Road trip – Sringeri

29 Mar 2014

Me and my cousin waited for my friend, sipping tender coconut in the hot summer afternoon. It was a long weekend and we had decided to drive to Theerthalli just the day before. We dint know anything beyond this. We drove towards chikkamagalur. Roads are great though a little curvy after Hassan. We took a pit stop here in Hassan. We tried hot pav bhaji and surprisingly it was yummy. We dint stop till we reach chikkamaglur next. The sun was gone by now & it was my turn to drive after the dusk. The roads got extremely curvy from here on. I enjoyed every turn and every curve on the Chikkamaglur-Sringeri road. We dint want to miss the prasada at sringeri, so the last few kilometres the car simply flew. We reached there around 9:30pm and found that the prasada is closed by 8:30pm. We checked for hotels near by and a passer-by took us to a veg hotel which served authentic food. Unlike in places like dharmastala, it was easy to fetch a room here for the night. It was very economical too.

 

We woke up early and found that the hotel supplied hot water for a cost of Rs 10/- per bucket. I was more than just happy for the luxury. The temple, I heard from friend, is never crowded. I stayed outside the temple clicking pictures while others went in. I did go in later to offer my prayers too. But quickly resumed to click more pictures. The temple structure is a visual delight. It reminds me of all those monuments in Bellur-Hallebidu. After clicking enough I parked myself opposite to the sharada temple skimming through the pictures. A family from Belgaum passing by noticed a fair skinned visitor sitting next to me and opened a conversation with this foreigner. They were excited to see a man from France travelling alone in India and likes India more than his place. They asked him why he came to India? Was he alone? What does he do back in France? While the foreigner enthusiastically answered to their queries, it seemed to me that he was used to this sort of attention he gets where ever he goes. After the family walked past, we began speaking to each other. He asked me the same questions what they asked him :). I was surprised to know that he was 70 year old and first visited India back in 1978. I wasn't even born he said giggling at me. He explained how beautiful Manali was then, in late 70s. He has travelled across this huge country and finally found a second home in Sringeri. He goes back to France only to get his visa extended to stay in India for another 6 months.

Back in my hotel while I was standing outside, waiting for the others to show up, I see Philip walking back to his apartment down the city. He closes his hands to do a namasthe to a beggar on the street. They all seemed to know him.

After having breakfast in a hotel nearby, we checked out from our room and hit the road again, towards Agumbe.