January on Wheels

On my wish-list for a long time now, has been to travel around Karnataka. Another item on this list was to go on a road-trip. Combine the two and what you get is one super-thrilled girl! So began my year, with a bang; back last week after 18 days and 2300 kms in Karnataka and Goa, I am still reeling from the cliched hangover.

This was my first attempt at a road-trip in India, what with me being paranoid about people not sticking to their lanes, suddenly diving from the bushes onto your car’s path, motorists using high-beams and the like. With a firm decision to not drive after dark and to drive no more than 150 kms a day, hubby & I hit the road with our old-faithful car, which was like home for those weeks.

I must say that India makes for fabulous road-trips: interesting happenings at every corner, unexplored nooks & crannies, local festivals, delicious regional food and friendly & hospitable people. Add to it the fun of navigation without a GPS, asking passers-by, only to be told the one thing we heard a million times this trip “Seeeeeedha hogi” or “Straaaight hogi” (“go straight”, with different emphases on the ‘a’ giving us a clue about how straight and how far along).

The beauty and variety Karnataka has to offer has left me drooling for more; here’s to the first of many more road-trips!

700 steps to blessings from Lord Gomateshwara (Bahubali), Sravanabelagola

A priest places flowers at the feet of the monolithic statue, dating back to the 10^th century.

 

Most people leave after a visit to Gomateshwara. If you can bear another climb of 250 steps, stop by at Chandragiri, a hillock opposite the Bahubali. It rewards you with this sublime 14-feet monolith of Parswanath, another Jain tirthankara.

 

Coffee-growing Sakleshpur lulls you to sleep. Paradoxically, it also tempts you with invigorating hikes.

 

Pigeons return to roost on the entrance gopuram of the humongous Chennakesava temple, Belur.

A priest awaits devotees at the ornately-sculpted inner sanctum of Lord Vishnu.

Moodabidri, known as ‘Jain Kashi’, has 18 well-known basadis (Jain temples) as well as lesser known discoveries like this one; cryptically named ‘old tank’ by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Fishermen untangle their nets at the smelly docks at Malpe, Udupi

Geologically significant volcanic basalt formations at St.Mary’s Islands, off the Malpe coast. Shamefully covered with litter and drunk tourists, finding solitude here is akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.

Devotees throng the Krishna temple at Udupi dressed in their finest silks; be it men, women, or children.

Get your adrenalin-rush, as bullocks and their runners run in slush at the Kambala, near Mangalore. As speeds faster than the Olympic records are clocked, you are left short of breath, just watching.

Silent prayers are sent up, at the Rosario cathedral in Mangalore. First built by the Portuguese in the 16^th century, the current cathedral was re-built in the early 1900s. The floor and walls of this cathedral are embedded with poignant epitaphs from the 18^th-20^th centuries.

A visit to Mangalore is incomplete without paying obeisance to the evocatively-named ‘Gadbad’, at Ideal. As you gobble this delish mish-mash of ice-creams, jelly, fruits, dry-fruits and syrups, you only hope it doesn’t churn your stomach, true to its name.

The stars descend to the earth, at Goa.

The architecturally distinct church of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception is an oasis of calm at an otherwise noisy intersection at Panaji, Goa.

Beach-bums walk the rocky promontory from Om beach to Half-moon beach, even as a person meditates under a coconut tree at sunset, Gokarna.

A cow ponders worldly matters at Om beach, Gokarna, un-distracted by revellers. Gokarna means ‘cow’s ear’.

Checking SMSs, with a hot cuppa, at Gokarna; a town that buzzes feverishly from as early as 4 am, well into the night.

Murudeshwara, as commercial and gaudy as in this photo. A gigantic statue of Lord Shiva and an even more gigantic gopuram preside over this one-street town. For me, the saving grace was an interesting museum of Ravana and the diving possibilities that Murudeshwara offered.

Kitted with an oxygen cylinder and diving gear, I’m moments away from being flipped backwards from the boat, into the waters at Netrani, off Murudeshwara. Photo courtesy: Dreamz diving.

A Nandi pierces me with his stony gaze, at Sahasralinga on river Shalmala, Sirsi.

Egrets make a dash for it across the waters of the reservoir at sunset, Bhadra

Visitors add colour to the Hoysala-style architecture of the Hoysaleshwara temple, Halebidu; known by the poetic name of Dwarasamudra in the 12^th century.

If Belur seemed ornate, Halebidu boggles the mind! Seen here is a small example of the exquisite craftsmanship on display; what would I do to travel back in time and meet those who chiseled stone as if it were wood!

For planning your trip, read the trip log here:

http://nomadandabag-guides.blogspot.com/2014/04/karnataka-road-trip-trip-log.html

Read stories from this trip:

http://nomadandabag.blogspot.com/2013/10/bhadra-still-water-still-mind.html

http://nomadandabag.blogspot.com/2014/05/juggling-identities.html

http://nomadandabag.blogspot.com/2014/11/kambala-race-of-titans.html