twenty – day six: udupi

From British Mumbai to Portuguese Goa to very Indian Udupi.  The third state we visited, Karnataka  is the one in which Emily lives.  Unfortunately, this was as close to Dharwad as we got, but it was nice to see how at home Emily felt being in her home state and speaking some Kannada (the local language).  She says that Udupi reminds her of Hubli – the city next to Dharward and where she once lived. 

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We awoke around 9am and headed to the world famous Sri Krishna Temple.  This temple is first among the seven places of pilgrimages for Hindus. Thousands of pilgrims visit the Udupi Krishna temple year round to see Lord Krishna.   

This temple is a huge complex surrounded by several other smaller temples and guest rooms and shops serving the devotees who visit.  There were also three temple cars, or rathas, in front of the temple.  These are used on festival days and are pulled by many people through the streets.

 

We arrived in time for a daily puja.  We removed our shoes and entered with Hindus going to pray and a few Indian tourists.  (Unfortunately, no photos are allowed inside.)  We saw the idol of Krishna across from which a mother cow and her calf ate some rice from a silver platter.  Music was playing, and the air was filled with the intoxicating smells of burning incense.  The procession was led by three musicians, and the people followed, making offerings to other small statues of deities.  Then came the Elephant Puja.  An elephant lived in the temple, and his handler brought him out to kneel down while they sprinkled holy water on his head and blessed him and fed him.  There was so much going on that we didn’t understand, but it was fascinating and awe-inspiring and curious.

Later, we headed to the beach town (6km west of Udupi) of Malpe and caught a ferry to St. Mary’s Island, famous for its basalt rock formations.  Our rickshaw arrived at the dock as the boat pulled away, but they saw us and were nice enough to return and pick us up!  The boat ride to the island lasted thirty minutes, and we hopped from the larger ferry to a smaller boat that was able pull up onto the beach.  A short wade through the warm Indian ocean and we were ashore.  We walked around the beaches and climbed on the rocks. 

One and a half hours later, we headed back to Malpe.  We grabbed a rickshaw to the Paradise Isle Beach Resort on Malpe Beach for lunch and then we returned to the Sriram Residency for a shower and a nap. 

In the evening, we went to the Woodlands Restaurant for dinner where I had an absolutely delicious - and by far one of the best meals I had in India – masala dosa.  (Udupi is the birthplace of the dosa.)  Then we headed to the train station for the overnight train to Ernakulum (the closest station to Fort Kochin) at 11pm.