangalore's weather is so pleasant and chill that I am hardly hungry. While Udupi, on coastal Karnataka, brings sweat in a while.
It was noon time=lunch time. The Krishna Mutt are always on time, be it Pooja or serving lunch. At 12, we occupied ourselves in front of the huge plaintain leaf which are used during festivals or functions. We had chowki oota(Lunch) after thanking god for the food we eat. The food was delicious, yummy.... and I was virtually drooling over it :D I relished the jack fruit payasa for the first time and it was yumm...
Post lunch, we rested for 2 hours and headed to Pajaka, 10km from Udupi. One of the Acharyas-Madhwa acharya, the founder of Dwaita philosophy, was born and brought up at Pajaka. It has a temple and several stories of Acharya are told.
On the way, we visited the Durga Temple on the hill top of Kunjaragiri. The place is a shelter for several monkeys, too. The previous post, Monkey Business, was shot here.
May 18:
I woke up at 5:30am. Though, it was early, I was the last person to wake up and reach the temple. Never mind!
After the darshana(seeing), we visited the temples near by in Car Street. These temples are very old, spacious and well maintained. The area where the Eight Mutts are located is called: Car Street. Since I was very hungry, my mother and I went to a clean and popular restaurant, Mitra Samaj, and had delicious Udupi special sweet dish-Buns. Another famous Udupi dish is Patrode.
Post breakfast, a small nap, refreshed our-selves and back to temple. Again, the lunch was yummy and I was drooling over it. Ate my tummy was happy.....zzzzz. I woke up in the evening and got ready on time for the Brahma Ratostava. Wheew, what an event! Evening Aarti, fireworks, dhols, devotees pulling the huge chariot with their energy and I was clicking them all :D The chariot is pulled such that it crosses all the eight Mutts in a single round in Car Street. Few people believed that I was from some newspaper and asked if it would be published the next day ;-)
I set the camera in continuous mode and kept shooting whatever I could. Man, you don't get to see such events everyday and what for a camera meant? My mother who did not spot me for a long time from the beginning to end of the event got tensed and worried. She thought I might be lost as commonly seen in Hindi movies. All mothers are same. No matter I am a grown up and even if I reach her age, she would still treat me a kid :) Later, when she saw me, she was relieved and adviced me to stay with her.
Now, we packed our bags and took a short route to our destination.
May 19:
Back to concrete jungle.
More pics: here.