Udipi – Day 4 – Contd. – Lakshadeepanthara

Entrance to Udipi

Deciding to visit Udipi was an afterthought – one that we debated as we drove out of Plam Grove resort. There were two resturants that were pretty close to each other and before we could blink, we had crossed them. The Arien had decided – we were going to visit Udipi.

Day 4

We enjoyed the cool breeze and enjoyed the short drive to Udipi. The entrance to Udipi is pretty impressive.  Considering that the place Udipi, is synonymous with Srikrishna – a scene from the Mahabharatha where Krishna is the maharathi – does make you want to stare in awe. We decide that we must make the temple visit in the morning and so we better find a place to have dinner. I had been to Udipi – a long time ago – as a child with my parents. I was trying to recall if I could remember anything. All I could remember was that our feet would get very dirty inside the temple as there was a Kolam inside the temple where we are supposed to cleanse our feet. I could vaguely recall that the diety could be seen through a small window outside. The diety was pretty small and made of gold. I remembered that the place was terribly crowded. Anyway, we were not going to the temple today. Plus, it is dark and I am unable to even figure out where the entrance was 😦

As we entered Car Street, I was amazed at the activity in front of us – there were zillion lights all-arnd. I speak to a local and am informed that today is the Lakshadeepanthara festival. The crowd looked scary and I was worried ’bout our backpack that contained the camera, purse/vallet, etc. etc. We needn’t have worried – ppl had come to see the lord. Anyways, we decided to watch the goings on before having dinner. I feel xtremely lucky that we have come at this time.  

Suddenly, we see the temple chariot or Kovil Ratham, travelling towards us, I urge the Arien to take the camera out and shoot a picture. The entire place holds a festive look and there are people selling balloons, bhel puri, idols of the god in all shapes, sizes, and materials – I feel like I was at a Jaathre. 

After the Ratham went its way, we entered a chuntu hotel that could probably manage about 30 ppl at one shot – called the Mitra Samaj on Car street, which is pretty close to the temple. The service was fantastic and we started off with the famous Goli Bhajji – which according to the waiter was very popular there. For the few of us, who know Progrm – these are the Mangalore Buns. 😀

After wolfing down the Goli Bhajji, we decided to have what was written in the menu as an Outlook Dosa. We happily ordered for two outlook dosas. The waiter asked us to order one and after we finish, we could order another one. We said OK. I was curious until the dosa arrived. It is so huge – that finishing two was going to be impossible. I was pretty impressed by his thoughtfulness. I decided to have a vanilla shake and the Arien chose to have a Coffee. The bill came to less than Rs. 100/- We both grinned from ear-to-ear – we were going to b back on budget and we may actually be able to be within the limit… YIPPEEE!! 

We drove back to the Palm Grove resort and decided to sleep early. As we neared the resort, we noticed that there was a powercut – both of us had shocked expressions – we were hoping against hope that the resort had a generator – we did not recall seeing one. Thankfully, the resort did have one. We fell asleep – tomorrow we were going to Malpe, St Mary’s Isles – so we needed a lot of rest 😀