Extended weekend

It s friday today and I feel like it s Monday … not at all wanting to come for work … But had to , just to make some of the fellow doctors to feel less jealous about my extended weekend…

Was just thinking how last 5 days just flew…. And looking back I don’t know what did I do !!! well… best part was getting up late …goes without saying .. . And sad part is , that I had planned some small time trips to some places around , and they didn’t materialize , thanks to rains . Still we managed to go for a drive to Maravanthe on one rainy night . Rest of the time , i spent watching movies, going out with friends, enjoying the rains.

After having some real good food from Bittu da dhaba ,near Mulki on a rainy night on 14 th august , we decided to go for a drive. This place serves better vegetarian food than any other restaurant in Udupi, manipal or may be mangalore. Though maravanthe is just around 50 kms from here, we took more than one and a half hour due to bad roads . My dear friend who was driving the car was frustrated to the cores driving the all new esteem at 20 -40 speed. But the trip was worth .

I had been to that place probably more than 100 times …My home town Kundapura is just 20 km from there and Maravanthe was our favourite place to go every now and then. I remember my father taking us there on Sundays and play with us .

There is National highway 17 running in between Arabian sea on one side and river Sauparnika on the other side on a lower level than sea. The stretch of road is around one and a half km. One can either walk there taking in fresh air, enjoy the sunset sitting on the rocks or just go driving . It s usually not a very safe beach to get into deep waters or swim as the sea is rough throughout the year. Small tea shops facing and almost on the sea are not to be missed also . They serve really good tea.

If there is enough time, there is something else in this place which is interesting. There s Varaaha Swami ( Lord Vishnus incarnation ) temple , which I ve never seen or heard of anywhere else. It s a nice neat temple, facing the river.
There are three idols , Varaaha, Narasimha and Janardhana. From the temple side, there are boats available , both motor and man driven for ride. The charges are a bit high though. But it s a very beautiful ride in the boat where they take you around one of the islands.

I remember during last rains , the sea was so viloent that it the rocks put to prevent erosion were washed away at places .I ve heard my grandmother telling , that one day the high tide in sea will rise so high ,that it ll cross over the land in between ….and will flood the river and eventually whole place …and that day will be the end of the world … Pralaya … And when we had gone to see the sea last year , I thought what my grandmother told is nearing ... the end . But lucky us, it didn’t happen .. :) ..

Inspite of going there so many times, I had never been there at night. The whole picture was totally different in the night. Water shining in moonlight was giving some kind of eerie feeling, with big white waves charging towards the shore. Piles of rocks which were trying to further stop the waves didn’t seem enough as we standing on the road were getting sprinkled with sea water. We had to get back into the car as it started to rain. There is not a shop or a hotel for shelter after 8 pm for 2 km .
I was a bit disappointed as I couldn’t get to watch stars and moon because of clouds…. We returned to Manipal by midnight .On the way , near kundapur , we saw some guys dancing on the road to some latest hindipop , celebrating independence. Ofcourse, they were dead drunk. I thought if some freedom fighters saw that , they would definetely feel sorry for the sacrifice they made .....

I ve made a note in my near future planbook to make an other trip after sunset to this beautiful place Maravanthe with my friends ..and enjoy sitting on the rocks , watching the stars , listening to some great music .... Interested anyone .. :)

(Im not able to add images ... :( some problem ..and they are not going where i want them to !! *#@*..will try uploading later ... enjoy .. )