Holiday by the Mangalore coast

The first thing I looked forward to after the completion of my fellowship was a trip to my maternal home town (wonder if it is the right term). It has been long overdue and I was eager to take Saksham there for the first time.  It made me more excited because it turned out to be an all women holiday like women on wanderlust. Accompanied by my mom, her sis, my sister in law and two kids we set out to Gopady. That is the place to which my grandfather belonged to. It is around 30 kms from Udupi little short of Koteshwara and Kundapur. The best landmark would be the famous Anegudde temple.

Old vessels at maternal grandmom's place

 It was the end of May and we hoped to be welcomed by some rains but it wasn’t to be. It was hot but the breeze from the fields made it a little better. It is a pleasant feeling to be amidst the greenery, never ending views of paddy fields and the faraway roar of the seas in a calm peaceful village.

This is the closest we could get

Though there is none of the utilities that we normally are used to like internet or a host of television channels, it turned out to be one of the most fulfilling holidays ever. A perfect mix of sun,sand, culture and heritage. The most interesting part of the day was the morning walk to the Beejady beach, which was probably 2 kms away. Witnessing the sun rise and the local fishermen at work was a sight to behold. The walk took us through a number of paddy fields often frequented by peacocks on the hunt for some small insects. It was the first time that I saw these beautiful birds anywhere other than the zoos and forests. The neighbors there tell me that peacocks often dance at their front yard at the onset of monsoons. I was lucky to indeed see a few; sadly they felt the audience was not worth the performance.

Footsteps of Shri Vadiraja Guru of Sonda

Temples are a big draw here. Among the famous are the Anegudde Ganapati, Kollur Mookambika, Kateel Durga parmeshwari, Udupi Shri and the list goes on. We too went temple hopping for a day and visited many of them including Huvinakere, the birthplace of Sonda Shri Vadiraja (one of the 8 mutts of Udupi),Mangaladevi temple of Mangalore which boasts of a unique architecture, which is a delightful combination of the coastal and the Maharashtrian temple architecture and many others including the one at Saligrama. My memory is too limited to remember the names of each of the presiding deities at these temples, for me what matters is that it is a divine power, not the specifics of names. Another interesting feature of this area is temples dedicated to the evil, it is said that each house has an evil character associated with it and it is also worshipped. These places are called as Bhootada Mane (House of a ghost). It is something similar to what I found at Bali, where the evil is given offerings at each house step, the intention being, to appease the evil and bar its entry into the house and the temple.

Lovely view of the Arabian Sea
 from the lighthouse @ Kaup

How can I talk about the coast of Mangalore and not talk about the pristine beaches. There are a dozen of them which are famous and many of them known only to the village folk. A popular beach that we visited was Kaup or Kapu as it is locally known as. A beautiful beach with shiny sand, rocks, a bit of back waters and a lighthouse. You can actually climb up the lighthouse and witness some outstanding views of the Arabian sea and the western ghats. There is a small fee charged for that and the last entry is at 1800 h. The beach also has some water sports activities like the motor scooter etc plus some camel rides for the kids. Kapu is a great beach to spend time at.

Art and culture are indigenous parcels of any region; the coastal part of Karnataka is no different. The months of summer see a flurry of cultural activities like singing of Bhajans(devotional songs) or Yakshagana plays. Yakshagana is an art form enacting the Hindu mythological stories and is very popular in the coastal districts of Karnataka State. It often likened to an opera, due to its elaborate costumes, song and dance sequences, narration etc. The performance begins at night and goes till wee hours of the morning. I got an opportunity to watch a performance based on the story of Mahishasura and I must say it was amazing to watch those characters play in front of you. Due to its popularity, Bangalore and other cities also sees a lot of Yakshagana plays these days.

Thus ended a week long holiday but gave me memories to treasure for a lifetime.