CAMPers' Day Out

This is going to be my first travelogue, if I dare call it so. In any case, this is the best you can get from me in that category, a lousy traveler that I am. Under normal circumstances, a 1-day journey calls for 2 days’ rest in my case and under sub/super normal circumstances, it can only get worse.

I have an innate dislike for early rising (refer previous posts on this blog) and travelling by road. Considering these facts, I consider it remarkable that I participated in this picnic which called for us to start at an ungodly hour of 7.30 am. Those of you who are sighing and rolling their eyes at this statement may kindly note that since I am writing this I reserve the rights to call it godly, ungodly or demonly. You have no choice but to read it.

The tour coordinator had given us enough prior notification that we would be starting at 7.30 am IST. He probably didn’t anticipate that there are smart chappies among us capable of interpreting it as Indian Stretchable Time. After all it’s a day to relax, so let’s as well start it with some stretching exercises. We finally set out at 8am. Before leaving Udupi we loaded our vehicle with breakfast and lunch to be devoured enroute.

We started from scratch…I mean to say that our first destination was the ruins of the Tulu dynasty at Barkur. The moment we stepped out of the bus, ‘Tulunadu’ was renamed by a colleague of mine as ‘podinadu’ (land of dust). Some neo-historians observed that it was the dust that drove the Tulu kings away…or did they vanish into dust??? Along this dusty road..ehm…I mean path,  we walked upto ‘Katthala basadi” which, I was told, means ‘dark temple’.

This was nothing like the picture I had in mind about remains of an ancient dynasty. First of all, it didn’t look ancient with the well-kept compound wall around it. Secondly, it didn’t look like a dynasty. The locale of the temple barely measured to an acre and I had gone there carrying mental images of Harappa and Mohenjodaro.

I must confess that I am being over-critical here. Actually, for want of time, we had limited ourselves to just one of the many sites of historical importance. We had apparently decided to forego an ancient fort and some other spots of interest. We could read the details of these on a board which also carried the names of some big shots like Tipu and Hyder Ali. So the story has a lot more to do than with the Tulu kings. This kathala basadi, as I mentioned earlier, had the relics of a twin temples datable   to the 12^th century. It was called the dark temple as the inner sanctum sanctorum was so designed that no light enters it especially so when you circumambulate the deity. This was now open to exploration by the public and we all bravely ventured in to the dark sanctum emerging bright  enough. Though the interior walls of the temples are adorned with beautiful patterns and designs, the exterior walls were plane. Well..... not plane anymore, as this was also the apt plane for some Ravi to manifest his love for some Ramya as could be well- read from the inscriptions on the temple walls. Nothing uncharacteristic of the present day youth.

The spot was perfect for a group of 29 to have their breakfast and that is exactly what we did. Leaf idlis were served to the eager-to-eat teachers by the eager-to-please students. Saw the heights of gurupuja, ….must be the sudden influence of ancient culture.

After breakfast and a few more photographs, we bade our byes to what was left of the Tulu kings and resumed our journey. The road trip to Murudeshwar was uneventful apart for the short tea/pee break. Entering UK (read ‘Uttara Kannada’), we had Suvarna River and Western Ghats keeping us constant company until Suvarna joined the Arabian sea. 

We reached Murudeshwar at 12 noon. We alighted into the scorching heat and waged our war on the sun armed with sunshades, caps and umbrellas.Three things catch your eye at this place. The beautiful sea which borders the temple avenue on 3 sides, the 20-storeyed gopuram guarded by statues of 1 elephant each on either side, and the massive and awe-inspiring statue of Murudeshwar, that is, Lord Shiva. Now I’ll tell you about these in the reverse order.

            

 This 123-ft tall statue is the second largest of Shiva statue in the world and can be seen from a great distance. In fact, you get to see it while travelling along the Konkan line as Shivji hanging up in the sky. The gopuram, a 237 ft high edifice with 20 storeys has 1 life-size elephant (statue) on each side. My personal observation was that only the size was elephant-like, proportions were not so perfect at least by the standards of Indian elephants. These seemed to me to be slightly horizontally enhanced out of proportion. But then, I am no expert at the vital statistics of elephants. I may as well be wrong.

 But in spite of all the attempts they had taken to make it look grand and divine, I felt something amiss. Something somewhere was fishy, and I am not referring to the fishermen folk and their fishing boats beside the temple. I sensed an underlying artificiality about the whole business, as if it is coming down to nothing but business. A means to attract tourists under the pretext of religion and divinity.  I don’t intend sound like an atheist or an agnostic. I am a believer to the core, only a different kind. I don’t associate God to temples or rituals; but I do look upon temples as places of cultural and historical significance.

We anyway proceeded in the 10m long queue and got the ‘darsan’ of the main deity and got absolved of all our sins. Now we can open a fresh account. Everyone was soon taking photographs of the Gopuram trying to fit all the 20 storeys and the models below into the frame. We found it funny to see a batch of Sabarimala pilgrims leisurely posing at different spots and clicking snaps. “ At this rate, when will they ever reach Sabarimala?” wondered someone.

My apprehensions regarding the not-so-sacred intensions behind the temple were reinforced at the base of the gopuram where we all got excited knowing that we could actually go up to the top. Soon, we got to know that we wouldn’t climbing the stairs (of course that would be a difficult deal), but will be taken up by means of an elevator. Did I ever imagine going up a temple gopuram in a lift @ Rs. 10/- per head!! Well, my sins in this front remain intact. 

But the view from above ( by the way, we were taken only up to the 18^th floor which is actually a good deal for Rs. 10.) was worth much more than Rs. 10/- spent and I really enjoyed it. But why do that under the pretext of a gopuram?  To lend it an air religious sanctification? I don’t know and I am not fit to comment either. Maybe it’s all my ignorance speaking.

Hitting the earth, next we climbed up about 50 steps (no elevators this time) to get a closer look at the statue and saw a dog slumbering peacefully on Shivji’s lap, who, by the way, had his mount Nandi and some of the prominet figures among the bhootagana scattered in the vicinity. We clicked more pics, amassing evidence for our tryst with the Mahadeva. It was too hot and sunny for any of us to give our best wide-eyed-smiles for the photos. Sun was showing absolutely no mercy on us and I held fast on to my umbrella.

Now comes the best part. We then proceeded to the beach. As we waited for the remaining few to join us, it was shopping spree for the ladies. Some were attracted by the fancy ornaments on sale while I got myself a jute bag after a good share of bargaining, even promising the bag-wallah to bring back more customers. He was glaring at me later as I passed him without giving him so much as a glance. The best part of our time at Murudeshwar beach was the slices of pineapple that we ate seasoned with some magic masala (salt and chilly powder they say, but I am not so sure….. it tasted much better than that). I don’t know what did the trick, the juicy pineapple itself or the secret seasoning or the salty beach air laden with dust or the vendor’s dirty hands. The result was absolute gastronomic delight…pure bliss!!! ( Sorry, no pics of that part. We were all too busy...you know why !)

Soon, we embarked on our voyage in the Arabian Sea. We boarded a boat and took a short trip in the sea. We watched in awe the adventurous lot speeding on water crafters, I heaving a sigh of relief for not having to do that. We circumnavigated the land mass jutting into the sea on which the temple and the mega Murudeshwar were stationed. In a way, we were making a ‘pradakshinam’ of Shiva, an incomplete one at that too since the temple complex had water only on 3 sides. And that’s how it is meant to be while going around Shiva, as we aren’t supposed to cross the imaginary Ganga flowing on His left having spurted from his head. Well, for all my maverick views on religious practices, I was truly charmed by this, especially so, since it happened inadvertently. On reflection, was the temple and the deity so designed and installed so that the geography would allow the bhakthjan a perfect circumambulation by sea? Praiseworthy, I must say. 

Having completed the voyage, it was time to get back to the bus. The only thing that I missed was having my favourite sugar candy, one pink and one yellow on each hand, I couldn’t find any of those on the beach. Mmm… maybe better luck next time. It was 3.30 pm by this time and we soon hurried to the spot we had planned to have our lunch from. A shady spot overlooking the Someshwar beach was where the picnic lunch of pulav and kurma was served; again by our most respectful students. Many were practicing yogic eating. I borrow this phrase from a colleague for want of a better word to describe deep breathing accompanying the eating to take in the aroma of fried fish emanating from the lunch basket of another picnic team. Not that there was anything wrong with our lunch, especially the gaajar ka halwa.

  

We sat there under a banyan tree, also known as the Bodhi tree sitting under which Buddha attained enlightenment.Well, it was a moment for enlightenment for me too. This was the day, I got introduced to the fruit of the banyan tree. My first experiment with it was of course to investigate the edibility of the fruit and was dejected at the negative results. 

After the post lunch photo session, we proceeded to the Someshwar beach where the prime objective of the trip was going to be met. With so many sports enthusiasts amongst us a cricket match on the beach was nothing unprecedented. I chose to be the sole cheer girl missing not a moment of the exciting game catching many a funny glimpse of fast dismissals and run outs and ‘no ball with 6 runs’ , more drops than catches and overthrows....needless to mention, some fantastic batting, bowling and fielding.  I even saw the umpire batting in between. Where would you get to see that !  The match saw the grace, stamina and agility of many being tested and all proving to be well above the mark.

While the other female members of the group opted for a leisurely stroll scaling the coast line studying crabs and collecting shells, I went for the drier option, giving 1/3^rd each of my attention to the cricket, volley ball and frisbee games going on simultaneously before me. Besides, I had the added responsibility of guarding all our worldly possessions from a pack of stray dogs who almost outnumbered us.

                          

The setting sun looked so elegant, making it hard to believe that it was the same one baking us earlier in the day. The sunset was spectacular and perfectly timed by the little daughters of a colleague……6,5,4,3,2,1 and gone was the sun. I don’t know how they managed it with such millisecond precision. Well done Girls!! You’re on your way to becoming great rocket scientists.

While those who had their annual bath long overdue ( it’s December……high time certainly) went for a semi-skinny dip, I sat staring at the beautiful crescent moon that replaced the sun. I’ve never had enough of the enigmatic sea or twilight sky and this day was no different. The hues on the horizon were way beyond the words of a poet or the strokes of an artist. Although science has done its best to explain the phenomena of sea breeze, blue sky , tides and red sunset….I wondered will it ever explain all the marvelous patterns on the sky, the intricate designs on the sea shells ….all the wonders of nature. For a moment, I felt so trivial and powerless, being reduced to a trifling point in the infinitum of eternity.

Time to head back. We boarded the bus for our return journey. By the way, I am not going to tell you that I had forgotten my umbrella on the beach which was fetched by 2 of the most benevolent souls of our team. The trip back home, the last stretch, saw our students singing and dancing to their favourite bollywood numbers  mashallah, DKBose, Dhoom machale, crazy kiya re, Sheela ki jawaani and many more. It was nice to see them shed their inhibitions and having fun, giving in to the overruling passion. Don’t forget that the bumpy movements of the bus had a lot to contribute to their rhythmic movements but not entirely. Finally there was a string dedicated songs for all the students and teachers present in the bus.

Back home at 9.30pm, I had a mental recap of the episodes of the entire day. Soon it occurred to me that what we did, had and experienced the entire day was a mini version, a representative of the Indian life and culture. Starting from the initial tardiness to dusty roads and ancient culture and armorous messages on historical monuments ….from shared meals to gurubhakthi, the quality time with family…..from chai party to religious observations and looted bhakthi, bargaining with street vendors and eating at street stalls, from enlightenment under the bodhi vriksh to sea bathing and stray dogs to cricket matches and of course Sheela ki jawani.

What better version of Indian life on CAMPer’s Day Out !

Photo courtesy: 
Dr. Unnikrishnan V.K. 
Mr.Ajeetkumar Patil
 Ms.Archana Hegde