So, started the journey on Friday noon with Preeti, her mom and her mom :)
The drive was amazing...I thoroughly enjoyed every Kilometer I drove...The 6 lane stretches across Hassan till Channarayapatna was bit boring though; The fun began once I crossed Channarayapatna as the 2 lane stretches started.
As we neared Sakleshpur, the drive was just getting better. Shiradi Ghat Roads were in good shape and could ease through the Ghats section.
I thought everyone else were enjoying the drive as well, but it turned out that they were scared & tensed to be seated...I am not sure if I was driving rash or they were simply scared of traveling in Ghats. However, I thought I knew what I was doing & driving with all care & responsibility.
So, we reached Udhyawara at 11:00 PM and settled down. Preeti couldn't sleep the whole night and was scared of some payal sound all night, so she kept me awake as well. Morning it turned out that it was the Dog that was chained kept making noise.
Saturday morning, we started the day early and headed out visiting Vinayaka temple and Lord Krishna in Udupi. My friend Sameera was in Udupi co-incidentally & spent some good time with him.
We then went to Brahmalingeshwara temple to meet all relatives there & watch the Puja & Homa there.
We finished lunch & went to Yedabettu to relax.
Later in the evening, we set out for a small outing to nearby places.
As we touched the highway, I could feel that one of the Tyre was flat. I immediately parked the car aside to check, and the rude shock was that 3 tyres were flat! How on earth can all 3 tyres go flat at once!! After the initial panic & running around (tried to get some local mechanic's help, tried calling on-road Hyundai Service) and nothing worked, I finally drove down slowly for around 500 mtrs, I could find a Puncture shop who filled the air & things were just fine!
As i10 (as most cars these days) have tubeless tyres, possibility of tyre going flat fully is simply not possible and it must be a mischief of localites who took out the air from all 3 tyres!
Whew, after this circus we headed to Saligrama...visited few relatives & temples. Stopped by Hotel Mantap, well known for it's Mundakki puri, which was indeed yummy.
We were back to Brahmalingeshwara temple by 8:00 PM, to be present for the next event - Dakke Bali.
The stage was set for this religious show, with the open space well decorated with colourful flowers, lighting & the center of the hall had this huge Mandala, around which the act takes place and people are seated all around.
The priest starts the proceedings with lot of Puja and sets up the scene for the artists (apologies! not sure I can call them so, but did not find a better word).
Dakke Bali went on till 10:30 PM. The whole act involved a Nagakanika dressed in traditional silk clothing along with 3 musicians dancing & playing drums in front of the Diety who is believed to have acquired the holy spirit within during the performance.
The whole dance & music along with the Vaadhya, makes the atmosphere spiritual & mesmerizing. All the songs played by the artists seemed to be praising the Lord who has entered this Deity, very similar to Yakshagana style of music.
We took blessing from the Deity & went back to Yedabettu to rest for the night, hoping & praying that no one plays with my Car Tyres again!
The stay at Yedabettu was a re-visit of my earlier experiences blogged as "Greens & Mansions". I always liked staying at such huge ancient houses. It is so good to see people still believing & living the basic, traditional, undisturbed by the City way of life. The people-to-people care, concern, relation they share is so genuine & selfless.
I so much loved interacting with people over there.
The next morning (thankfully, the car tyres were intact), we headed back to Udhyawara...Had breakfast, got dressed & headed for the wedding in Udupi.
The wedding was "colourful" n festive. Shalini athe was especially happy to see us, as I have missed so many other functions in her family.
After a good meal, Me & Preeti headed back to Bangalore, as her mom & granny stayed back.
The journey back was more fun, as I had no one telling me to be careful & to slow down. Preeti was busy sleeping and I was busy enjoying the drive.
Now am back to my routine life, with lots of beautiful memories of the drive, Dakke bali, the people & my stay at the ancient house.
