Kukke Subramanya

We decided to head off to Kukke Subramanya on a Saturday
afternoon. I didnt plan much, hired a driver and took my car out.
Initial plan was for me and my cousin to drive. Thank God he didnt
turn up.

Me, mom, dad, my one other cousin and the driver. Leave blr by
3:30 pm. As usual there is traffic in Blr. But not bad. I forget
to take music for my parents.

We have a pleasant drive upto Hassan. But figure out that
my parents want to listen to Bhakthi Geethe and not
Kishore Kumar singing about yet another failed attempt
with a woman.

Interestingly the moment you go past Hassan the condition
of the road detoriates. Now why is that. Who is this person
from Hassan who can influence to fix the road upto Hassan.
I wonder who.

Anyways, its begins to rain and we reach Sakleshpura
and trouble begins. It starts to rain harder,
and the conditions is worse than some muddy rally
tracks that you see on ESPN. We see a few lorries
which have slipped or have over turned. My father
has high BP and I see him popping a few pills in.
Swift has very low clearance and driver is extra cautious.

Its almost a hour and we have covered only abt 10km.
I can see the driver getting casual with the car
by the minute. The poor mans concentration was
certainly being tested. Luckily we were getting down.
Finally after a marathon 7 hr drive we reach Kukke.

I book rooms in a temple run lodge. This is my second
visit. I was there 16 years back. And I am amazed at
how nice and small and uncrowded this place is.
Atleast its not become a marketing game like Tirupati.

I was instructed to pick some special Pooja tickets
and then take a dip in the river Netravati and come back.
I go to the temple in tracks and a T-shirt. I see
people in pristine white Panche and Shalla's. Staring
at this guy who can use his hair as an antenna. Anyways
I pick up the tickets and rush to the river.
People should stop brushing their teeth there.
How you can take bath at the same place where someone
is brushing his teeth. Disgusting.
I try to go a bit upstream, put my head in 3 times.
Come back to the room and again take a shower and we
all set to get into the temple.

While heading towards the temple I hear some Bhakti Geethe
where the singer is pissed the world today seems to be happy
and Gay. I was wondering whats wrong with that.
We get in and do some Pooja. Takes about 2 hrs.
These temples are a great place to see
these beautiful people. You know what I mean :)

We are done with Pooja. We head out the belt
some food. Ok my parents ate their food and I was belting.
I dont want to miss out on some good cooking. Thats one
thing people from these parts do right. They cook
like its the last meal of their lives.

We then do NagaPratishte. I also try to hand over
some change to the Elephant. I thought it will
be able to scoop the change from my palm.
But it cant (what was I thinking), then drop
it into its nostrils. It throws it back
to the Mahoot with disdain.

We are done with NagaPratishte and head back into temple
for some more Pooja's. We are finally done. Head for some
free food. Which again is delightful. But the serving
style is really annoying. They kind of throw the food
at you.

Ok, one other important detail. All the not-so-fairer sex
have to uncover their upper body before entering the temple.
I guess this was a way to check that only Brahmins enter the temple
in the olden days. Not sure why they do it still. Its kind
of difficult to connect to your spiritual side with stinky men around you.

And I was standing there and going
"Dude if you created me and gave me the brains to doubt
your existence then I cant help it"

We then decide to ditch the Mangalore highway and take the
back route through Honnur. The Bisle ghat is an amazing
drive. Not so bad roads and scenic drive and loads and loads
of rain and Kishore Kumar singing one of failed love songs.
Made it a worth while trip.