Karnataka Pilgrimage Day 2: An Incessant Rain of Blessings all the way

            After all the strain of Day 1, we made it a point to wake up only after having been sufficiently blessed by the Goddess of Sleep and we followed it to the dot.  The Goddess was also kind enough in not testing us on this issue.

          Even as the others got ready, I sneaked into the verandah attached to our room in the Lalithambika Guest House of the Kollur Devasthana to catch a glimpse of the nature around us. And I was not disappointed at all.  I stared at the clouds hitting the hills at a distance and descending.

The clouds on the Western Ghats- Kollur, Karnataka

What a colour combination!

What a bliss to be here!

Bliss, isn't it?

  I lost count of how many times I watched such a scene in my childhood and did not mind adding one more.  The only difference, other than the change of place, was that I could now afford to click as many pictures as I wanted, whereas in my childhood, I could never have thought of it, what with an analog camera in hand.

          We went to seek Mookambika’s blessings, worshipped Her, and returned to the guest house, packed our belongings, and hit the road towards Udupi / Mangalore.

          Unlike the previous day, this one was sunny yet pleasant.  After travelling for an hour, we took a detour towards Hatti Angadi (‘Hatti’ meaning cow-pens and ‘Angadi’ meaning market).  Dilip, our charioteer, told us of the significance of the deity, Lord Ganesa – that He was worshipped with a lot of areca flowers, so many of them that they formed a tower over His head, and that for every aarati, a flower or two would drop at His feet to be given away to devotees as His blessings.  The worship began, and, after a while, the entrance was blocked by a silver-plated partition for a brief while.  On the removal of the partition, the ‘aarati’ began with the chanting of the prayers, and at the end of it, two flowers dropped on their own from the flower-tower on Lord Ganesa’s head, to be given to us!

          We were road- borne once again, and proceeded towards Anegudde, well known for a Ganesa temple.  We reached there in the nick of time, and prayed to God.  Dilip informed us that a local Mangalorean dish, kadubu (a variant of idly) was the preferred ‘prasadam’ of this place.  I had had it in a restaurant in Bangalore late last year, so we decided to have it this time round, too.

          It grew hotter as we drove towards Udupi, which was the abode of Lord Krishna.  Dilip told us the reason why we would get a window-darsan of the Lord.  In the good old days when the caste system was very rigid, entry into the temple was refused by the priests to an untouchable devotee of Krishna, Kanakadasa by name.  One day a determined Kanakadasa wanted to pray to Lord Krishna in person, but the priests shut the door on his face.  Lord Krishna turned towards the door, which had a window built into it and thereby blessed His devotee with His darsan from then on, people from all castes were allowed into the temple and the devotees were made to pray for the Lord’s blessings only through the window which enabled the ardent to see Lord Krishna.  We were well beyond our lunch-time, but would we have felt hungry with the kind of bliss we gained?  We had a darsan of Lord Krishna, and took his ‘prasadam’ for lunch (I hope you have recollected the fact I mentioned that temples provided food to the devotees).

          By then, my entourage lost its enthusiasm, but I did not.  They were not keen to visit Kateel enroute to Mangalore, but I was.  So we went there.  As we moved closer to the place, we realised that we were deep inside the jungle.  It was overcast in Kateel, and rained for a short while.  When we were getting off the car, Dilip informed us that River Swarna flowed through the temple.  I just wondered how.

          We entered the temple premises and crossed the river by a concrete bridge to enter the main temple.  The crossing of the river did not happen too soon, not because of the crowds, but because we were too eager to click and videograph to move into the temple and pray to Goddess Durga Parameswari.  We eventually did that and got Her blessings as well.  While the river near the entrance of the temple flowed at a gentle gradient, (giving the impression of mini waterfall), the one at the side of the temple was more ferocious, but gentle enough if we wanted to wash our feet.  When I tried doing that, I found some small black fish kissing and tickling my feet. Here's the video I managed with the footage and some pictures!

http://youtu.be/iYyM48Cio9c

(this video made me realise that the river I talked about was Nandini, and not Swarna).

          We went back to the car and drove towards Mangalore via its famed table-top airport, clicked a few pictures on the move and had dinner at a hotel where a quaint looking watch indicated the time.

Sunset from Mangalore airport

Bird's eye view of Mangalore

Another view of Mangalore

Green Mangalore

Bright!

'I can dispel any gloom', the Sun seems to say!

The strange-looking watch...beautiful, isn't it?

        










































  At the end of this pilgrimage, we were blessed incessantly by the Gods.  And we also gained a friend in Dilip.

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