This was an unexpected trip which got planned in Aug 2017. Somehow I was bit reluctant to travel to India this year as most of my travel plans went flop in the initial part of the year and I really needed a break to be in nature and I was not sure if I could get such a break if I go home. Previously visiting family and relatives sometimes used to seem obligatory, but don’t know if the change is due to changing time where its so hard to find real human connections or due to our own age, visiting near and dear ones and spending some time talking casually gives more happiness than trying to be shy away from people.  In spite of this, I have to admit, we seldom make time for all near and dear ones and mostly friends get taken for granted and I end up not even making a phone call while being in India.

Raju Tavera  is the nick name of our taxi driver whom we try to hang on for most of our travel right from picking us up from Airport. He is a silent guy, bit shy…but understands the psychology of people around and slows down or stops where ever I feel like clicking a pic. He came to Airport to pick us up and we drove to Udupi via Madikeri.

The effort of these fruit sellers to attract customers did work. After passing several of them we could not resist stopping at one of them to get few mangoes.And I love watching the bullock carts…as they take me back to my childhood when the bullock cart was the only mode of transport which was available at our village. When my cousins used to come for summer holidays, we used to go in bullock cart to pick them up from nearby village where Bus facility was there.  The changing rural life… they still try to have domestic animals in the little space they have.  Again a childhood nostalgia. When we came to Tirthahalli leaving Kadagodu after submersion of our lands in Varahi power project, we had tried to keep 2 cows for several years in the little space we had for them. We used to buy their feed and at some point realised it was not manageable that way. And my grandfather sold them off with heavy heart. What I like the most are the people who sit so peacefully roadside… and I get into thoughts if I could ever sit so relaxed in the mad rush to live life to the fullest.On the way to Udupi we visited the Tibetian Shrine at Bailakuppe. Unfortunately the temple was closed for renovation and we could only visit the buildings other than the main temple. We got a chance to witness the Chants by Buddhist Monks and we found it very peaceful. 

The region of Madikeri is so beautiful with greenery all around. In spite of hating depressive grey weather in Germany, I love the foggy days around my native.

Kunjarugiri:

We stayed at Udupi for 2 days before starting our trip to Murudeshwar. One of the days, we visited the Kunjargiri Durga Devi temple. Kunjarugiri village is located around 11 km from Udupi. The temple is located on the top of the hill. From the temple one can have a good view of Parashurama temple which one passes by while coming to Kunjarugiri. The view from the temple is magnificent. Temple is maintained very well and one can find solace in this temple as it is not crowded except special occasions. One can find more information about the temple in the website “http://kunjarugiri.in”

We had agreed with Raju that he would drive us to Murudeshwar via Jog falls. We had not planned any itinerary. We had thought about only Jog falls and Murudeshwar and some beaches on the way back. Raju took over the charge of being the tour manager and took us to Kollur on the way to Jog Falls. By the time we reached Kollur, it was 10:30 and we did not want to spend lot of time awaiting in the queue, instead thought will just go around the temple and drive to Jog falls. As the security guys did not allow us to take bags inside, we ended up visiting a known priest of the temple whose house is located in the temple premises. He told us he can get us darshan in 1 hr.  We were made to join the shortest queue and got in to the temple as soon as the doors opened. Like tirupati, people were asked to move fast to allow others in the queue to have darshan and because of the priest we got the luxury of getting into a place where we could stand for a while and pray. Sincerely, I do not like these special privileges nor do I feel the urge to stand in special queues to have darshan as I see Godess in greenery and every life form, but on this day, I did not feel any guilt, rather enjoyed it.

 Beautiful door of the the Priest’s house.Next stop was at a small waterfalls on the way to Jog falls.

Ikkeri:

Ikkeri is in Sagara Taluk, around 6 km south of Sagar. Here we visited the beautiful Aghoreshwara Temple.

Keladi:

Keladi is located around 8 kms from Sagar. Here we visited the famous Rameshwara temple.

On the way to Jog, we came across these Ananas stalls where they cut and serve Ananas with chilli powder.  Again the arrangements were an art to attract attention of tourists. By the time we reached Jog Falls, it was almost evening. We could witness some rainbows as and when Sun was coming out from behind the clouds. I was visiting Jog falls after a decade or so. It was as crowded as it used to be a decade ago. Everyone were enjoying the serene beauty of Jog falls. Even though it was bit late and we still had a journey of 2.5 hrs to Murudeshwar, nobody tried to hurry up. After spending enough time at Jog, we started our journey towards Murudeshwar via Honnavar Ghat.