The ‘why-snow white’ Lord and ‘shy-white’ ocean – part 1

Hello…everybody! Finally, I’m back to my blogging world! (oo…wondering if there was still a world like that?) I know, I’m being consistently inconsistent when it comes to blogging….but, you know, I’m in college now. Hence, the ‘load of studies’ has gone up…but still, I wont forget to blog about the most exciting trip of the year…anyways, Happy Dusshera everyone!

Rameshwaram, Kalale, Tirupati……what next? Ufff…it all started again. I think ours is the only family struck with a disease called ‘temple-mania’….never mind, its also a talent (talent because of seeing the 108 sacred Narayana temples in India!!). And this time, it was ‘Mr.keetle’ (former ‘eldest’) who planned something very nice, but didn’t work out. He hatched a plan to visit the amazing place where the 3 oceans meet, but he couldn’t make the opinions of 3 people meet!!! This was followed by my 2-day long silence, which was broken by him saying we would go that weekend anywhere else.

Hmmm….again I was waiting for everyone’s opinions (as usual) and this time not only him, but even his so-called brother ‘scardy-cat’ (former Art) enticed me by saying he would definitely come to a temple with me. But you know the tactics of atheists…always thinking the other way round. Hence, this time also the plan proved to be a debacle……..

I asked Kusaa (former creative sis) to suggest a ‘happening place’ anywhere in South India. And, as is her way, she replied with a loud voice “Hey..how about Himavad?” (@ Kusaa…I know di, this is too much of a masala!) Mr.Keetle and Kusaa had been there many times, but still had thought of it as an amazing place to hang out. My uncle told that we could also visit the ‘shy-white ocean’ IF time remained. Then the poll began….Lux, Kusaa, Mr.Keetle, scardy-cat..wait wait…how can I forget the alleged organizers? Me, my uncle and aunt….it was the ‘sumptous seven’ again who were ready for an adventure!

Tavera, qualis or sumo? Again the same question arose and this time it was no uncertainty to take the decision. Lux went to bed disheartened and the reason was that she had to get up ‘early’ the next day. Nevertheless, she was happy as it was her first adventure with all the 6 of us. Kusaa was asked to ready by 6.15 so that there would be no delay.

Everything went on pretty smoothly as planned. Getting up early and getting ready wasn’t anything new for our family guys (also girls!) as we had done so a million times. But what if the host / anchor is not there in the show to give the welcome speech and introduction? Ahhhhhh…these drivers are supposed to be punctual. But some of them aren’t like our driver who himself came late by 15 minutes and creating a big chaos early morning.

We laid the first step at 6.15 and reached Kusaa’s house in 5 minutes. There, was Kusaa waiting for us with bated breath. Here mom told us not to miss the Madhya Ranga temple (near shy-white ocean). Even though it is not one of the Divyadesams, we planned to visit since it was a Srivaishnava temple. Then it was the time to begin the adventure. Jokes, games, songs, wait wait….we still haven’t had breakfast! Kusaa and I were pleading as usual for Maddur Tiffany’s or Adigas. But Lux and scardy-cat planned for something different, something they had tasted and wanted us to try. The former tried to convey something interesting about the place, while the latter tried to coax us by explaining the delicacies. Initially all of us didn’t agree, but later we did when we got a few ‘begging talks’ from Lux and scardy cat saying it was the best Idly they had eaten. The place they suggested was none other than the ‘supposedly famous’ Renukamba Thatte Idly store in Bidadi.

‘Yapppppppppppa…this place looks so dirty. I’m not coming’ retorted Kusaa and Mr.Keetle, whose words weren’t cared by anyone indicating Lux and cat had an upper hand. Me, my uncle and aunt also made deprecatory gestures which weren’t accepted by cat and Lux. Finally, we decided to have a try and judge what kind of taste the two had. Kusaa always relished Vadas more than Idlies. So the order was 6 plate Idly – Vada and 1 plate only Vada. The order arrived and everyone looked at the Idly with their saucer – big eyes. We started to gobble the Idlies and our stomachs were really full after eating 2 Idlies. Lux and cat looked at us with shrewd eyes. But for the taste? It was as well ; very obvious that Lux and cat had lost their image. No good remarks were there, “Just like any other Idly Vada in the city”, “The chutney was yuck”, “Vada didn’t match the chutney” were the interpretations. The two (Lux and cat) dropped down their high held heads after our comments.

Once more the journey began, from Bidadi to the destination in a non-stop manner. The car was vibrating because of our enthusiastic high volumes. There were talks pertaining to colleges, sports, movies, songs and most importantly the ‘Mandyam Tamil’. The pronunciation of Mandyam Tamil and the usage of words made us laugh until our stomachs ached. I, being a half Mandyam Tamilian also added ghee to the fire by narrating my experiences. However, it was high time we realized that our Tamil was also not – so – pure and there would be people making fun of it behind our back. But, why care about things behind our back?

‘Welcome to sugar city Mandya’, ‘Thank you sugar city Mandya’, ‘Welcome to cultural town Srirangapatna’ were the boards that towered on us. The heart of Karnataka, the River Cauvery, was awaited by us to take captures. It was followed by a few snaps of the historic city, Mysore – the palace, the Banni Mantap etc and a few of our own stupid emotions like ‘facepalm’.

Mysore, Nanjangud, Kalale (hope you remember this place! see my previous blogs if you don’t), Chamarajanagar, Gundlupet, oh….still so many milestones to go! All of us except my uncle and the driver (of course!), dozed for a few minutes. Suddenly there was a thud, I mean, the driver had applied brakes for he saw many cows and buffaloes crossing. There were the mad ‘maads’ (as we say it in Tamil) making noise and passing by slowly. They were lucky enough to get into our digicam memory, for we thought that it would be nice if we took captures of animals. Kusaa, an amateur photgrapher immediately clutched the camera and took innumerable snaps of the maads.

‘Himavadgopalaswamy hill – 16 km’ came the board and all our faces bloomed seeing it. Also, there existed a board saying ‘protect tigers’ and it was the criteria for discussion. Cat, who was an animal lover blabbed something about the carelessness of Indians and kept his mouth shut when he found that no one looked at him (Perhaps, he was a leader in debating among us!). We reached the foot of the hill and we were feeling ecstatic. (the rest of the trip will be published, as usual, in my next blog!)

Advertisement