Mangalore City

Sitting in the train door, legs on the stairs, cool night air thrashing against our face. Yes that was the beginning of a wonderful and memorable trip to Mangalore. The berth next to a rickety door in the 2nd AC compartment, and the constant creaking noise of the door opening and closing couldn’t really dampen my spirits. Me and my friend Abhinav reached the station early morning next day for a pleasant surprise called the city of Mangalore. 

Our friend Shrinivas was already at the station with his overworked yamaha FZ two wheeler. Seriously the bike demanded a little attention and so did the helmet that he carried. We did a Tripsy (3 people on a two wheeler) from the station to a nearby place where we could catch an auto rikshaw. The auto wala dropped us at Kottara, the place where our beloved friend stays. The place is also home to the Infosys campus in Mangalore city.

It seemed like Shrini had taken quite a time planning this outing of ours. Like a seasoned travel guide he got us ready in no time, and we were down for breakfast. We had a nice Dosa for breakfast and as soon as we were finished, we headed towards a nearby beach. To reach the beach we had to cross a river by ferry and then behold the beautiful beach called Tannirbhavi. Its a wonderful feeling when your mind is empty and cannot go into it’s automatic day dreaming mode. In a new location it constantly keeps gazing, capturing and recapturing every frame, trying to make sense of the new environment. If you happen to be with nature at such times, the feeling is simply of awe and wonderment. We clicked few pictures along the way and really appreciated our time at the sunny beach. Once we were back to the river in order to get back to the city, I couldn’t help and wonder at the guy who was down in the water at the river bank. The people there were trying to build some kind of jetty to create a stopping platform for incoming boats. So the guys on the bank carried sand bags and dumped them in the river. And this guy in the water would dive in, get hold of the dumped sand bag at the river bed and secure it in place. And this continued. I noticed that the work was in progress when we first got down from the ferry, before moving to the beach. And now we were back almost an hour later and still this guy was down in the water working. Wonder where his super strength came from.

Now it was time for some delicious Mangalore fish at Giri Manjas. Shrini had in his itinerary the best place to give us an authentic sea food experience. That seemingly unnoticeable place had its name appear in the National Geographic’s traveller magazine. True to its reputation the food was spicy and delicious. We had King Fish, pomfret, prawns and some other delicacies. Then we moved to another beautiful location where we had sumptuous ice-cream that just quenched all my appetite. All the food we had so far had a quality about it and yet was way cheaper. Compare it with restaurant rates in Pune where I come from, I just felt rich.

The afternoon wasn’t yet over. We moved to the mall called City Center and watched the movie “Frozen”, the movie is mesmerizing, do watch it if you haven’t done already. Poor Shrini though had forgotten his precious glasses and had to see the 3D movie in a whole new dimension, no wonder why he didn’t like it. We strolled around in the mall for some time and then headed back for some beach time. The city is quite small by comparison, so you can reach almost any location from anywhere in less than 15 minutes and as less as 7 rupees. The transport system is efficient and you wouldn’t be frustrated if you decide upon using the public transport alone. I was quite skeptical at first about the privately run transport buses. The buses had no pattern about them which is characteristic of an organized city transport. Windows from most buses were just open metallic frames with no glass. However poor those buses looked, I had absolutely no complaints about the job they did. I was just flying around the city within no time. Mangalore transport system is quite efficient.

From back home now we headed towards a new beach called Panambur. We had the best of our times here. The beach is clean, the sand is beautiful and the sun was setting. A perfect combination for an ultimate beach experience. Abhinav was so impressed he expressed his appreciation something like this; “This is the bested, cleanest, warmest, greatest, awesomest, sexiest beach.” We played a good amount of time in water. And Shrini was again back at our heels marshalling us back home for the next adventure. We were back, had a bath and were ready for some party.

Shrini took us to an awesome pub called The Liquid lounge. The place is famous for its loud rock music, delicious food and an awesome crowd. Few pegs down and we were on a real high. The loud music was becoming more bearable after few drinks 😛 . We went out of our way to go back to the DJ and get him play our favourite songs. This is the place where you can definitely practice your rock singing (shouting) skills. By the time we were done, none of us were in any good shape to do anything seemingly logical. The poor auto rickshaw guy had to repeatedly listen to Abhinav’s newly received knowledge of great Kannada language. Back to the apartment, nothing could keep my eyes open any longer, I just slept.

We woke up early next morning and yes the Delhi election results were being declared, sure the result for 3 other states were also being declared but let’s call it Delhi election results for simplicity. The drama surrounding the election results added to our day’s enjoyment. We started our journey to Udupi in the morning. The plan was to visit Malape beach and St Mary’s Island. We reached Malape beach and took a boat ride to the St. Mary’s Island. A ferry was available but it’s an entirely different experience to travel by boat on an open sea. The Island is straight out of a movie. Although island doesn’t have a sand beach, It has lots of beautiful rocky pools to swim and take amazing pictures. It also has a shell beach. Here you can click anywhere and you have an awesome wallpaper photo in your camera. I don’t have the literary skills required to describe something that beautiful, just see the picture below and make a judgement for yourself. While returning back me and Abhinav got a rare opportunity to seat atop the bow (front part of the boat). It was as good as sitting on the water itself, just a few inches from it, the experience was simply exhilarating. Throughout the day we constantly tapped our smart phones to check the election result update, it was just way to thrilling to miss out. Next we got down at Manipal University on our way back. Strolled around in the famous university campus and returned back to Mangalore.

We had a train to catch at 8:30 pm in the night. So we quickly got back and got ready to have dinner. Shrini wasn’t yet finished with his plan. He had one more surprise in store for us; “Sea Crabs”. He took us to a wonderful restaurant called Village. We just had enough time to quickly order, enjoy the food and catch the train. After enjoying some beer we got lost in a wonderful discussion. The discussion revolved around doing something besides our regular jobs. On the lines of startups. Doing something different, chasing new ideas. The interesting discussion lasted a very very long time. The first time somebody saw the watch we were already missing our train. We called the station and the train was running on time and we were definitely going to miss it as our crab wasn’t ordered yet 🙂 . There was this mixed feeling, that crops up when something does not turn out as per the plan. Me and Abhinav both had office to reach the next day. But the enjoyment of past many hours was so astounding that we were somewhat happy that we missed the train and had more time with us now. The crab was good and we took our own time to finish.

Moved about in the city on Shrini’s bike in the night. Hope he gives it the utmost necessary servicing it requires soon enough. The next morning had an awesome breakfast at an awesome restaurant called “Chutney”. Had our tickets booked for our return journey by a volvo bus and then bade goodbye to Mangalore just before noon.

I loved the city and would like to visit it again. Few things worth mentioning; I didn’t find any bill boards in the city with ugly politicians on them. Mangaloreans do have a sense of aesthetics. I was quite surprised when I observed nobody supervising the theatre exit door when people returned the 3D glasses received before watching the movie. There is no visible language bias in the city and national language is respected well here. If you love travelling please put this city on your list.

All thanks to Shrinivas for such a wonderful journey. He has set the bar high when it comes to being a host. We will make sure you have same amount of fun when you come visit our city.