And ofcourse the spacious, beautiful, ancient, long standing houses with wooden pillars all around. This was a common sight in all the relative's houses we visited, which stood the test of times for 100s of years bearing heavy rains & hot summers, which is so typical of our coastal karnataka.
I simply loved the stay at this ancestarial house "Hariram Bhavan" of the Maiya's. Though I had my share of luck couple of times before to stay at such beauties elsewhere, this was a dream come true to stay for almost 3 days..having wonderful, tasty ethnic traditional food, wandering around acres of lush green lands, exploring my photography skills, sitting & talking to people there and listening to the authentic language (which is simply so sweet & kind), experiencing the true care, concern, hospitality they offer to their guests, relaxing/sleeping on the huge platforms that you can find all around.....was few of the amazing & memorable part of the trip.
This trip was being planned for a long time, as Mrs. Sujatha Maiya wanted to take me n preeti to couple of temples after our wedding....I guess the right timing was stuck when Mr & Mrs Maiya went for a 15 day nature camp in Dharmasthala..This plan was even more special as even Deepti & Ashwin got married...and visit to such holy places with the entire family was even more fulfilling.
The trip was delayed by a week, as my doddamma (Radha Aunty) passed away..She was the same lady who introduced ours and Ashwin's family for a prospective marriage alliance.
The Journey began from Bangalore to Udhyavara on 28th Aug. Myself, Preeti, Deepti & Ashwin travelled in a Volvo bus and arrived Udhyavara By-Pass at around 7:30 AM on 29th Aug.
As we landed, we found couple of autorickshaws and we took two of them..U know how Preeti described our destination's address to the driver?? She said "Hariram Bhavan"..Within 5 mins of drive thru beautiful village roads with green fields all along, we arrived at "Hariram Bhavan"!!!!!
I was wonderstuck and couldn't avoid imagining, what would happen if I land at Majestic Bus stop and ask the driver to take me to "Mountain Mist Apartments"..hmm..well, I leave for u to guess the rest.
We were received with a warm welcome by the family there and a dog named Tony..I guess he has a very bad memory...everytime we arrived home, he used to stare at us & bark as if we were strangers....but used to recognize us well while we were home.
Nights were bit scary & troublesome here...Nights were pitch dark and the ladies with us were scared of it. Nature call in the middle of the night would mean call for trouble...as it was an adventure! Using toilets & bathrooms were also kinda discomfort to me & deepti, as we r not too comfortable with Lizards around.
After quickly getting ready, we started the day..A vehicle (Qualis) was rented and Mr. Vasant Maiya had clearly charted out a plan for each day. He had listed out the route & places to be covered each day.
As intended, it was purely a religious trip and we started the trip by first visiting Vinayaka Temple in Udhyawara.
We drove down to "Yedbettu" - home town of Mrs. Sujatha Maiya.
I still haven't got clarification on why the place is called "Left Finger"!!
We visited the temple of Sri Bramhalingeshwara amidst lush greenery all around and the temple is in the middle of a field. The linga there was found in the land of Mrs. Sujatha Maiya's ancestors and they've built a temple around it.
We then proceeded towards Mrs Maiya's Ansestarial house. As one gets closer to the house, it gets inaccessible to vehicles...we need to reach the place only by walk. The house was as usual amazing with old structure and many antique display. Myself & Ashwin were most of the time taking pictures and enjoying the beauty of the house and sorroundings.
Mrs. Maiya was happy & excited to visit her childhood home and was happily showing the house. Mr. Nagbushan & Mrs Sita, Mrs.Maiya's Chikkappa & Chikkamma who stay there warmly treated us.
After a wonderful time at Yedbettu, we drove & stopped by VG's studio and picked him up in our vehicle. We then visited Anegudde and Hattiangadi temples. We then dropped by VG's sister Prabha's house in Kundapur. She & her family gave us a warm welcome and it was decided to stay there for lunch. We were served with some delicious & heavy meal, after which we rested there for half an hour and proceeded our journey.
We reached Kollur Mookambika temple...after having a good darshin we quickly proceeded towards Murudeshwar. We reached Murudeshwar & visited the temple by around 5:30 PM. Spent some time over there taking pictures and had some snacks at a hotel. The beach wasn't clean and we didn't want to enter it and it was raining as well.
We strived hard to make it to Marvanthe beach, but by the time we reached it was dark.
We visited Gurunarasimha temple in Saligrama and the Anjaneya temple where we offered oil, as part of the ritual in that temple.
Our last stop was at VG's house in Gundmi, Saligrama. We were served with heavy dinner there...
We reached Udhyavara by 10:00 PM...tired & sleepy...the ladies started packing luggages as we planned to stay at Dharmastala the next day.
On 30th August, we started the day early and we were all ready by 6:00 AM. We had our breakfast at Kamat hotel in Udhyavar. On the way to Sringeri, we stopped by a View point, unnamed.
We reached Sringeri and visited the main Sharade temple and all sorrounding temples, and the river. The river was flowing full...Surprisingly we did not find any fishes in the river!
We quickly travelled to Horanad by 1:30 PM and had darshin of Annapoorneshwari.
All of us did Akki seve.
We later found our way to Brahmin's dining hall and had a tasty meal.
En-Route to Dharmasthala, Mr. & Mrs. Maiya showed us the resort where they went through the therapy camp...They both kept sharing the fun part they had while at the camp, the treatments and their experiences.
We reached Dharmasthala by 5:30 PM. Though it was a sunday & the next day being a monday (which is supposed to be a special day at Dharmasthala), we managed to get 2rooms in one of the trust's accomodation.
As we entered the room, the common expression on all our faces was "What the....No ways!!" It was not a very healthy & pleasing room to stay. We immediately got on the job to search for better hotel/lodge. We finally managed to get 3 decent rooms in one of the private lodges on the outskirts of Dharmasthala.
After having darshin of Lord Manjunatha, we had dinner at a nearby hotel. The constant non co-operation and rebellion from the driver was testing our patience and he crossed the limit when he never bothered to turn up when we had to shift to the new lodge. We finally traced him and had heated arguements.
We were all really tired and had a nice sleep at the lodge.
On 31st Aug, we started the day early, had breakfast and drove towards Subramanya. Myself & Ashwin were on the right attire (Panche) to enter the holy place of Subramanya...It was quite surprising to see absolutely no croud inside the temple.
Though it was Ekadashi that day, but still it was surprisingly peaceful and less crowded, which is otherwise on regular days is filled with ppl in every corner of the temple. We had really good darshin of the lord and we all did some seva and was quite fulfilling & refreshing after visiting the temple. We spent time there sitting in the peaceful environment, before we proceeded our journey towards Polali.
By the time we reached Polali, it was 1:30 PM and the temple was closed. We were unfortunate that we could not have meal in the temple as it was too late and wondering how to manage spend another couple hours till the temple opens. We slowly strted moving around the place and did some shopping. Mrs Maiya bought a saree to be offerred as seva to the goddess.
We then found our way into a charity organization "Ramakrishna Thapovana", with a huge campus. The organization provides education and accomodation for the needy children. It had beautiful garden all around. Mr. Maiya casually started speaking to the chief mentor Dr. Balakrishna who was inspired by the Ramarishna Mission, and dedicated himself to this noble cause, quitting his CA professional practice. While myself and ashwin were overjoyed and got ourselves busy photo shooting the flowers and the campus
Once he realized we did not have lunch at the temple, he immediately offered us to have food at his place. The cook there quickly prepared us good meal. We were obliged by his hospitality and kindness.
We sat near the temple and rested till 4:00 PM. The temple opened up and we were all taken aback by this huge 9 feet tall Sri Rajarajeshwari image. The image of the goddess is made of a special clay and is supposed to be the only kind. We offered the goddess with the saree and prayers.
We then proceeded to Katil and visited this another beautiful temple with river flowing all around the temple.
We proceeded back to Udhyavar and spent the rest of the day relaxing at home. It was raining through out the day and it added to the beauty all around.
It was not tolerable any more with the driver and after a big fight, he was asked not to continue for next day.
On 1st Sept, we started our day early and got ready by 7:00 AM. Myself, Preeti, Deepti & Ashwin went on our own to Udupi. We walked down to Udhyavar Bus stop and immediately came a speeding bus. Within couple of minutes we reached Udupi!!
As it was early in the morning, there were not too many people. It was so rejuvenating and pleasing to spend some good time in front of the lord. We had darshin of the lord as longer and as many times as we could. We came out and visited some of the sorrounding temples. We took an auto-rickshaw and reached back home.
Another pooja at the Nagina Katte was awaiting us. We quickly had our breakfast at home and proceeded towards the temple. The prathishtapane of the naga katte was done by ansestors of Maiya's.
A new vehicle (Tavera) was arranged for rest of the day's outing. This was more spacious & comfortable...and he had better music CDs to play.
We drove down to Pajaka Kshetra where we visited Durga Betta and visited the house where Sri Madhvacharya took birth. An old man there took us around the house & guided thru highlights of Sri Madhvacharya's childhood miracles. Another old, very sweet lady gave us coffee. Each of us offered prayers, seva and offerings.
After visiting Kaup beach and spending time on the beach, we drove back home and had a great meal.
We rested for an hour, did some packing and took our last outing of the trip.
We set out visiting Jayashree/Suresh Holla's - Gundmi Ambaglu, Mill seshappa's - Kota, Narasimha Aithal - Chitrapadi, and finally Venkappayya Batru - Yedabettu houses. Everyone were so happy and expressed their happiness generously that we visited their house with humble and gracious hospitality.
On the way back home, we stopped by Malpe beach and landed at udupi. After a brief shopping on the Rath Beedhi, couple of us went for another darshin of the lord. We could also get the blessings from the swamiji.
As we were running out of time, we hurriedly had quick bite at the Mithra samaj hotel and rushed back home for final packing & departure.
There were exchange of gifts, namaskarams & blessings all over. Finally the trip concluded with a group photo of the Maiyas' and we headed to Udupi to catch the Volvo bus to Bangalore.
It was indeed a memorable trip with the entire family together, picturisque locations, traditional & tasty food, loving, friendly & caring people.
Through out the trip, the jokes & stories shared by Mr. Vasant kept us smiling & laughing along with his comic timing and other useful information he kept sharing with us.
And this was the first time ever Mr & Mrs Maiya had come out together for more than a month! Now that should rejuvenate their love :)
The environment was made more humorous by Preeti & Deepti's childish acts...Me & Ashwin kept making fun of both of them, mimicing the way they speak.
This blog was written to document every moment of this memorable trip and to share the good times we had.
