“Life is what happens when we are busy making other plans”, this adage is more than apt for our Chickmagalur/Hyderabad trip. Seema and Guru did the initial planning, Deepak introduced rain forecast as spoilsport. Smitha tried to pull everybody at the last minute but did not materialize. One third of James party got pulled to Nanjangud, Srirangapattana, Hima betta and more important Vasudeva Adiga near Maddur. The remainder James party was pulled by Mulki Maye to Subramanya. Slowly the trip got stretched to Dharmastala and Belur which was not in itinerary.
________________________________Day 1_________________________________________________________
I and Chiu never open our eyes before 7.10 AM everyday but on 8/19 (Sun) dragged out of the bed @ 5.45 AM. Master plan was to leave Bangalore @ 7.30 AM but as per IST (Indian Stretchable Time) left at 8.30 AM. Seema had told mom that they will have breakfast with Sheviye [Konkani dry noodles] and I had to settle only for a cup of coffee. As our wait for TT got prolonged, I emptied some of the dabbas in the kitchen.
This time driver was Velu with sweet tongue who had to be guided in major part of journey by people inside TT and also outside. We requested Mr. Velu to stop for breakfast and he selected “Shark food court” where food and beverage was served in empty space and many of tourists were enjoying idli and coffee. We ordered for coffee and tea and opened Mahalasa Sheviye from Shin mam. Mavu (Seema’s father) brought down the entire package of Kaju barfi, oondo… to pick nontche for Sheviye. 35 pieces disappeared in matter of 10 minutes and Seema for the first time got pat on the back for planning the good breakfast, usually she gets cornered. We resumed the journey, Seema & Co. were unhappy that Shin mam took Rs.100 in transportation for transportation without anticipating a time bomb in store. After a while, Smitha broke the bad news that package of Kaju barfi, oondo… is missing and we had left the place 30 min behind. From Rs. 100 the conversation got diverted to the worth of the package and number came out to be Rs.500+. Shark true to its name had gobbled the package and we paid heavy price for using the open restaurant.
“Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan”, blame game started with Shilpa as scape goat. In the blame game, son-in laws were untouched which is an advantage of being born male. Imagine the same situation with daughter-in-laws, they would have been cornered easily saying “ma baap ne kuch nahi sikaya bas bejadiya”. To add to this heat, Seema and Smitha had tiff on planning to go to Shirali for cousin’s wedding. Rakesh intervened and made bhat sisters to sit apart before it got physical.
We disembarked for lunch in Sakleshpur at “Osoor restaurant”. There was no space in my stomach and was not interested to input. “Looks are deceptive”, the restaurant looked posh from outside. Menu had lot of items but waiter had only few items to serve. For the first time I saw Mavu and Seema ordered for veg meal , I pinched myself to make sure it is not a dream. Mulki Maye would have recorded the date and time since such instances happen very rare. I ate buns and shared little bit of rice with Seema. Before exit everyone checked if they have left anything but the fact is everything was lost at one shot. Seema took camera from Smitha but soon we realized that it was not charged and our aim of capturing scenic beauty of Sakleshpur went for a toss. Murphy’s law applies to the onward journey "If anything can go wrong, it will".
After Sakleshpur it was raining in the ghat section and next pit stop was at Gundiya junction for tea. If I remember correctly, reached Kukke Subramanya in the window of 4 to 4.30 PM. Got the Naga darshan at two places, one being the moola stana. In the queue, I continuously ragged Rajat who was not ready to take of his shirt. Outside the temple I observed someone had left the package of prasad and it took me back to Shark. Seema’s window shopping started but luckily she purchased tool to draw Rangoli. I headed the pack to peta pooja at “Neo Mysore”. After lot of discussion during travel and at restaurant, finally we came to agreement that
night’s halt is at Subramanya and will visit Dharmastala and get back. Seema checked with hotel owner and he referred his lodge “Krishna residency”. Plan was to go for 1 room per family but landed with two + additional beds.
I donned the hat of MJ (Mobile jockey) to play melodious Hindi numbers of the past during onward journey to Dharmastala. There is generation gap between us and kids and testimony to it is both Rajat and Chiu were fast asleep, today’s generation wants everything fast, loud and dance numbers. Senior citizens enjoyed the music and some of romantic songs would have taken them to their yesteryears. Got down at Dharmastala at 7.30 PM, Children were cranky since they had exhausted all their energy. Mothers took decision to stay back with kids and Senior citizens followed them. 3 Musketeers(Rakesh, Deepak, Shilpa) took brave move of not selecting special queue and get into general one. In the queue, planning started on the places to visit coorg during return journey and unaware of how much time would take to get darshan. It took 2.5 hours in the queue for 1 minute darshan and small quantity of nimboos in the stomach.
Folks who had camped outside did not had food and children just wanted to hit the sack. Mothers took advantage and decided to hit Bangalore and skip Coorg. Again MJ played the songs for folks on empty stomach with pit stop at Gundya junction @ 11 PM. Only two choices on road side restaurant, Kerala parata and omlet. Everyone zeroed down on omlet since kerala parata was served with left over gravy. The numbers started with 2, incremented and stopped at 8. The moment we reached Krishna residency, there was pump in chillar party and they became active. Rajat was asked with whom he would like to sleep with on the bed and as usual answer was annu accompanied by chiu. I had to settle on the ground on additional bed. Bhat sisters (Smitha and Shilpa) who are allergic to AC settled in the room with windows open and fan above.
_______________________________________________________________Day 2_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Seema was the first to wake up in our room and take bath since she knew that hot water will stop at 8 AM. She is trained by her father on time sense but he cannot do much with son-in laws who are lethargic. He has still hopes on incoming third one. Mavu, Maye and Shilpa were already out for pooja at the temple early in the morning. I got up 8:01 AM to complain that there is no hot water and will take bath after hitting Bangalore. Took help of Velu and went to Neo Mysore for breakfast. It was self-service in the morning with fixed price Rs.25/- for food and Rs. 10/- for beverage. Poori was so good that two plates went in and others went for variety.
Rakesh ordered for hot water and I increased the count to 2 and I was informed that it is Rs. 20/- per bucket. I pulled Seema’s leg that we will get discount when finally expenses are divided by 3. When Mavu returned from temple he added Rs.40/- of rickshaw and Seema started laughing at me. After packing our bags with soiled clothes and started return journey to Bangalore. Again I was asked to play songs but this time I shifted to fast and new numbers, Mavu was unhappy and told that yesterday evening songs were pleasant to ears.
Mulki maye wanted “Pathorde pana” which grows abundantly on the road side. Staggered approach was taken by stopping the TT at multiple places, Velu must have got pissed off. When everyone was hunting for the leaf, Velu inquired what we do with leaf and had to explain about filling the batter and steaming it. Rakesh next started targeting “taikile pana” and again the TT was made to stop near muslim place where it had grown in abundance. Velu looked at me and said no leaf is a waste, you consume everything. I did not what to answer but according to Seema, next time travels will publish “Konkani’s excuse us” since most of time gets wasted on the highway. After a while, Velu got in sync and started showing croton leaves and stop. Mavu had to explain the difference.
We stopped at a junction to have tea which was also decision point. There were two ways, one to coorg and other to Bangalore. After lot of discussion, consensus was to visit Belur on way to Bangalore. Visited Belur where one can see more foreigners than Indians admiring the architecture of the past. The next stop was at “Vishnu Regency” for afternoon lunch, again I go back to my earlier point “looks are deceptive”, looks posh from outside and poor maintenance. One highlight of this ordering Veg Sizzler to understand its definition in Belur.
Watched Singham in Tamil which was nowhere in comparison to Hindi remake. May be Mavu got inspired, stopped the TT and went in search of lost package in Shark. During his return, he looked like Singham from far with sword in hand but as he neared it was small knife recovered. All the food items were distributed, eaten by hotel folks. They had good Iftar party but shameless ones charged for the tea Mavu had.
Reached Hanumanthnagar at 8.30 PM and hit the sack at 9.15 PM. 3 of us fast asleep when Guru tried to reach us. To be frank got tired of typing and stopped. Thanks to all for memorable trip and if I have not covered any fun moments, please feel free to add.
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