Hariprasad’s Weblog

Last week, Samata and I combined a personal visit to Mangalore (to attend a marriage) with some work on the “Temples of Tulunadu” project. I was able to visit Belmannu, Bola, Kandalike and Pavanje. In the coming weeks, I will publish small writeups, as usual, on the Anandatirtha website. Visiting these temples right in the middle of the monsoon was indeed a challenge but the effort left me immensely pleased. In addition, we also visited Nellitheertha, Palimaru, Kulai and a small Mukhyaprana temple in Hosabettu, near Suratkal. I have come back spiritually re-charged

I am closing in on twenty temples now as part of the project. My first milestone has been 50 temples. If I am able to complete this in around 2 years (started sometime September 2008), that will be a great beginning.

In another good development, the Vishnusahasranama portal is seeing some good traction. Madhusimha’s untiring efforts led to the completion of the pages for the 1000 names. We are now full time into developing individual pages for each of the names. Madhusimha has also kindly agreed to contribute to this. In addition, my (e-)friend   Gautham Shenoy has also joined us. I am very optimistic that the portal will now see rapid development.

a) Footpath

• A dedicated lane for two wheelers, including motorbikes, scooters and cycles.
• Only part of the road where pedestrians can (try to) walk without getting shouted at or abused – mostly.
• Parking space for two wheelers
• Place where one can buy vegetables, fruits, flowers and other ‘essentials’

b) One way road

• Road where a majority of traffic flows in one direction
• Road where one may need to drive slowly, and in a corner, if you are driving against the flow of traffic
• Road where one needs to honk continuously if driving against the normal flow of traffic

c) Service road

• A government introduced method to regulate traffic flow on busy roads.
• A method introduced to inject bottlenecks on busy roads by encouraging motorists to compete against the first-in-first-out principle of traffic flow
• Dedicated parking lot for trucks and other heavy vehicles

d) Road hump

• Man made construction to test the strength of the motorists’ spinal cord
• A tool to entice motorists into speeding. Typically deployed in a sequence that leads motorists to speed between two humps.
• Prime contributor to dents at the rear and bottom of vehicles

e) Road divider

• Government introduced mechanism to ensure revenue turnover and public spending by the City corporation, with natural benefic side effects for the project participants
• Mechanism to regulate self-created U-turns and Right turns by motorists
• Most patched/upgraded component of the road system

f) Jam

• Situation where more than one motorist attempts to enforce the fundamental right to his/her way. Typically occurs at a junction.
• A collision situation where none of the involved parties make any attempt at collision avoidance or collision prevention
• A situation arising out of a motorist not sticking to sub-point 2 under section “One way road”
• A situation which introduces an inexplicable desire to honk in motorists

g) Lane discipline

• An artificial situation arising out of a “Jam”. Applicable only to four wheelers.
• For two wheelers and autos, please refer “Lane driving” below

h) Lane driving

• A unique driving style adopted by two wheelers, and sometimes by auto drivers, where the motorist carves his way out of a Jam. Sometimes, this is implemented in a regular traffic signal as well. Involves manipulating the vehicle in the crevices between cars and other vehicles. Also involves a pattern of driving in parallel and then perpendicular to the slowly moving cars.
• Requires great driving and persuasive skills as car drivers are forced to let motorists ‘make way’
• Consistently recognized for contributions to the car scratch repair industry

i) Green signal

• Color of light emitted by electronic devices installed at junctions that prompt motorists to drive away at great speeds

j) Red signal

• Color of light emitted by electronic devices installed at junctions that prompt motorists to increase their speeds to significantly high levels
• In contrast, prolonged exposure to red signal can sometimes force vehicles to abruptly halt at junctions. The presence of a traffic policeman is known to increase this phenomenon greatly.

k) Amber signal

• Color of light emitted by electronic devices installed at junctions that greatly increases indecision and confusion amongst motorists
• It is noticed that the amber signal causes adverse reactions, sometimes forcing motorists to slow down but mostly prompting them to speed up
• Prime contributor to the hood-to-bumper collision phenomenon

l) Traffic policeman

• A government appointed institution dedicated to collect service charges from motorists for various actions performed
• Actions prompting toll charges from traffic policemen include left turn at a no-free-left turn junction, not halting vehicles even after sustained exposure to the “red signal”, appearing very young, etc
• Note that sometimes, simply riding a two wheeler could also attract attention from the traffic policeman
• Charges collected by the said institution fall into two categories – billable and non-billable, with non-billable charges being offered at a significant discount to regular prices
• Known worldwide for their unique style of pulling out the two wheeler key in the middle of the road thereby forcing the motorist to push his vehicle to the corner, thereby also regulating traffic by reducing speed of other nearby vehicles

It had been a really long time since I last visited Mangalore (probably five years ago in 2009) so I decided to get back to my hometown. This time, for a change, instead of visiting the temples in the region, I decided to go on a beach picnic. It was, after all, beaches that Mangalore and Dakshina Kannada are really famous for, among tourists to the region.

I started off on day one from Tannir bavi beach, close to the city. It was amazing early in the morning. There were hardly a few people around, so it was the perfect place for an early morning walk. The serene atmosphere there provided the perfect opportunity for me to relax and reflect upon. An hour passed by and I did not even realize.

From there, I took a bus to Suratkal and then hopped on to a rickshaw. Few minutes later, I was in Suratkal beach. Each beach here seems like a new one. The rocks on the coast, the temple nearby, the kids playing in the water and trying to collect shells. Picture perfect.  I also visited the Sadashiva temple which is very close to the beach.

After lunch, I hopped on to another bus and got down near Malpe. Malpe is one of the oldest ports in the region and is a center of fishing activity. It is also the place where Sri Madhvacharya obtained the idol of Sri Krishna and installed it at the Udupi temple. So much history, so much relevance. I also visited the St Mary’s Island.

In the evening, I visited the Maravanthe beach. I consider this as the most beautiful amongst the beaches of Dakshina Kannada. What picture perfect scenery! The sunset was just superb.

Next day, I headed up north and reached Murudeshwara. Murudeshwara has this really famous Shiva temple very close to the beach. Locals explained to me the history of the place, dating back to the Ramayana. The temple also has a huge Shiva statue. The scenery, the statue, the temple atmosphere and of course the beach provided the perfect setup.

I couldn’t help but think how all the beaches I visited in the last two days had this perfect atmosphere. It was nature’s painting, and it was just too good.

Just then, one of the tourists asked me to visit this beach near Gokarna and mentioned that a modern marvel had come up at the beach. Curious, I decided to make that the last hop in my journey. After visiting Gokarna and the famous temple there, I rented an auto and got to this beach. Locals had named it the “Vidushaka” beach. The beach and the water was very good. But the heat was a little too much. So I decided to rest under the shade of this really huge statue that had been erected there. I recalled the the controversy that had happened about 5 years ago regarding this statue. Just then, a man and his young son came close to where I was sitting. They were tourists just like me, and the curious young boy, probably around 7-8 years or so, was posing a lot of questions to his dad. I overheard that interesting conversation.

“Dad, whose statue is this?”

“Its Charlie Chaplin dear”.

“Who is Charlie Chaplin?”.

“He was a comedian, who made people laugh”

“You mean, like the cartoons that I watch on TV?”

“Yes, yes, I mean, no, not like them. He made English movies full of humor”.

“Did he himself get this statue done?”

“No son, he died a long time ago – about 35 years ago. This came up just about 5 years ago.”

“Who got this done?”

“Some people wanted it put up here and so…”

“Was Charlie Chaplin from Mangalore”

“No son”

“Karnataka?”

“No”

“India”

“No no no….he was from the UK,  and lived in America and then in Switzerland”

“Did Charlie Chaplin love beaches”

“No, I mean yes, I mean not really…maybe…I don’t know”

“Do the people of Mangalore really adore Charlie Chaplin that much”

“Yes son…I guess so”

“How come there is no one here in that case?”

“Well…I guess they must gone for a tea break”

“I think you lying Papa. Tell me who put this up”

“Ok ok. There were some people who made a movie. They wanted the statue here”

“Which movie is that. Is it about Charlie Chaplin?”

“No no, the movie was not about him.”

“Then why did they put this up?”

“Because they wanted to show it in a song”

“Was the song about Charlie Chaplin?”

“Don’t know son. You are asking too many questions”

“Why did they not remove it after the song was done?”

“Because they wanted to create a record”

“What record papa?”

“Its called the Guinness Record”

“What’s that?”

“Basically, you should do something, anything actually, that no one else has done before and they will mention it in a book and give you a certificate”

“Wow, so no one else has put up a statue”

“No no, they have”

“Then what record was this”

“The record is for the ‘Tallest Statue of a Comedian in a Beach’ “

“That’s so cool. I am sure no one can ever beat that”

“Not really son. Two years ago, someone erected a statue of Jim Carrey at another beach 2kms from here. It is 20 cms taller than this one”

“So this statue doesn’t hold the record?”

“No it doesn’t. Now lets go home”

“Wait a minute. Why is this statue so dirty? It is so full of dirt”

“There is no one to clean it son. This statue does not belong to anyone”

“What about the film people. Can’t they clean it?”

“See, this Charlie Chaplin is not from the Kannada or Hindi movie industry. So they cannot clean it”

“Ok ok….papa….why is Charlie Chaplin wearing a white hat?”

“Its a black hat son. Come on son”

“No papa. Its a white hat. See properly”

“No son, the color of the hat is actually black. There are too many birds around here. You know….you won’t understand…chalo lets go”

“Papa, tell me why Charlie Chaplin is holding a knife in his hand”

“That’s not a knife. Its his walking stick”

“No papa, that’s a knife. Look it is so sharp”

“It was a stick son. Some one broke it a few months ago”

“Who broke it?”

“Some bad people, drunken people who occupy this place at night, they did it just to have some fun”

“Why can’t someone repair this Papa?”

“You won’t understand it son..come on…lets go”

And the still curious boy and his relieved father left from there. My trip surely came to an interesting end.

Articles on

• Kathelsar Vishnumurthy Temple
• Athuru Bailu Ganapati Temple

You can read an article on Komapadavu Sri Vishnumurthy Temple over here.

Several months ago, I had visited Sri Ramachandrapura Matha at Hosanagara, near Shimoga. Recently, we visited the place once again. This time, I had carried my camera and managed to click several photographs. The place is one of the most serene and beautiful places I have seen. Plus the Goshale there is absolutely amazing. There are several hundred cows being taken care of there. In all, over 30 Indian breeds are being sheltered there.

Sri Ramachandrapura Matha

Garden in the matha

The matha has a policy of breeding only Indian cows. The philosophy is that indigenous Indian cows are the best suited for our environment and are extremely disease resistant also. Consequently, one does not find even a single foreign breed of cow in the entire matha.

Whenever I visit this place, I am instantly reminded of my visit to Vrindavan in UP. This place, just like Vrindavan, is so full of cows everywhere. You will tens of cows on the streets, in the fields, inside the temple and so on. 

Hasu mattu Karu

Cow statues

The Goshale is an extremely clean and well maintained place. Each breed is housed separately. They are well fed and cleaned regularly. One can gather that the whole task requires extreme dedication and attention. In fact, I saw one board which indicated that several thousand rupees are needed for the maintenance of the place for a single day!

Baragur - Tamil Nadu

Huge cow

Karnataka breed

The biggest of them all was a massive 8ft one.

The biggest!

There are some very nice places around the Goshale such as a Gurukula where they teach Vedas to young student, a girls school, the Sharavathy river bank and some old temples. There is also a new memorial constructed recently – in the shape of a cow’s face. 

Gurukula

Goloka

Overall, it is an extremely interesting and culturally enriching place to visit. Plus the excellent accomodation, at only Rs 200/- per day, is an added bonus. And free food, of course. The Kashaya given there is also yummy and healthy. I strongly recommend people to visit this place.

The Matha is located 350kms away from Bangalore. It is located 75kms from Shimoga. One needs to take the Sagara road from Shimoga and turn towards Ripponpet at Ayanur. Cross Ripponpet and reach Hosanagara. The Matha is 9kms from Hosanagara.

You can see many more photos of our visit to the Goshale at my gallery here.

Recently, the annual temple festival was conducted at Nellitheertha. The 5 day festival went off very well and thousands of devotees attended the festivities. One of the key highlights of this year’s festival was the felicitation held for Sri Subramanya Tantri, the “tantri” for our temple.

Tantris are a special class of Brahmins revered in Tulu Nadu. They are a small sect of Brahmins who hold the rights to perform/conduct Jaatres or annual festivals in temples. In addition, all the major religious events in the temple are conducted under their supervision. Tantris are extremely well versed in Agama Shastras and therefore know all the correct rituals and mantras in conducting temple worship. During the annual festival, the chief priest of the temple takes a backseat and works under the supervision/guidance of the Tantri.

Over hundreds of years, the families of Tantris has branched out and consequently, they take turns in every temple. Nellitheertha has always come under the supervision of the Tantris from “Yedapadavu” which is a small town about 10kms from the village. It is said that as soon as Lord Parashurama created the Western coast (Parashurama Kshetra), the Yedapadavu tantris were the first to hold the Kamandala!!

Sri Subramanya Tantri is one of the Tantris from the Yedapadavu clan and has been coming to our temple for over 30 years. Under his expert guidance, the temple has progressed immensely and is today considered one of the must-see places of Tulu Nadu. We decided to therefore hold a small ceremony to honor this great Guru!

Smt & Sri Subramanya Tantri (my mother standing beside)

Sanmana Sabha (my dad on extreme left)

The chief administrator of the Ambalpadi Janardana temple, Sri Vijay Ballal, presided over the function. Sri Sri Lakshmi Narayana Asranna, the chief priest of Sri Kateel Durga Parameshwari temple, Sri Bhuvanabhirama Udupa, Sri Bhujanga Shetty and other dignitaries were present at the ocassion.

Sri Baggamajalu Subramanya Tantri

Sri NVGK Bhat reading the certificate

Yours truly got to propose the vote of thanks in the end!

Vote of Thanks

Read the article here.

Read the article here.

Read the article here.