Scenic, Beautiful Mangalore

Hi all,
I was thinking about a topic to blog but did not find one till date. Found inspiration from Pavi (happy), Mush (Horror flick) and Niru's senti blogs and thought maybe I should put something down as well.

Lemme go back a couple of months and relate the story from then onwards. A long pending trip to Mangalore was in the offing. It was planned some time back, but a new job kept that plan in abeyance for some time, until I could find more time to make trips to Mysore and within a month to Mangalore. The Mysore trip was exciting and fun while it was more of a spiritual trip to Mangalore.
Why did I go to Mangalore??? Though I believe in god, I really don't see the necessity to go to temples. I hardly ever visit temples. There are exceptions to every aspect and I found my exception in a temple named Gurupur, near Mangalore.. which for some strange reason egged me to visit. My aunt was pleasantly surprised when I volunteered to accompany them to the temple. I ve always enjoyed a trip to Mangalore since childhood, for the greenery and the crystal clear water bodies around that place. Hopping from one temple to another, frequently checking the cricket scores (Indo - Pak series was going on then) at roadside shops, we reached the city in the evening.
I ve never been to the beach in Mangalore. what a shame.....Since we had some time before our departure to Bangalore, we thought we would visit the beach. I called up Nitin, my best friend from CVG, who is currently in Infy, Mangalore and asked him to come over to the beach. And he had to come almost 40 Km, as he stays a bit away from the city. Traveling by bus around Mangalore is an experience in itself (it seems that the min speed is 60 KM) and Nitin reached there very soon.

Since it was pretty crowded in the beach, it was tough to trace people. He called me on the cell and asked me where I was. Since I could not pinpoint my location, Nitin in his own way asked my to raise my hand, the left one and then the right and then asked me to wave forward and backwards. I was following his instructions involuntarily and making a fool of myself until my sister and cousins pointed out that I was acting crazy and others were looking at me. Nitin, the brat....has not changed and I was very embarrassed....for once becoming the bakra....Nitin is known for his pranks among friends and I felt that I was pulled into one of those without me realising it.
Met him after such a long time and it was really exciting to share a moment with a close friend after so long. He is enjoying his job and it felt good to share news on either side. After all Nitin was my cab mate and team mate throughtout his stay in CVG and my fore runner in my present job. Time passed like lightning and then it was time to leave. I was blaming Mother earth for travelling at 1666 km/hr for the first time. The weather is Mangalore was pretty hot, with high humidity levels and we were in for a shock with the mercury touching 42 that day. Reminded me so much of the hot and sticky days in Chennai, where the seasons were hot, hotter and hottest.

After a couple of hectic days of travelling, we reached bangalore on Sunday and went for a game of cricket. Donno why I decided to go and play cricket after a tiring trip....but play I did. It was a wonderful feeling, wielding the bat after so many years, fielding in the slips and bowling a few donkey drops. After a couple of hours in the hot sun, out bodies would take the load no longerand we decided to come back home. I could not get up until evening and i could feel the pain in every joint in my body. The pain and the time were really worth it and I am seriously planning another trip soon.