Blogs from Karnataka, India, Asia - page 137

After a four-hour journey from Mangalore, the bus entered Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary. One of the most popular pilgrim centres in India is covered in thick forest. Mookambika temple in Kollur is equally inspiring for the religious and the atheist, laymen and artists. The temple owes its mythological origin to Shankaracharya, the ninth-century pioneer of Hindu revivalism. The scholar-sage prayed the goddess of Sringeri, where he had founded one of his four mutts, to come with him to his homeland in Kerala. The goddess accepted to be led by him if he did not dare to look back at her. Shankara took the goddess to Kerala, the divine anklets chiming behind him. When the strange convoy reached Kollur, the sound stopped. The confused Shankara turned back. The goddess was still there but she refused to follow the ... read more

I got my blood test results back from the clinic today and all seemed fine. It will be another few days before the others are ready so I won't know until then just what it is that's been ailing me. Fortunately there was a nearby railway reservation office with the most orderly queuing system that I've seen yet - several rows of seats that people keep shuffling along on until they reach the front. Unfortunately there were about 100 people in the queue. Loy's driver was subsequently tasked with the unenviable job of waiting in line for the ticket. Lunch consisted of some more excellent home-cooked food, and we then watched on TV an event that, in the subcontinent, is second to none in terms of importance, namely a one day cricket international between India and ... read more

Another day to make a backpacker weep. The four of us went for brunch at the Taj West End hotel, an upscale venue with an enormous spread of food in the eat-all-you-like buffet. My stomach was giving me a little bit of trouble but I couldn't resist so many tempting dishes and had a decent-sized meal. I could have done some serious damage if I'd been fully healthy, which I regretted. The building itself was extremely opulent, so this was a far cry from the usual places I've been eating in. Afterwards we had tea in a bookstore in a mall. Very relaxing indeed. In the evening, I watched 2 Bollywood films - "Garam Masala", which was cheesy slapstick, and "Parineeta", a remake of an old film that contained all the elements of passion, violence, misunderstandings, ... read more

I arrived in Hampi early in the morning of the 8th of Feb intending to do the same as I did in Hydrabad - i.e. leg it round the place to see everything quickly and then take an overnight bus to my next destination (Goa). 4 days later now I am of course still here. This is the beauty of travelling though - you can change plans at the last minute and there is nothing holding you back! Anyway as I jumped off the bus in Hampi with my pack and started marching down the main street I was planning to get my travelling plans sorted for the evening first so asked the girl next to me who had also just arrived off the bus if she knew anything about catching transport to Goa. She looked ... read more

The objective of the morning was to climb Matanga Hill to see the sunrise, an obligatory pilgrimage for Hampi visitors. I had a lot of difficulty finding the path in the darkness, and my abysmal fitness ensured that it wasn't a hop, skip and a jump to the top. On the way up, though, there were excellent views of the Tiruvengalanatha Temple (often used as a symbol of Hampi), so I took regular breaks while pretending to take photos. Local wisdom had said that the sun rose at 6:30AM, but fortunately local wisdom was wrong by 30 minutes, so when I arrived on all fours at the top just before 7AM, gasping and panting, I hadn't missed anything. One sadhu was already in position, facing the east and looking serene in his saffron robes. There were ... read more