My Udupi Visit

After a lot of talk in last three years, finally I got the chance to visit Udupi. When Daya informed about his wedding date, we immediately booked the tickets. A week before the journey, I explored the available information about Udupi on internet and I was stunned to know that this is so interesting place to go around. Finally on last Thursday, we started for Udupi. We left the office at six and took the Volvo for Kempegowra bus stop. Before that we had dinner at Adiga's. We had bookings in Airawat bus for Udupi and this is very luxury to start with. I was besides DNC whereas Vignesh, Deepak and Seeni were seating in back rows. Journey to Udupi was very comfortable. I had good sleep in bus. Before I got awake, we crossed Mangalore and were near to Surathkal. It was cool inside bus and I was under blanket. Outside was little cloudy and even after six, sun was nowhere. I saw the dawn just before reaching Udupi.

Day1

Just after coming out of bus, I could feel the humidity in air. We asked for our hotel “Durga International” and reached there in ten minutes by walk. The town is very clean and also calm. In last three years, I found that most of the second tier cities of south India are very clean and so this town too. There is no sense of hurry in people around there and life is slow. OK so we checked in our hotel. Shridhara reached there on last evening only. We had a little sleep and got ready in next two hours. 

We headed towards Krishna temple. It’s very old and identity of this town. You have to put off your shirts and banian before entering the main temple and we did so. The main statue is inside a closed room and you can see that through a window only. You can see an elephant there, who will bless you on giving some money. There is Madhwa sarowar and other temple in the same premises. Outside of main temple, some gold chariots are there, and we had few photographs with those. A nearby shop was selling masks for Yaksagana. After this we looked around for Tiffin. We went to ‘Mitra Samaj’ and had Dosa & Idli. It was not good not bad. From there we started for Katapadi for Daya’s marriage.

It was the first time; I attended a marriage of someone from south India. Traditions are very different here and it’s not very long too. We went to mandap (stage), had photo with the new couple and greeted them with best wishes. Food there was cooked in coconut oil but as I was hungry so I liked it. 

Now it was the time to go for the beach. We took a local bus, reached to Malpe port in half an hour. From there its one to two kilometer walks to reach the place where you will get the ship. Seeni was too lazy to reach there on time and we missed the ship for St Mary’s island. Then we had to wait for one hour to catch the last ship at four thirty. Ride on ship was so good and if you are at the deck it’s awesome. The ups and downs of ship in sea will make your stomach crazy. It was half an hour ride to reach near Island. We got moved to another boat to reach and get down at the island. It was a rocky beach and waves are very strong here. We entered in water though it was slippery. We went to rock inside water and had photo there. But when I saw crabs there, I just ran away from rocks. When we came back to port, it was late and so we decided to go back to hotel.

Day2

This was the best day of our trip. We booked a Tavera from nearby Karnataka tours agency and this cab was so good. Deepak was proud to say that this car is by Chevrolet, so comfortable. We started for Murudeshwara, though it was not in the first plan. Road to Murudeshwara is along the sea and you will cross a number of rivers which make the scenery around the road so beautiful. You can stop anywhere and have few good shots if you are interested in photography. We stopped in Kundapura and had our breakfast there. After Kundapura, we crossed the Maravantee which is sandwiched between Arabian Sea and the Satuparnika River. At about eleven and half, after three hour journey from Udupi, we reached Murudeshwara. The first thing we noticed is the gigantic long Gopura. This is 249ft high and one of the biggest gopura. We paid twenty rupees there and by lift we reached at the top. Top is not very open, so you will not get a feel of height but its excellent position to take some good shots. Our photographer DNC was good enough to take a number of photos from there. You can see a great view of Arbian sea shore from here and of course the highest Shiva statue. The statue is 123ft high and one of the modern marvel.

After visiting the temple, we went to beach. Beach there is so nice and it’s not very deep near shore. We were able to go very far in sea. Thrilling YamahaWater bikes were waiting for us. We had a lot of fun in driving this in deep sea. After spending a long and good time in the beach, we left for lunch.

Now we started for Kollur to visit the Mookambika temple. I got tired and slept in cab. In Mookambika, again you have to put off your shirt to enter into temple. After a pray there, we had tea nearby. We started for Udupi now and reached to Malpe beach at nine. Walking at beach in so late night is very good and feels some freshness in you. It was so peaceful there. We had camel ride also. With all these tiredness, we had a good dinner and slept in our room with a great sense of joy and excitement for next day.

Day3
Starting of this day was not so good as the travel agency sent a Sumo in place of Tavera. Today we started for Singeri fall. It went through ghats and journey at some points are breath-taking. Traveling on hilly section comes with natural scenery and so it is too. We reached Singeri around twelve and there we realized that fall is actually in Sirimane not in Singeri. This fall is so good.

Not very big but flow is huge. We had a lot of fun in water. We went up on hill to have better feeling of falls and we enjoyed a lot. All our tiredness just went off after coming out of it. From there we started for Surathkal. Our driver was not very aware of the routes, so we couldn’t make up a visit to Kaup beach and DNC’s Alma mater. We reached Mangalore at five, had late lunch there and moved to Panambur beach then. It was full of crowd. 

I and Vignesh went for a walk along sea & Deepak and DNC went to opposite directions to have some good photos of beautiful girls around. Seeni got excited to reach here. This is one of the best beach in Mangalore and atmosphere here is like some picnic spot or some fair. It was seven and late for us to catch the train. We reached the Mangalore central just five minutes before train started. We had to start for Bangalore now for our usual life again. I missed few more beautiful beaches but I will visit again with some more leisure.

The paisa wasool show IPL

Its only one day left and I was still waiting for the tickets. I called the customer care and got the reference number for courier. Finally at four in evening, tickets were in my hands. Yeah the tickets I am talking here is of IPL only. 

The IPL match between Bangalore and Delhi which was scheduled on twenty seventh but got preponed for twenty fifth due to BMP election. I had some other meeting clashed with this time too. Mukil agreed to take care of this, so I left the office at one. At two, me and Amit started from our house and reached to Chennaswami at about three.

The road around Chennaswami stadium was completely packed and parking was a tough job. There were some parking zone arranged for match including the Cubbon Park but getting up to there was difficult. So we parked our bike in a nearby lane. From there we walked up to gate number seventeen. The ambience there was very festive. I can remember some mela of my small hometown in my childhood days. Some vendors were selling t-shirts of RCB and DD. Few were doing jobs of painting your cheeks with your favorite team or player names. A long queue was waiting for us. Security was tight but it was not a problem for viewers. We entered the stadia through ground floor gate only so that we can get a close view of field. And for our surprise we managed to get seat near cheerleader’s stand. In the first row of our stand G, mild lathicharge by police was happening because of crazy people, so we took seats in third or fourth row.

It was still sunny and seating there was not easy and particularly on stairs is not good. Crowd was cheering for players who were practicing on net near our fence. Before the match will start, Deepika Padukon had a round on a motor bagghi and we saw her from very nearby. I must say she is a beauty. Then comes the cheerleaders and crowd went noisy. Cheerleaders are really professional and they entertained the crowd with a great energy. Its really a tough task and they must get appreciation for this. Finally a toss happened and match got started. We came to support the RCB but it got lost. But the best thing about IPL is you will always win. This show has everything to make you love it. And why you, everybody is a winner here. It’s a real paisa wasool show.

A Trip to The Big Banyan

After sleeping at two am its very difficult to get up early morning, but still I managed to wake up at five and half. I was excited for a trip on bike, which I planned sometime back. It was not very far from Bangalore but The Big Banyan tree at Ramohalli and Manchinabele Dam somewhat forty five kilometers away. So we met at six thirty near Staples to start a wonderful trip. We were seven; I, Deepak, DNC, Mukil, Vishal, Satish and Vijay, as Praveen just cancelled on last night. It was a beautiful morning though it was cloudy. As Satish's bike got punctured after little distance, he just went back. We decided to stop at Kengeri, have tea and restart. I and Mukil were together but got confused in outer ring road and reached at Kengeri check post little later. Still weather was cold. We had tea and went nearby Ganesha temple on Mysore road. DNC took some photos as nothing can be a better start then a photo session with Ganesha.

Now we started again and all of six on four bikes were following each other. At dental college we took right turn and came on a small but good road. Nursery on both sides was making the scenery more beautiful. You can just put your bike on forty and enjoy watching. At eight thirty we reached The Big Banyan tree. Though it was not so big what we thought but its worth coming here. We parked our bike nearby and entered the premises as it is fenced. We looked for the root of the tree and climbed on one thick branch. We had a couple of shots from DNC's camera. After a round of the big Banyan we came out and decided to go for some Tiffin. There were few dhabas there. We went in one and had Idly. It was delicious but charged very high.

It was time to start for Dam. We asked for road to dam and reached there in fifteen minutes as this was hardly ten kilometers from there. Reservoir is a beauty and is surrounded by hills. We had a round of reservoir. At one place we took some photos too. At nearby few young guys were enjoying in water so we parked our bike there. We changed to shorts and entered into water. We had fun in water and photography is always by default there. After having a good time in reservoir we started back for Bangalore. In between when we reached the big banyan tree, we saw a number of people who reached there to visit the big banyan.The roads were really good and driving your Hunk is full of fun. It was a good trip except I got caught by traffic policeman for entering into wrong lane and paid a hundred rupees.