24/12/2011 - 27/12/2011
Day 1 - Ranga's schoolmate Rekha's son's wedding plus the Christmas weekend decided the matter - we were off to Mangalore on Christmas eve. Left home at 6am and after brief pit stops for breakfast and lunch en route in the green Malnad region, we reached Mangalore by 12.15pm and checked into Taj Mangalore. I am writing this blog more as a photo feature and less prose, as a tribute to Ranga's passion for photography.

Rested a while and enjoyed Taj hospitality, and left for the mehndi ceremony at "Lobo's River View" close to Morgan's gate...a thoroughly enchanting place along the banks of the River Netravati, this beautifully located erstwhile tile factory offers an exotic backdrop for some lovely dos, and so close to the city centre. Thoroughly enjoyed Rekha's and Mohan's hospitality.Day 2 - Morning after a quick breakfast, we set off on NH 17 via Pumpwell Circle to Kasargode, in Kerala. About a half hour of driving brought us to Kumbala, the hometown of our cricketing genius Anil Kumble and we turned left and drove about 5 1/2 kms to go to Ananthapura. Ananthapura is a lake temple. Though surrounded by barren land all around it is truely amazing to see a lake and temple in the middle. Ananthapura is the holy abode of Lord Ananthapadmanabha (or Lord Vishnu). Interestingly Ananthapura is the only lake temple in Kerala state. Idols worshipped here are not made of metal or stone as in most of the temples in India. It is made of Kadusharkara Paaka (made of various herbs). In this way of making idols of Gods, in addition to the external organs, internal organs like heart, lungs, skeletal joints and nervous system are also are seen. Also, there is no Abhishekam for idols made of Kadusharkara Paaka. It is believed that Lord Padmanabhaswamy made this his original abode till the grander Padmanabhaswamy temple at Trivandrum was constructed by the Travancore kings.
Vegetarian Crocodile : The temple is guarded by a vegetarian crocodile, which lives in the temple lake. Crocodile named funnily 'Babiya', has been living in the temple lake for 63 years now. They say there lived one crocodile before the present one appeared. People used to get a glimpse of the crocodile when they called it. In 1945, that one was killed by a British officer. After a few days, the present crocodile appeared in the lake. But now, one hardly gets to see the crocodile, as it prefers to stay in a crack in the embankment. Many went in search of it, but the steep, slippery incline did not seem conducive and we gave it a miss. We then retraced our steps back to NH 17 and drove on towards Kasargode town, and then on reaching it, turned right to go on for 0.9km, to reach Chandragiri fort. This is a 17th century fort in ruins today with a set of steps which reach the top and opens on to a vista which is breathtaking.



Total distance on the odometer - 915kms
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