A perfect pilgrimage trip - Aug 2012
It was in the month of May or Jun 2012, my wife and I, were talking. She told me about the potential long week-end that we have in the month of Aug and the plan of going to Mookambika (as my mom wished for a long time) can be fulfilled
We immediately spoke to my parents, Suchi's parents, my sister and Suchi’s brother. They all said ok, we then started planning applying for leaves and after our leave approvals, we started making the actual planning for the trip, like travel, stay, etc.,
My mother has been wanting to visit Mookambika temple for about 15 years now. Finally, it was time now, to visit this place. As we planned, we realized, since we have more time available with us, we could cover few more places around Udupi
My wife and I, have heard a lot about Kukke Subramanya and Dharmasthala. So, we decided to cover those two places. Then, I came to know about this place, Murudeshwar Temple in Facebook and got interest in visiting this place. So, we decided to include this as well in our list of places.
Our final plan came like this.
First Day - Kukke subramanya & Dharmasthala. Stay in Dharmasthala
Second Day - Udupi and places around Udupi
Third Day - Kollur Mookambika
Fourth Day - Murudeshwar Temple
Fifth Day - Travel back to Bangalore
As we started to plan for stay, we first went to dharmasthala website (http://www.shridharmasthala.org/pages/sevas.html) and tried to book one day stay. It was sometime in the month of Jun. The administrative person asked us to contact a week before our actual visit. Then, I went ahead and inquired about where to stay in Udupi, with one of my good friend, Sudhir. He suggested few hotels. After visiting all the hotel websites, we somehow, chose to book in Shambhavi hotel (http://www.shambhavihotels.com/tarrif.html) which was located just behind the KSRTC bus stand in Udupi. As I called the hotel, I was surprised to know that the hotel official did not take any credit card number (Usually, any hotel would take credit card and charge us penalty in case of cancellation) and made our booking for 3 nights stay
Then, we planned to book vehicle for our travel. Since we had decent strength (9 adults + 3 kids) and the distance to be travelled was little longer (1000+ km) and we would also have good amount of luggage, we decided that, we would not book TT kind of vehicle (12 seater vehicle), since it does not offer the comfort for elderly people. So, we booked a mini bus, which was 18 seater, though the budget went little high on that.
It was 11th Aug, Saturday, my in-laws arrived first. Then, it was 14th Aug morning, my parents, sister with her daughter, my brother-in-law (Suchi's brother) and his family, all of them arrived.
It was two days before our actual travel, I saw in newspaper that, there is a lot of rain around whole western ghats including Udupi. I was little worried if all would go well, but hoped for good.
On 14th night, when I called the bus driver, I came to know, the vehicle we got was not 18 Str, it was rather 26 Str, kind of a big vehicle. While, initially, we all thought, it would be difficult with such a big vehicle, after the end of the trip, I almost feel like, it was a right size vehicle for us, offering a lot of extra space as we needed, to keep our luggage as well.
It was 15th Aug, we all got up by 3:30 am. By the time, we all got ready and were ready to start, it was 6:30 am. Vehicle came by right time. We loaded our entire luggage and started sharp 6:45 am. We went via outer ring road, through marathahalli bridge, innovative multiplex, Sarjapur Junction, Jail Road and then, Nice Road to catch Tumkur high way. At about 8:45 am, we had our breakfast in the bus itself and stopped at a coffee shop to have coffee/tea and some popcorn/lays chips as usual for kids
After Hassan, the vehicle started going through Sakleshpur and hill drive. The hemavathi river flows through the entire town of sakleshpur. There is water stream everywhere around and offers great views, and you almost feel like, getting into water. Greeneries along with so much water streams, will ever stay in your memory. Few of us started feeling like throwing up, especially with our “expert” driver, who was not only driving fast, he was also turning very fast along with a lot of overtakes. Navalaxmi (my sister's daughter) ended up throwing up and my wife also was almost about to throw up, but we reached the first spot, kukke subramanya. Rain started pouring as we reached. We had our lunch in the bus itself. Then, we went to the temple for darshan. The dharshan timing was starting at 3:30 pm. We stood in the queue for about 30 min. Men had to remove the shirt, baniyan and topi to have darshan. Had a good darshan. The temples around this whole mangalore zone is built in kerala style (like guruvayur temple). In every temple, the god shrine is so small, compared to what we have in tamil nadu temples, it was unique for me to notice.
Then, we all had bio breaks nearby the temple, had coffee, took some snaps, boarded into the bus, we started our drive towards dharmasthala. The road from kukke subramanya to Dharmasthala was really very narrow. Still our expert driver was driving with good speed and took there in one hour. The entire stretch again was full of greeneries, along with so much rain, it looked so green. I could witness so many bungalows built out there, once in every km, which had at least an SUV parked outside. I was thinking, may be, few people, like us, have made their dream come true, by having a guess house kind of a thing for them, may be!. Another thing that got my attention was, the density of trees in this whole zone (western ghats) is really amazing. It looks really like a forest and human has not yet penetrated into this zone enough, to convert it into concrete jungle that we live in.
We reached our building where we had our registration done. It is called “Rajathadri”. We got three rooms, for 4 families. It was Rs. 200 per day per room. It is so economical with so much to offer. We loved our stay there. We immediately refreshed ourselves and went to temple for darshan. We were lucky to have darshan in just 10 min. Here men not only had to remove shirt, banyan, topi, but also had to wear dhothi. We had good darshan of Manjunatha swamy. After darshan, I stood in a corner, closed my eyes, was praying thinking god shiva in mind, which I do in most of the temple. It was first time that, I could put a new request/wish to god that I felt best about my life, at this stage.
I came to know later that, Monday is a very special day to have darshan in dharmasthala, but at the same time, crowd would be too much that, we would not get a place to stay even. That way, thought we had our darshan on Wednesday, we had a very peaceful stay and darshan there.
As soon as we finished darshan, we went to have anna dana (free food served by temple). On an average, around 10000 people usually have this free food in this temple on a daily basis. Though there was a lot of crowd, it was organized so well that, we could have the food in just 15 min. Except me, none of us knew that, in Karnataka, they serve rasam first followed by sambar. In tamilnadu, we eat sambar first, followed by rasam. Before even we finish eating sambar rice, the servants were pouring buttermilk into everyone’s plate (seems it is tradition there!). I was thinking, when it comes to god’s food, there should be no order, as everything is tasty! I took a moment to show Arjun, how they prepare food using huge vessels and how they clean them. He enjoyed watching them, me too.
Then, we went to rajathadri and after relaxing a bit, we all went to the hotel attached to rajathadri, had a cup of milk. It was very delicious and helped us to hit bed sooner and got very good sleep.
I must say that, Dharmasthala, as a place, is so clean, with no plastics or papers lying on the road, public toilets are so clean without agents/charge, parking is also free for all tourist vehicles. I was thinking, if it was tamilnadu or few other states that I had been to, we end up paying everywhere, for nothing good in return!
Next day (16th Aug), we all got up, refreshed ourselves, and had breakfast at the hotel and left dharmasthala by our bus. We reached Udupi shambhavi hotel by about 1:30 pm. We checked in, refreshed and went for lunch in their first floor restaurant called manpasand. The restaurant was closing at 3 pm, we were there at 2:30. Since we did not have much time and choice, we ordered thali for all of us. Food was good. After lunch, we returned to rooms and took some rest. At about 4:30, I called the driver to let him know, we wanted to go to Udupi malpe beach by 5:30. He told that, the bus has a problem and may not be fixed until next day morning. It was very disappointing. We immediately took 3 autos and reached the beach. We spent almost 90 min there. We bought kites for kids and we all flew it together. Arjun enjoyed it a lot. Then, we took several snaps around the beach. We also saw white colored crabs out there in the beatch, it was interesting to see. As we were leaving, we took few snaps near Mahatma Gandhi status located in the beach itself. We took Udupi local bus and reached the main bus stand. We started walking towards Udupi Krishnan temple as someone told us, it is walkable distance. But I felt, it was little longer distance for elderly people. We reached the temple at 8 pm or so. Luckily, crowd was very less. We had quick darshan in 10 min. Again except me, none of us knew that, the god shrine in this temple can be looked only through a window, not through the main door or entrance.
There goes a story about why the god is facing the window in the temple, not the main door. Once upon a time, there was a Krishna devotee called kanakadhasa who was very devoted to lord Krishna. Once, he was not allowed to enter the temple and in the love and devotion towards lord, he started singing standing behind the temple. Touched by his devotion, lord Krishna turned 180 degree to see the devotee.
My father in law, my mother, both of them, could not see the lord clearly; as the window was really very small and the light near the shrine was very dim. So, we took several turns until they saw the shrine/lord clearly.
I recalled the conversation that I had once with Suchi after one of my trip to Thirupathi. I somehow always close my eyes when I worship gods in temples. May be, I am used to it. She asked me, “why do you close your eyes, we come all the way to have god’s darshan and you close your eyes”. I was telling her, “I somehow feel better if I close my eyes to see or feel god in my heart than, to see through eyes”
We then, came out of the temple, bought few pictures of Udupi lord Krishna and took few snaps near the temple. We all were hungry for sure, we inquired about any hotel nearby. One person suggested, “woodlands restaurant” nearby, actually, it was just 5 min walk. We had very delicious dinner there, followed by very tasty and sweet (literally sweet, as they add lot of sugar) milk. Some of us walked to the hotel, while some of us decided to take auto and reach the hotel.
Next day (17th Aug), I got up at around 6 am. I saw through the hotel room window, it was raining on and off. Went out with an umbrella since I felt like, I am missing my walking and running. On top of that, only eating, travelling or just sitting in the hotel room, all these days in our travel. I started walking from the hotel room on a straight road. I was surprised to know that, the Krishna temple was so close to the hotel. I worshipped the lord again outside the temple for few min. It felt good. I returned to the hotel room.
We all got ready by around 9:30 am. I then called our bus driver and came to know, the vehicle won’t be ready until 2 pm in the afternoon. I did not want everyone to sit around until then; instead I booked another TT vehicle for our Mookambika trip from the hotel. TT came by 10 am and we all started. It was raining, raining and raining. On all our way through, there were so many bridges that came, which was built to divert the river water (driver told us, it was nethravathi river water) to merge with the Arabic sea. The view that was offered by every back-water under the bridge and around the bridge was awesome. Then, the van got into a narrow route that directly takes us to kollur mookambika temple. This whole route was so green, in multiple green colors, light green, thick green, intermediate green colors. On top of that, the rain added its own color to the greenery. I saw few houses here and there located on that road. Was telling myself, most of these folks may not get any illness, just because they are breathing so clear and good air around. When we reached the temple it was about 1:30 pm. We tried to rush and get the darshan since the temple was closing by 2 pm, to reopen at 3 pm. But somehow, we could not enter the temple since it was 1:50 pm, securities did let us enter.
So, it was time for lunch. We looked around and decided to have anna dana (free food) in the temple itself. We stood in the queue. Though there was not much crowd, since the building that is used to serve free food is only small, our wait time was little longer. Kids were very hungry and also elders like my in-laws who have diabetic. Finally, we had food by 3:00 pm and then, went ahead for darshan.
Since this was long awaited trip for my mother, she had brought a Saree to devote to the god, My sister and I, went to the temple’s office first to inquire about what needs to be done to offer the saree to the temple. The officer there took few details and gave us a receipt. Depending upon the worth of the saree or offerings, the category mentioned in the receipt changes. It was category III for us. I thought, this may be a good process to keep track of what and all is being offered by devotees to god.
We took that receipt and entered the god shrine hall. The priests there took the saree and immediately put over the god’s shrine for our darshan. It is a custom that, sarees brought by any devote, would be wore by god for the devotee’s darshan. Since it was raining heavily, the crowd was much lesser and that helped us to have darshan for a little longer. We heard heart filling darshan and sat near the shrine. My mom started praying, she closed her eyes, was quite for some time. Then, all of a sudden, tears started pouring from her eyes, it lasted for about 5 to 10 min, she seemed so peaceful.
Later, when I was conversing with her, she started sharing why she broke into tears. It seems, she had got thoughts about some of our relatives, who have been going through difficulties in their lives. What was interesting to me was, she also has got thoughts about some relatives, who have never been good to us, still she has thought of them, wishing best for them
I again got re-emphasized that, in the path of spirituality, the ultimate goal is to attain not only peace/ self-realization, it is about going beyond us, start loving others, thinking about others, thinking about how good things can happen for others, how others can get better in their lives. Simply, humanity has to improve.
So, the rain was not stopping. We decided to leave from there, using our umbrellas. We came out of the temple, we bought few mookambika pictures, to be given to our relatives and friends. Then, had a coffee, got into our van, started our return journey.
It was all raining. On the way back, the driver suddenly took a diversion from the main road. When I asked him, if we are going in a different route, he told, “no, I am taking you guys to another famous temple”. This was not on our list, yet, we were happy to visit this Ganesha temple, called “Anegudde Vinayaka Temple”. We all had a good darshan and retuned to hotel.
We reached little early. Suchi and I, went out to bring dinner for all, since we don’t get soft items like idli, dosa in our hotel. We brought the food, had dinner together. Came back to room, Arjun and I, watched the last part of the movie “Alien vs. Predator” and slept.
It was Aug 18th morning. We all got up and got ready to leave for Murudeshwar. We had breakfast in the hotel room itself and then started by about 9:30 am. This whole drive to Murudeshwar was on the beach side. It offered awesome views. When we reached Murudeshwar, it was about 1 pm. While few of us went for bio break, since it was raining on and off, I decided to buy couple of more umbrellas since we may not be able to manage to roam around without umbrellas. We all went for darshan, again it was almost closing time. We had good and quick darshan and came out of the temple by 2 pm. As all of us were hungry, we decided to have lunch. As we looked around, there was a restaurant called “beach view restaurant just on the Murudeshwar beach”. We had our lunch there, followed by a photo session, since the hotel itself offered good views of the ocean.
After that, we started walking towards Shiva statue and darshan there. It was new to me, to see, rama, lakshmana and seethe shrines located below the shivalinga. We took several snaps; we could not stop clicking our cameras as the statue was so magnificent and offered eye/heart filling views. By the time, we returned to our van, it was about 4 pm, we started back our journey to hotel.
We refreshed and went out for dinner. After looking around for a bit, we saw a hotel called “shanthi sagar”. While I was not sure, it was original shanthi sagar, we went and had dinner. Food was really good. Then, as I was leaving, I asked the waiter, if this was the original shanthi sagar. He said “no sir, this is not Bangalore original one”. I told him, “the food was equally good” and he smiled.
It was 19th Aug. we all got up at 4 am, were ready to start by 6 pm. Our bus arrived; we checked out from hotel and started our journey back. Since we started early, the traffic was little less and we could soon reach Mangalore and we stopped for breakfast in a small hotel. The road from Udupi to Mangalore is about 50 km and is again fully on the beach side, it offered great views. We also saw the college National institute of Technology, Surathkal which is located in this road. Then, we again crossed sakleshpura, river water, great sceneries, followed by Hassan and few other small cities. We stopped at about 2 pm for lunch in a hotel. The hotel had park for kids to play. Arjun, Neha and Nava had good time while they had lunch. We started from there, by the time, we reached home it was about 5:30 pm. We could literally feel how the climate/weather was changing (of course, it was getting worse) as we came from Udupi to Bangalore
I am very thankful and grateful that we did not have any issues for anyone, in spite of so much rain around, eating food all the way in various hotels. Only my brother in law had light fever for couple of days, but I am glad, he could manage it
I think, after my vacation trip to Coorg in Jan 2010, this trip has been really full of events and a memorable one too.
