I had stopped by Mangalore for just about 32 hours.  I  had accompanied Radhika who came here for Ayurvedic consultation.  We came to see a Swamy who runs an ayurvedic clinic in small district of Melkar, an hour from IXE airport.   Swamy looked quite saintly, as if he belonged to different time, and has a horn / bump on his head with hair wrapped around it. His team said, his soul is 350 years old.  Not sure, how they have computed it.

He spoke in pure Kannada, which we obviously did not understand.  However, his team helped us communicate with him. His team spoke in Telugu and gave required Ayurvedic medicines for us.  There were many folks in queue waiting for his blessings and advice from his team on solutions for different ailments.  When I was wondering about the effectiveness of these medicines, he said, it did create miracles for many and said, “Do not see logic in it”, and go with “Faith”.

Since we finished our meet-up much earlier than estimated, we did bit of exploring around Mangalore. We went to Someshwaram Beach Shiva temple (which looked very serene) and walked around the beach (where waves were high and rocky), and ended the evening with NOW YOU SEE ME 2 movie @ City Centre Mall.

Next day, we  went to Dharmasthala (famous temple of Manjunatha) and Subramanyam Swamy temple.  These temples are widely popular across South India, and often visited to seek blessings ahead of major events in one’s life. We drove here, amidst Western Ghats and lots of greenery and pouring rain some times.  It was fun stopping on the highways for tea, corn, and different snacks.  I feel this part  (where we get to stop at random places on side of the highway, for chai and delicious snacks which almost cost nothing) is USP of travelling on road in India

I had also bumped into my colleague Sravanthi from Cigniti, who was in Mangalore to throw surprise birthday party to her daughter who turned 21 today.  It was great to meet her family, which we couldn’t do in our own Hyderabad.  Scroll all the way down for the pics. Finally, we returned home late in the evening.  Though we were away for just about 36 hours, it felt we were away from home for ever.

 Here are few pics and 60 second video from our 32 hour rendezvous.