How it started
First weekend was following the republic day and that was wasted. Though, for the Sunday, I had a Piscean to bug and we went to Lalbagh in his bike. I am sure I have been here before in some LTC trip when I was a kid. I still remember the topiary garden, flowers are always a feast for the eyes and that is the only thing worth for living in Blore. Did not realize how the 4 hours flew by. Especially the rose garden. It was pretty hot then and Sonny was bored to death; but the roses were breathtaking… so many…so lively...so tranquilizing…
The next week, I had to plan. Then I realized the stars. This time round, I decided, no astrological barriers. So what if Gaya has avittam? I will spend the weekend with her. I had been thinking she was in Mysore and everyone was telling that Mysore was just 4 hours away. Only on Thursday, I realized she was in Mangalore and not in Mysore. My PM was asking again and again, if i would be definitely back on monday. I put aside everything. Even the fact that she would be having chandrastama when we travel and that I would be traveling west on Friday. So what?...
I knew if I told dad, he would never agree. So I just told mom and she said. Go enjoy. I went to majestic; booked the ticket; boarded the bus around 10 pm; and thought I will call up dad once the trip is over. However, my bad luck, just when I got inside the bus, dad called up. I can never ever lie to dad; for even if I did; dad would somehow figure that out. So I told him that I was planning for a Mangalore trip. He asked how far it is; I told him it is a overnight journey. He said big NO right away; then I told him I was in the bus to Mangalore; he was flabbergasted and he wasted 30 minutes blasting me and luckily gave up…
Majestic to Mangalore - Bus trip
The trip was really scary; for I had not quite recovered from my nightmares traveling in vehicles after the 2005 incident. Every sudden brake and close turnings gave me mini heart attacks. Since I was traveling alone, I was asked to sit near another lady in a two seater; but she kept her distance; didn’t let me lean on her. I waited till Hassan; at last, I got on to the nearest 3 seater and took 2 seats and tried to sleep pushing off the guy with my head who sat on the edge like the camel in Arab's tent. I reached Mangalore bus stop early morning at 5 am and called up Gayathri. It was Feb 3, Chithi's B’Day; and I had to call her up to wish her. The bus stop was filthy. Very small and there were dogs lying there yawning lazily. I was just looking at the Karnataka map when G came after 15-20 minutes; she had come by walk from her PG…
My friend's PG
It felt so good to be awake and fresh early morning. She had got so lean and shapely; and looked tall; we were meeting after 3 years. We took an auto to her pg; and I slept off. She got me oily chola poori for breakfast. There was one more lively spirited gal - Si… all freshness herself. The three of us packed off to Pilikula Nisarga Dhama as our first spot sometime around 10 am; it was scorching hot; we were being baked alive and I had no umbrella. It was so much fun to have young Si amidst us; she spoke jet fast and was quite amusing. Gaya had changed a lot; how quickly people change…
Pilikula Nisarga Dhama
So we took a winding path down hill; full of odd shrubs and stones; and getting foot hold was a bit difficult at few places. At last we reached the main entrance; we got the entrance tickets and got inside the park. The entrance was lovely, with bewitching flowers on both the sides, and I was seeing creepers growing on compound walls making it totally green; something I never had a chance to see in hot trichy or Chennai. We walked around the path; watching as pairs scurried for privacy almost every where we turned our heads. At least they were decent unlike Lalbagh.
We wanted to go boating; but we were all scared of the roasting sun; and we decided to just roam about the park in the shade. We crossed the tiny foot bridge and reached the other side of the peaceful lake; and kept walking; watching the fishes in various tubs, gazing at those lovely flowers all around. The lake was deep blue-green; it made a picturesque sight - the still water with one or two odd boats; the clear blue sky and lush greenery all around sprinkled with assorted flowers…
A Surprise Visitor
We had reached the other end of the park; kind of deaded; so we decided to rest our feet. And we shared some toffees; watching the pairs around. Then we backtracked; close to noon and just when we reached the tract near the foot bridge, Si spotted a tiny black snake, should not be more than 4-5 feet long. Don’t know who started screaming, Gaya and Si both were screaming; while the poor thing was slithering for its dear life. I scream at the sight of flying cockroaches but am so awed with snakes, that no sound comes out. It hid behind those plants and wriggled even faster. We waited for few minutes and decided to carry on, and just we reached the foot bridge, the snake slithered even faster and escaped under the bridge, then there was another round of screaming. With no other incident, we came out. There was one zoological park just opposite to the park. However, I was not interested in watching the creatures in the cages and we decided against going there… My legs were still unequal, so temples were ruled out...
Mangalore Lunch
We took an auto to the busstand outside the park and reached the busstand. Another bus came, and we happened to sit just behind the driver. There were so many curves and turnings and I kept incessantly talking to Gaya to avoid seeing the road. At one place the driver put a sudden brake and we would have literally jumped outside the window, if we had been holding on to our seats tightly, drivers in Mangalore seem to drive a bit rashly…
We got down and went to some hotel I don’t remember. Gaya had some roti dish and Si and I settled for meals; I wanted to have proper Mangalore meals and went in for those round riced meals; it was not all that different, just coconutish smell in everything. Then, we went back to the room and had a kutti nap. In the evening we decided to go to Panambur beach or that is the name I seem to remember…
Panambur Beach
Right from the moment we got down at the busstop it seemed eerie; it was a short walk; and there were lovely lavender flowers all along the roadside… so inviting… so refreshing…
Si wanted to pluck those flowers and she did and ended up having her hands darkened. So much of black soot due to pollution. It looked beautiful only from a distance. Just as we neared the beach, there was such an acrid smell, some industry. The sand, everything was black as coal. Then near the beach we found lots people, hotel and all, we had nongu in a hurry. We didn’t want to miss the sunset and it was setting just then; it was lovely sight, never had a chance to see sunset by the sea in thiruvanmiyur beaches, living in the east coast. Never had a chance to see sunrise even once, but had seen full moon so many times. For the first time, we were seeing golden coal red sun, bidding alvida, in all its glory and felt real warm inside, the sand on the beach was white, soft and it was very clean compared to Chennai beaches. We went on to play with the sea water, we wanted to go the fortress kinda something that was jutting out, but Gaya was against it, and when it got a bit dark we pushed off…
Pabbas Icecreams
...and Gay took us to Pabbas icecream . Man! real fabulous! Next to Peach Melba in Basera this was the best one I had ever had. So many varieties, and the price was unbeatable. We had 2 innings and then returned home in auto… Dad called up again to keep track of me after Pabbas…
Day 2 - Thalai Cauvery changed to Abby Falls
On Sunday, we planned to go to Thalai Cauveri and one more place. The trip uphill was fantastic, real good. But then we started late and Gaya wanted to return home before 6 in the evening, and I wanted to sleep on proper bed since Monday had so much in store. So we cut short our Thalai Cauveri plan and ended up going to Abby falls, a place where we had been warned not to go… by everyone…
It was Chandrastama for Gaya and she was sick the whole trip on Sunday. I felt bad that I dragged her there, she puked right after we alighted, even Sonny happened to take 1 week off after the Lalbagh trip where we had the fruit salad in the noon and sandwiches and noodles in restaurant. Sonny was preaching, order the specialty of the hotel, for instance, don’t order noodles in Punjabi dabbha etc… but I was bored of having aloo paratha almost every other morning for breakfast in our serviced apartment…
There were so many guys; in fact just 1-2 gals out there in Abby falls. The auto trip up there was fabulous though, wonderful scenery, vast greenery to soothe your eyes with a medley of lovely flowers everywhere, it was so beautiful. We were seeing coffee seeds at a pluckable distance, I still could not believe…how these green-red things would transform to coffee seeds eventually…
It was feb, so water was relatively sparse in Abby falls and it was only Guys everywhere. We were feeling a bit uncomfortable. We clambered on to the bridge and we feasted on the meager water that was cascading down. We climbed up those steps again and the auto guy took us to one place, it looked like a Mosque, but had Siva lingams inside, I was praying inside. It was so cool and peaceful inside there, but the whole style didn't seem to blend, hindu god in muslim abode? Only after I finished, I realized it was some Maharaja’s Samadhi, I was disgusted… oh my god…what’s this…
On Sunday, we planned to go to Thalai Cauveri and one more place. The trip uphill was fantastic, real good. But then we started late and Gaya wanted to return home before 6 in the evening, and I wanted to sleep on proper bed since Monday had so much in store. So we cut short our Thalai Cauveri plan and ended up going to Abby falls, a place where we had been warned not to go… by everyone…
It was Chandrastama for Gaya and she was sick the whole trip on Sunday. I felt bad that I dragged her there, she puked right after we alighted, even Sonny happened to take 1 week off after the Lalbagh trip where we had the fruit salad in the noon and sandwiches and noodles in restaurant. Sonny was preaching, order the specialty of the hotel, for instance, don’t order noodles in Punjabi dabbha etc… but I was bored of having aloo paratha almost every other morning for breakfast in our serviced apartment…
There were so many guys; in fact just 1-2 gals out there in Abby falls. The auto trip up there was fabulous though, wonderful scenery, vast greenery to soothe your eyes with a medley of lovely flowers everywhere, it was so beautiful. We were seeing coffee seeds at a pluckable distance, I still could not believe…how these green-red things would transform to coffee seeds eventually…
It was feb, so water was relatively sparse in Abby falls and it was only Guys everywhere. We were feeling a bit uncomfortable. We clambered on to the bridge and we feasted on the meager water that was cascading down. We climbed up those steps again and the auto guy took us to one place, it looked like a Mosque, but had Siva lingams inside, I was praying inside. It was so cool and peaceful inside there, but the whole style didn't seem to blend, hindu god in muslim abode? Only after I finished, I realized it was some Maharaja’s Samadhi, I was disgusted… oh my god…what’s this…
Trip Back To Guest House
Then we had lunch in a quite Udupi restaurant. It had a distinct flavour that was quite good. All circular rice grains, low priced again compared to even Trichy. It was past 1 and we decided to part ways. I had a blore bus waiting and boarded that, and here is where I met another JA31 Acqua… who let me have his Hindu for solving Sudoku. He was showing his kutralam or was it Hogainakkal trips snaps in his mobile. Bus trip down hill was pretty good with arresting scenery all around. However, after 4 pm, it was quite dusty and trite, we reached Mysore around 6 pm and Majestic little close to 10 pm. He was in Jeevan bheema Nagar and so we boarded another city bus together. However, we had alighted at the wrong stop and had to walk quite some distance to reach the next busstop. He was carrying 2 bags full of coconuts from his hometown, then we took another auto till kempfort and we parted our ways. It was close to 11 pm when I slept. I was glad he was there for company that evening, but somehow he always seems to pick up the times when I want to throw down my mobile to call. But even after years, continents apart we are still friends...
One thing for sure, I started noticing the Mangalore beauties from then on. Without exception, every gal was sylphlike, ravishing… refreshing. It was Gaya who enlightened me that Aish was from mangalore. I found 2 gals from Tulu who are equally fabulous; all our guys here are fida over her.; and after coupla coffee breaks with me; she literally blushes every time she sees me. Now I realize how Basil felt on seeing Dorian Gray. There is in fact one more Mangalooru on the way from Vellore to Trichy…it was a really charming place and memorable trip altogether…
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