Destination: Mangalore

No. Of people: 12 + 1 (Vahana Chalaka Ravi)

Starring: Nagan, Sandhya, Balugari, Raaghu, Sharath, Shanks, Dad, Mom, Vinod, Tinku, Ram and Mahesh

Mode of transportation: DVD Coach TT

Script Writer: Mahesh (Needless to say any ref. to I, Me and Myself means Mahesh)

Photographer and Camerman: Mahesh and Nagi

It was for one of the wondrous occasions which none of us wanted to miss, the event was one of the member (Santosh) loosing his bachelors “Shets Marriage” @ Mangalore. As usual Nagann initiated the thread which was later wielded by Raaghu. Although most of the group members were prepared to attend including couple of new entrants Sharath and Ramseshan along with Shank’s Mom & Dad, taking the total to 17, but as we approached the travel circa, couple of them hived off and some receded due to genuine reason. Finally 12 souls Nagan, Sandhya, Balugari, Raaghu, Sharath, Shanks, Dad, Mom, Vinod, Tinku, Ram and myself  made to it.

9:35 P.M Friday (9th Feb) my phone ringed to shanks call, after picking which I learn that I was the only person whom every one were awaiting for; immediately having marched fast to shanks home where every one were supposed to meet @ 9:30 P.M, I realized that I was taken for a ride over the phone, since I saw only Ram unbuckling his shoes & shanks in state yet to set off to get ready and none else. Grrr…..

In short span of time all of them marked their presence @ shanks home and we were all set to leave, b4 which one thing really impressed me, the TT that was arranged by Raaghu, it had a quite good Audio & video arrangement to make the travel more pleasurable but just that wouldn’t have been sufficient had we not had a good, silent, fast young and experienced driver Ravi.

Sharp 10:30 P.M we left Yeshwanthpur circle heading towards over destination which we estimated to reach latest by 7:00, but thanks to Ravi for not having kept us on some of the worst roads for a long duration (I really wonder were there any roads at all for some intervals) and taking us to our destination Hotel West side Inn by 5:30 the next day morning, where rooms for us were booked by Santhosh in advance.

9:30 A.M Saturday my room phone rings to Raaghu’s call, after listening to which I Acknowledge Raaghu of me having got ready. A visit to his room later revealed that @ the time of the call these folks had started to wake up… and also the so called Maduve Gandu had marked his presence leaving behind his soul mate Mayuri. Soon all were set to leave for Breakfast @ a very near by hotel Gokul from there we started executing our plans of “Sutha-Mutha”

Having reached the first location of our dynamically planned sutha-mutha  Mangala Devi Temple we saw clear signs indicating that the Darshan of Goddess was not permitted for another half an hour or so, without wasting much time we had a quick photo session but the maduve gandu hanged on to the phone all during the interval. After accepting the blessing of Devi and savoring tender coke we moved to Kadari Manjunatha swamy temple which is supposed to be the foundation/Origin of Dharmastala Manjunatha swamy temple. The places like Pandavara Guhe, surrounding the temple had more historic stories to reveal, folks took their own time to have a glimpse of these by which time our “peit mein chuhe daudne lagein…” To quench our hunger we were taken to a renowned desserts shop “Ideal Ice cream” in the menu of which I could count more varieties of Ice creams than any south Indian dishes at a hotel in Bangalore, we really enjoyed the lip smacking varieties of Ice creams and tried to complete the remaining course of lunch though in the reverse order with meals @ some xyz bhavan whose name I am not able recollect as of now, but one thing was sure, it symbolized ancient model of hotels.

After some discussions about our next place of visit, it was decided that we will visit Panamboor beach located exactly opposite to REC surathkal. Having reached there as planned we straight away started with the football match, initially I was the video man, Shanks, Raaghu, Ramseshan and Tinku were part of one team and Nagann, Vinod, Sharath & Baalugaari the other. No doubt when there is a game there is bound to have controversy over the score. Shankar would give his full attention as well as dedication in the game, others in the group are also of same nature but not up to Shankars level. There were lot of hot discussion but end result was that Shankar and team were defected by 3 – 1 (Controversial Score ) and 2 – 1 (Official Score). For more details can watch match recorded session which would be uploaded shortly. Apart from this I shall rather be interested to discuss something more important, guess what?

If you had guessed it had something to do with Shankar, then you are absolutely perfect. Post match session, Shankar revealed one of his private life themes, getting engaged in lovely engaged manner. In no moment I was drawn close to the topic and after posing many perturbing questions, Shankar staged dharna and assured to share more details of engagements in span of 2 weeks, which I am very much looking forward early and hoping 25-Feb to come fast.

The sunset darkened the placed and signed us that it was time for us to leave the beach, but we guys did not really leave the place until we tasted almost all varieties of snacks like bhelpuri, maggi, tomato puri, slice and tea served by the petty shop there. Very soon we were taken back to our lodge from where we were directed to a hotel Purvi close by for the dinner. Hmm… After much wandering, completely loaded tummy, tired bodies, what better can one expect other than an 8-9 hr grand nap.

Next day morning, initial things was a repeat of yesterday starting from delayed ready to BF @ Gokul, but today was not for sutha-Mutha but the actual occasion “Shets marriage” arranged at a very convenient and posh Marriage Hall “Moti Mahal”. Our synchronization with Maduve Gandu was perfect since we made it @ the right time when the Bridegroom was just about to alight from the decorated car. He was just casually dressed, unlike the bride who also arrived there in no time in blue royal sedan, no doubt now every eye in the surrounding was eagerly looking out for the bridge to get down. It was an aesthetic panorama to watch the bride laden with Gold jewels and walk up to the Marriage hall followed by a gorgeous group of girls. Very soon one of them drew every one’s attention, later which we learnt was kruthi, cousin sister of the bride.

As the muhurtham or the auspicious time for wedding arrived, so did the formalities of it accelerated. One of very good things that impressed every one of us there was the simplicity of the formalities that were required to complete the wedding. It was indeed short and sweet. After which to my surprise, I saw kruthi discussing something with rest of our group members especially Tinku. It was all about the drama of Hum aapke hein koun, where they were desperately looking out for the bridegrooms Slippers, so that they could squeeze as much as money they could from Maduve Gandu, at last they had to realize that it was a fruitless effort.

Having completed the marriage the next most important thing was peit pooja, finishing which we bid adieu promising to be back to attend the Reception in the evening which was held at another location Jugal Towers, again a quiet convenient one, before attending which couple of boys finished their shopping @ pantaloons next some like me & Ram tried to unearth the hype about a leopard been sighted very close to our lodge, for which there were a huge crowd gathered including Police & fire personnel. One significant point, I would not like to have forgotten at his moment is Santosh’s attachment to our group, since during even such an event he had dedicated much of his time spending with us, even the interval between the Marriage and Reception. I am sure Mayuri would be jealous of us

Then having reached Jugal Towers and meeting Santhosh, now I felt the Bridegroom was really dressed smartly with the blazer over the blood red shirt. He was now looking smarter. Having congratulated the couple and finishing the photo session we were soon done with the dinner the sole reason, the entire group were vegetarian and had few options unlike the relatively wide variety of Non-Veg options sighted. We bid a final good bye to the Host and were set to leave for Bangalore. We were clear with one thing, to make to Bangalore as early as possible mainly to avoid any inconvenience that would be caused on account of any riots due to Bangalore Bandh, but we had the heat felt, when we were about to drop Vinod @ his residence since the road was blocked completely with tires set fire. We took alternative route and dropped Vinod followed by my drop sharp @ 4:30 A.M. Hmm…. I think I should stop now and avoid you further dosing away...

On the whole, I would term the trip “Participant’s pride absentee’s envy”