On Wednesday, the night before pongal, the doctor pinged to say that he had got selected in Aesthavagen and that he was too happy to read for his exams. He said he was going to Meenakshi temple and I said, i will tag along. So we went and while returning from temple, he was talking about this beautiful place called Agumbe and how he had a family out there that would let him stay. He said, there are so many waterfalls and it was the best place to see the sunset. He said, he used to take his bike and go to Malpe beach and spend hours there. I was struck with Agumbe now and fairy tale like images of waterfalls trespassed my mind.
The same night i gathered folks for the trip. Tickets were booked to Udipi and plan was made, first to see the Krishna temple and then to Malpe beach, St. Mary’s islands (spellings ranged from Marry to Merry on the painted boards). Folks were more keen on beach than Agumbe.
Friday Night
My telephonic interview was scheduled at 4:30 and till then, I missed having my evening snacks in mess, waited tensely without freshening up. At 7:40 placecom said, the call has been postponed to Monday 4:30 pm. Around the same time my friend dropped in. At 8:45 was the bus departure from Jayanagar 4th block and he lingered around while I shoved all my stuff in my bag. I hurried, forgetting my purse, forgetting to change from my bathroom slippers, forgetting my umbrella. I had to borrow 500 from him at main gate and boarded the bus just in time.
Saturday Morning with Udipi SriKrishna
We quickly took bath, went to temple. Had a peaceful darshan. I had been there once in 1994 and after that this was the second time. I was surprised to see Krishna caged like that. It was like seeing a divine prisoner. We gave flowers, drank the teertha. Prayed for a while, gave way as cows were being led inside the temple. Apparently, on 18th some guruji was coming, so preparations were in full swing for the event, right from stage decoration to temple tinkering.
After darshan, we had a light breakfast of 2 idlies and bought fruits and boarded a bus to Malpe Beach. I felt as if there was a basket of dead fish next to me. It stank like fish everywhere.
Temple Entrance
Raths outside the temple
Whatz cooking behind the screens?
St. Mary’s Islands
Apparently it was a group of islands, one of them being coconut island. I just explored a part of the coconut island in the hot scorching afternoon. It was hot and i was glad, i bought a new lavender umbrella. We had to get down one stop before the Malpe beach to board the ferry to this coconut island. We got a entry ticket for 2. The fish stench was unbearable. Workers and fishermen were earning their livelihood, while i covered my nose and kept my words to bare minimum and walked under the hot sun, with the umbrella as my sole protection. A few minutes after we reached the counter, we bought tickets for 80 each. The huge houseflies there were stubborn, which refused to fly away with a wave. I took a newspaper to keep the flies away. Bald eagles, sea gulls and many kinds of sea birds were circling above. Tiny tadpole like fishes were swimming near the ferry. The ferry started and there were many families with cartons of beer bottles, many cute pairs. I was smitten by the charming allure of muslim girls in burqa, and svelte gals in dressed in sleek outfits.
We had fruits for lunch. Lounged under a coconut tree watching the waves beat against the vertical black rectangular rocks. These rocks looked as if, someone had taken pains to chop off rectangular pieces to shape them thus. There were big black crabs scampering all around and so many other sea creatures. I begged my friends to let me swim, stating, where do we have beaches in Bangalore and I don't know when i will come back to sea. The rocks below were slippery with moss and algae. I tried to walk between the rocks. I didn’t know about Malpe beach and was thinking that, that too would be covered with rocks. So i took on to swimming in the rocky sea from one rock to another. It was a small distance but i was exhausted and when i wanted to hold on to the rocks, i found there were so many black crabs black as the rock crawling around. I missed the rock and found i was going under water. Luckily, equally scared crabs made way for me to hold on to the rocks and gave me space to rest on it for a while. I bruised my knees, my knuckles, got a tear on my little finger, that burns even now. While returning to the shore, I floated on my back and on the beach, hoarded small mountains of sea shells. As we progressed away from the water, the same shells, got broken into smaller and smaller pieces forming the beach sand in a motley of colours.
Rocky Coconut Island – St. Mary’s Islands
Rocks rocks everywhere
Malpe Beach
We took an auto for 30 from St Mary’s Ferry Stop to Malpe beach. It was around 4:30 pm. I was so glad to see the beach without rocks. I had been swimming only in the pool all these days and it was joy unspeakable to swim in the sea and feel the waves. I jumped and played and swam in the sea, savouring the pristine golden sunset, exuding all its warmth in golden yellow, brilliant orange, scarlet red, crimson pink and ravishing blue. We were all soaked in the golden twilight. I played in the water even after the sun set, for hours after it got completely dark unmindful of my legs hurting. At 7, everyone left, except of couple of 1st year engg college students from Gulbarga. I played till even those guys said, return, for it has become dark. So i bid adieu to the sea at last, while my friends back on the beach scolded me on choosing not to pay heed to their words all these hours. We came back, had a quick bath and i discovered that my copper bracelet was shining like a new one. I was glad to have spent some time in the salty sea water. We just had time to have a quick bath and dinner of roti-dal fry and board our bus back to bangalore.
After sunset in Malpe Beach
Now am seriously going to prepare for interviews. Lost so much time. Got to see Agumbe by Feb mid when Sugi comes.
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