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.
Then we headed back to NH 17 and drove on to Bekal. 16 kms south of the town on the National Highway, is the largest and best preserved fort in the whole of the Kerala, surrounded by a splendid beach. Shaped like a giant keyhole, the historic Bekal fort offers a superb view of the Arabian Sea from its tall observation towers, where a few centuries ago huge cannons used to be placed. Much has been heard about the Bekal Fort in Kasargod. One could even see Arvind Swamy desperately seeking Manisha Koirala in "Bombay" in this very locales. We decided to check out the place for ourselves. At first look, it looks as if the fort stood the test of times. But once in, you'd realise that nothing much remains of the fort except the strong exterial fort walls. The best part about the fort is its Observation Tower. Atop this observation tower, the phrase "as far as the eye can see" is an understatement. Out here you see the river meet the sea and the sea meet the sky. Breathtakingly picturesque! The fort is so strategically located that its covered on three sides by water and one side by absolute greenery. There is an unusual quietness and serenity about this place that makes you not want to leave this place. The distant but loud sound of the unending waves soothes your mind and body unlike anything else in this world, despite the noon heat. To our surprise, we found that large parts of the fort especially the walk-ways circumventing the walls of the fort has been reinforced over the years with lacerite by ASI. What is commendable about this reinforcement is that it does not spoil the aesthetics of the place. Bekal was never a palace. It was used only for defence purpose.
Returned to the hotel by about 3.30pm and had a lovely Christmas dinner in the evening at the poolside and called it a day.
Evening, we decided to drive down to Panambur Beach, a little outside Mangalore on Udupi Road, as it has been Ranga's drem to click a series of photos of the sun setting over the waters...well, what do you know - dreams come true!
We also stumbled on to a beautiful sand sculpture made on the beach...lovely!
We then had some street/beach shack food, washed it down at a hip cafe on the sands before returning to our hotel...fabulous evening strolling along the beach, munching on snacks, watching the sunset, all was well with the world!
Day 4 - Left after breakfast at around 9am, and cruised along the NH48 for close to 94kms, when we hit the much maligned and infamous bad stretch of Shiradi Ghats, which was a breeze for our Scorpio but the problem was several cars getting stuck in the over a foot deep ruts compounded by their fear of the looming huge oil tankers and trucks plying. 
But an extra half hour of slow and careful driving saw us through this 25 kms bit of bad road, after which the road is good till 34kms to Kunigal, its like a patchwork quilt but certainly motorable easily, post this its a fabulous four lane all the way back. A 1 hour browsing for bentwood and curios and loading the best with a mini-tree, we set off after Sakleshpur back on track. The icing on the cake is the tolled road which carries us above and beyond the snarls of Nelamangala and Dasarahalli right into Bangalore,, a toll of Rs.15 is certainly worth it and this really made all the difference. Despite that bad stretch of Shiradi Ghats this route is worthwhile taking because Total distance on the odometer - 915kms
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