Till now our normal routine was
Eating
Working from home..
Evening walks
Basically chilling at home! From today, we had to start venturing out!
Today we went to 3 places to visit-
Morning- Kadri Temple
Afternoon- Luncheon
Late Afternoon- Inna
Kadri Temple
It was a huge and peaceful temple! Yet to check history! After checking out the whole temple, we sat down on the stairs! From here we had the full view of the temple!
Mrinal’s favourite time here was just sitting on the stairs and contemplating her thoughts! -:)
We sat here, just chit chatting! for 2 hours!
The highlight of this time was- Mrinal’s fight with a random guy.
A guy, with braces, walked up to us.. And said– you can not sit on the stairs!
Left to myself – I would have moved out of the way! Kya hi jaata!
But Mrinal stuck to her ground!
Mrinal- “There is no such rule! “
Random guy - There is!
Mrinal – Where?
It was her tone that showed her confidence! and after saying the same line twice– that there was a rule, he went off!
It was then I saw the rebel streak in her – live! And I was so impressed and proud!
Around 11 we both got thirsty and hungry, am, we started to go back home! I had the red-yellow coconut on the way, the second time in my life today. Mrinal mentioned that it had more medicinal qualities than the green one and was hence more expensive. It was sweet too.. So cool!
And we continued our walk back home! Under the sun.. -😛
She spotted a cat on the way in some house and started playing with her. She gets all lovey-dovey around cats!
Luncheon
In the afternoon, we went for a luncheon! It was a big day for me! I had decided to eat with my bare hands without a spoon. I had eaten on a banana leaf before but eating with bare hands was yet to be a first.
Afterwards, it felt simple!
Here girls also greet elders by doing a sashtaang pranaam! Which I don’t know if it is cool .. As a gesture? I feel I would only do that for God! Perfection. Not for humans!
The good part is this ritual is for both girls and boys. It took me some time to get used to it. In my family, girls do not touch the feet of elders but married women do! Something that I found weird.
Left to myself- I would not want anyone to touch anyone’s feet. Shaking hands seems like the way to go! Sashtaang pranaam only towards God.
All the people were cool and friendly. Especially the host! He kept checking with Mrinal if she was teaching me the ways of the tribe! And asking me if I was having fun -:D
Post lunch I met another man. His name – Prasaad Anna? I guess! Looked like a cool man! He happened to have come from Delhi the previous day! So the conversation started with weather comparison in Delhi and Mangalore. Then as we spoke about what we did, he said he worked for an oil refinery– ONGC. It was like saying– I am an engineer – CS, IITB. -:p. He also happened to be a board member in Shell! And hence, my trust in favour of smart people! They are charming -:D. And modest! And nice! (*Mental prayer– That this trust stays!*) He also gave us a list of places we should visit,
When Mrinal comes to my side, will I be able to show her so many distinct colors of culture! I guess yes! We too have our distinct stuff :p. Even if they are already popular enough that everyone knows them -😀
After meeting up with the relatives, we headed out! To our next stop – their ancestral place – INNA.
INNA
We travelled to Inna with a friend of aunty’s and the ONGC guy’s wife. So, I got to see his place too! Another bungalow with a garden! -:D
On the way, I fell asleep! I didn’t know till this trip that I could fall asleep in hot weather too! When we reached Inna, it was a sight to behold! Jungle and farmlands on both sides with coconut, areca-nut and many other trees.
Some idiots have put up a plastic factory there!
As Mrinal also rightly said- A place which is hot by nature, you shouldn’t urbanise.. Use common sense!
If you want to do something, use innovation to keep people cool.. Like river channels.. Mud houses....
Except for the factory, it was practically a rainforest! And very hot! Uncle and aunty had started an ayurvedic centre here! It was also built with the same old style architecture! That went with the surroundings!
I met the doctor and caretakers. Like always, my looks said I am from down south, and as soon as I opened my mouth, you are from up north! When I told them that I come from Delhi, the caretaker said he was scared of me! 😛
They don't just think Delhiites are scary and aggressive, they even think our chief minister is ruining us. They all had a very negative opinion of Kejrival and the AAP government. No wonder what mainstream media airs!
I had neither the energy nor any interest in clearing their myths! So, I just smiled and let them be!
We were all drained out by the time we returned from Inna. I was so hungry. I ate the cake aunty had packed for her friend. And the generous lady offered me one more piece.. -😛
Once we were home, we had some tea and relaxed for a while.
Over tea we spoke about politics, and the AAP party in Delhi. Aunty was curious about how Delhiites felt! I gave my positive opinion on it! And then about books! One book I felt gave a glimpse of how politics worked was – Chanakya’s Chant by Ashwin Sanghi. And in turn aunty told me about some other books that she had read of the same author - Krishna Key and Rosabel Line.
MILAGRES
Milagres – is a portuguese word that means miracles.
After resting a bit, we went to this church. It was the biggest church I have seen till date.
Very beautifully decorated and a huge crowd. This gave me the Christmas feel I wanted. We sat in the prayer room for a while. I couldn’t help taking pictures. And Mrinal took some of mine to remind me how I should not take pictures inside religious places.
We sat for a bit! She figured out that the seat at our feet in the church is not for keeping our feet but for kneeling down!
Churches have an aura of their own.. A place for quiet prayers and introspection! Something I really like! Again true for all religious places though hardly followed in most! 🙂
After sitting there for a quiet sometime, we headed out to the festivities. It was a huge and organised crowd. People were sitting on chairs and listening to carols.
After a while I noticed I was not able to understand the carols. They were singing in Konkani.
Even though I didn’t understand the carols, they were very nice to listen to. We also got a pamphlet with the lyrics, a botched copy of which I still have!
The script was of Kannada, so I can understand them once I learn Kannada. -😀
As we got up to leave, everyone got up along with us. We were stunned for a second at the respect! and then looked around to see a procession coming from behind us with some smoky pooja material.
Basically, God didn’t want us to leave just yet! We waited for a few minutes for the procession to get over and then started making our way back!
Then like always we clicked a few pictures..
PABBA'S & Ideal Cafe
There is a very famous ice cream brand– Pabba's in Mangalore. For once I could have skipped the beach but Pabba's– nope! Mrinal said– People would make me disown her if they came to know I came to Mangalore and didn’t go to Pabba's!
So we stopped here.
The food was nice, and the ice cream even nicer.
We ordered noodles, some other delicious dish whose name I forgot and rose faluda..
And with a hearty meal, we returned back home.
As per the convention, chatted for a while with uncle and aunty and then slept.
--manu
--twwg
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