Getting beached!

l The green valley l Agumbe l Udupi l Malpe l Udyavara l Kasaragodu l Shiraadi l

With a sumptuous meal stuffed in the stomach on this lazy Sunday afternoon, we thought of continuing with our journey, and no rest whatsoever.

Our next destination was my aunt’s place in Mangalooru (ಮಂಗಳೂರು). But as described earlier, Rajesh had given us route maps to a few exciting places on the way; we, deciding to get beached more, took a right at Udyavara (ಉದ್ಯಾವರ) to reach Pithrody (ಪಿತ್ರೋಡಿ).

@image: the riverside of Udyavara Padukere.

If one enquires about Udyavara beach at locals, no one would actually help. This is because nobody visits Udyavara beach and the beach is on the wrong side of it. Udyavara Padukere (ಪಡುಕೆರೆ) is its actual name. Padu in Kannada means west and kere a water body. In Bangalore, kere means a lake, but what that means here….a Sea!!

We have to cross an overflowing river to reach the majestic beach. How do you cross the river? With a rower, rowed by a kind old man.

@image: Crossing the river in a boat.

The river Udyavara is inhabited by varieties of birds ranging from billed ones to ducks. The thrill is when you see not many people around, but only these chirps and a river. A tar road is nicely laid in between the river and the beach. How good that looks can’t be explained here! The joy of exploring a lonely beach, with the Arabian Sea roaring high, and a river rushing for its holy maté. We heard that the river met see at about 3KMs distance from this place.

The place was joyful, enchanting, exhilarating. The Arabian Sea looked excitingly royal here than at Malpe.

@image: A distant island on the river at Pithrody.

We spent a lot of time on the riverside than on the Seashore. Seashore looked monotonously the same, but the river gives life a new meaning altogether. Rivers are the lifelines of humanity, whereas Seas, meaning for the lives of these rivers! The river was huge in width, it flew surpassing a couple of islands and it rushed pretty fast too.

Maravanthe (ಮರವಂತೆ) is another such place that is located on the National Highway with Sea on one side and the river on the other. People flock there to witness this beauty where a National Highway dissects both the water bodies. A similar scene was available to us that day, though only a country road distinguished the river with its huge partner; the whole visual belonged to us, just the two of us! Our joy found no bounds.

Spending about an hour in this brilliant deafening encounter with nature, we moved ahead. The rower waited for his lonely passengers of mid-day, and we made our inroads into the river again to reach our parking area.

@image: Kunjarugiri Darshana.

We then rode to Kunjarugiri (ಕುಂಜಾರುಗಿರಿ), a small hillock amidst dense forest range, where an age-old temple of Sri. Durga Parameshwari exists. Temple was open for darshan, and we had a good time with monkeys checking on our luggage curiously until we drove them off.

The temple is a simple structure, built in the trademark Dakshina Kannada style, decorated with Mangalore tiles for roofing. Sunset visuals are a treat from here, they said.

@image: Sree Pajaka Kshetra.

We then rode to Pajaka (ಪಾಜಕ), the place where Sri Madhvacharya was born. So, a Vedic school exists at this very place, with a temple-like structure built around the main house. The caretaker took us around the place explaining what happened when and where, when Sri Acharya was studying there. It is a nicely maintained spiritual place, where one can feel the divine vibrations making this place really a special one.

On our way back to the main road, we visited another temple called Parashurama (ಪರಶುರಾಮ) Kshetra, which is on another hillock opposite Kunjarugiri. Though the temple was closed, we felt good at this place and continued with our journey not waiting for the priest to come.

Our next halt was my aunt’s place at Kulayi (ಕುಳಾಯಿ), a few KMs before Mangalooru. And as we reached her place, it was dark and all were waiting for us there.

They had a different plan for us, to take us to Panambur (ಪಣಂಬೂರು) beach to witness the sunset. But since we reached there after sunset, we missed the chance of getting beached again!

Day I:

Bengalooru -> Nelamangala -> Kunigal -> Chennarayapattana -> Hassana -> Belur -> Yagachi -> Chikkamagalooru -> Balehonnuru -> Sringeri -> Agumbe -> Hebri -> Seethanadi -> Udupi

Day II:

Udupi -> Malpe -> Bengre -> Udupi -> Udyavara -> Kunjarugiri -> Pajaka -> Katapadi -> KuLayi

To be continued……….

l The green valley l Agumbe l Udupi l Malpe l Udyavara l Kasaragodu l Shiradi l