Bangalore-Udupi-Goa-Bangalore
I feel the urge to go to the sea every few months. Two weeks ago, on a friday afternoon at work, I decided to go “somewhere”. Anywhere. Preferably, somewhere near the sea. I thought of going to Mangalore. Though I realised that getting a deluxe/volvo bus ticket just a few hours prior to the journey on a weekend is one highly improbable thing, I still gave it a try and to my surprise, I managed to get a ticket to Mangalore.
By the time I had the ticket in my hand, the only thing certain was that I would be in Mangalore by 7 am, next day. What I would do after that, I had no idea.
Since Mangalore and Udupi are nearby, I decided to visit Udupi. There were two reasons for that. First, I wanted to visit the famous Krishna Mutt and second, I wanted to have authentic Udupi cuisine. From there, I could catch the Konkan route train to Goa and then take the monday train back to Bangalore.
Of course, I did not have any train tickets. If you stay away from home for eight years and travel alone, you learn to make plans like that.
Once I reached Udupi at around 8:30 in the morning, the first step was to book the ticket to Goa for the afternoon train leaving Udupi at 4 pm. While putting the unconfirmed ticket in my wallet, I realised it already had 3 old rail tickets. Flattened now. One Vasco-Bangalore second class sleeper. One platform ticket, Bangalore railway station. One Bombay local train ticket. These are travel declarations and they have their own stories to tell.
Udupi is a small town, one of the last towns on the Konkan belt. The railway station is a little off the city, but like all Konkan Railway stations, its clean and very well maintained. A sign informs me, hinting a sense of pride within, that all the water served on the station is UV treated. Indeed, an achievement.
The Blessing of Udupi
The city’s biggest and the only tourist attraction is the Krishna Mutt. Its as if the city is aware of the fact. Every auto-driver expects the Mutt to be the ultimate destination of each visitor. I meet one such auto-driver and without much effort, reach the mutt.
I rent a room, take it for a day even though I know I would be leaving the city by late afternoon. Freshening up and taking a little nap is on my mind. That is what I precisely do before I head downstairs for the Krishna temple. Crowds gather at the entrance, as expected. The place is well-maintained, well-managed. Albeit a little surprising that even in this huge crowd, the calmness prevails. The Sarovar, a pool of green water, is a beauty to take a look at. I break my fast with the meal offered and its time to go.
The Sarovar at the temple
At Diana Circle, I achieve my second objective. The Diana restaurant is one of the oldest restaurants in the city. Having a masala-dosa there is of prime importance since I want to know if it is only the Bangalore-udupi restaurants that put the red-chatni in their version of the masala-dosa or is it a part of the real thing. As it turns out, the entire thing does look like what they serve in the name of Udupi cuisine in Bangalore but the familiarity ends there. The taste is entirely different, untreaded territory and what not. Second objective achieved. And how.
By 2 pm, I am back at the station, waiting patiently for Matsyagandha Express to arrive from Mangalore. I have almost a couple of hours to spend there. I (try to) feed the two kittens I find there, give them milk and bread. Only that the kittens refuse to oblige. In those two hours, not one train passes by, though the frequency of trains on this station is as good as any station on the Konkan route.
The view that I get throughout the journey, my third on this track, is such that it makes it a sin, to travel without a digital camera. I make the most of what I have. Its peak summer but the rivers are full, the backwaters lovely and the greens are inviting. Trust me, when you travel here and you see what I saw, you don’t need any book, you don’t need any music.
All you need is the Sun spraying yellow rays on the layers of various shades of the Green below. That is all.
Peace
The Backwaters
“Look at the star, look how it shines for you, it’s all Yellow”
Hope you liked the photos. Comments, as always, welcome.
20 Responses to 'Bangalore-Udupi-Goa-Bangalore'
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Yep, I liked the photos. I’ve travelled south from Mangalore by train, which is also very pretty. Got to do this trip you did, one of these days. Actually I have done Bom-Mangalore (must have been by that Matsyagandha), but most of the journey was at night. (This was about the daylight hours).
Dilip D
16 May 06 at 11:45 pm
Very very beautiful..It so interesting that i also want to see all
this and feel each moment.
Katya
17 May 06 at 7:26 am
Loved the pics! :) especially the The Sarovar at the temple I could never imagine a place like that! awesome!
Mary
17 May 06 at 1:52 pm
It would have been nice if you had posted some more snaps of the palce
Damodar
18 May 06 at 8:12 am
1) Cool look !
2) beautiful picture (Love the pic very much)
3) Unexpected and undecided travel plans are more fun compared the planned one
Viewer
18 May 06 at 11:08 pm
i like the last picture.
aidid
23 May 06 at 12:45 pm
Amazing pictures – especially the last one.
Emma
22 Jun 06 at 11:30 am
hey these are very amazing pics man….i didnt expect the konkan rlys to be so good…..
shiv
11 Sep 06 at 10:11 pm
Amazin pics I must say!!! Just scanned thru ur blogs – have read a few of then=m and found quite interesting!!
Will read others at my leisure time
Didn’t know that besides being an amazing artist, u r an amazing photographer:)
Keep it up!!!
Pragati
14 Nov 06 at 1:24 pm
Good photos indeed
Chaithanya
2 May 07 at 3:46 pm
Iam planning for tour from bangalore to udupi from there to goa all by train . can please suggest me
Thanks in Advance..
dinesh
21 Jun 07 at 8:52 pm
Lovely pictures. My grandmother lives in Udupi. So i used to visit her often. I live in Paris now so i cant go there very frequently. This blog did bring back some memories.
Cheers
Vrinda
7 Jul 07 at 4:43 pm
Hi, My husband hails from Udipi, Karkala to be precise. I am a Maharashtrian, by birth and have seen my generations in Mumbai itself, thus needless to say I dont have a native place. But, thanks to my hubby that I got introduced to this beautiful patch on the Southern belt.
I have been to many places near Udipi and I would stongly recommend the Shankaracharya Math, Shringeri, Murudeshwar, the Annapurneshwari Temple and the famous Anne Guddey Ganesha Temple to those who are planning a visit to Udipi / Karkala / Mulki / Mangalore / Bhatkal (these are all small villages around Udipi).
Namita
9 Jul 07 at 10:42 am
Last one is perfect!
Good job
custom web design studio
10 Oct 07 at 11:19 pm
A nice narration of wonderful experience.
Beautiful and wonderful pictures.
vanan
8 Apr 08 at 9:56 am
I am planning to take trip to St Marys Island tomorrow and was running a search on it …came across this writting …seems like a lovely experience …i love such spontaneous trips to unexplored places :)
seema misra
14 Aug 08 at 12:06 am
I think Indian railway should shut down their web sites (all), but specially http://www.irctc.co.in a web site where you can book your ticket.
This is the worst web site I ever came across. if you think that in place of booking ticket at railway reservation center and wait for hrs in a queue, lets book a ticket online to save all this time, then I will say you are wrong its better to book a ticket at reservation center than a web site
vivek
30 Aug 08 at 1:33 pm
http://www.indiantrains.org/
I have not seen such a good site which has so many features in a single page. The better way to search Indian trains looks great and it open fast, no pop-up, user friendly. Every information in a single page. This concept is good and some of the features like calendar, train running day has not come in a single website in this reviews. the most important features i have seen in this site that if the user does not know the station code then also he can see all the trains and it is only website which have a drop menu box for the important station from where you can choose the station name and also it has a date calendar from you can choose the date and it show the running day of the train so that you can know which day of the week this train is running. the other most important feature I have seen in this website that it show the train which does not have the reservation coach for the benefit of the user and they are showing the passenger train also which is also not available in any website. This site will enable the users to search train route and compare fares of most of the trains in India.
vivek
30 Aug 08 at 1:34 pm
Lovely pics… I have just moved to Bangalore… and now looking forward to visit Udupi
Aarti
30 Dec 10 at 12:38 pm
These guys wont react too much to the net if you can kind start some good sms then check the reaction out..ask some ceartive guys to coin good jokes and take a jibe at these guys and look how they would run for cover and react
Sachin
4 May 14 at 3:11 pm