Snowfall in Boise

Sunday 2 December 2018: Woke up to witness an amazing spectacularly breathtaking phenomenon. Overnight Boise had experienced its first snowfall of the season. The snow had arrived unannounced and the entire landscape was was swathed in white. A magnificent & mesmerizing view outside with snow flakes continuing to fall. This intoxicating view was a bonanza for us, an unexpected bonus as snowfall normally occurs in Boise only around end December or January.We considered ourselves fortuitous.Our unpretentious grandkids were quick to pounce on the opportunity to build a snowman complete with hat scarf carrot & buttons - a heart warming sight.
I scurried around agog with excitement from window to window like a man possessed - entranced, enraptured & enthralled clicking away and capturing stunning & staggering pictures.
Later in the morning we decided to drive through down town and up the Bogus basin - a ski resort located at an elevation of 5000 ft.The drive was captivating - The snow spattered road a bit treacherous with a mix of ice snow and water.The car had a tendency to skid & slide but with the adroit driving skills of the calm and composed Rohit (son in law) negotiated the gradients and the serpentine climb without fear or trepidation.
The views outside were indeed tantalizing - the hills the dales and valleys were all ubiquitously covered in snow. Young kids were attempting to cascade down small slopes on sleds while more audacious adults ascended to greater heights with skis on their shoulders.
We saw confounded squirrels scampering around.The snowfall had caught these animals unawares too - it was too early to hibernate. We encountered fog enroute which reduced visibility. The car occassionally juddered and careened diagonally across the road but Rohit was driving with alacrity and his control was astute.
The atmosphere was suffused, surreal & tranquil.We felt an extraordinary exuberance hitherto unknown. Is this utopia ?

 

 

Udupi Sri Krishna Temple

16 & 17-2-2018: From Murudeswara we traveled 102 Kms southwards along the coast towards Udupi via Bhatkal, Bhaindur, Koteswar & Brahmavar. We had no prior hotel booking and therefore scoured around a bit in the vicinity of the Sri Krishna Temple before settling for Hotel Ocean Pearl. Rooms were nice & cosy and we got a good discount after a vigorous bargain with a good natured and amiable Bihari lad at the front office. We were weary after almost a full days road travel and we simply sunk into the comfortable cushiony beds for some well entitled rest. After a revitalizing shower and a change of attire we went for dinner to the Coral Multi cuisine fine dine restaurant. The menu card had a wide selection of North Indian, Mughlai & Continental dishes to choose from. Some of us had Penne Pasta in Pesto Sauce, Vegetable Au Gratin, Baby Corn Golden fry amongst other dishes. We enjoyed a pleasant and enjoyable evening, good service & great ambiance. 
Next morning I had to stay back in the room due to sudden stomach disorder and the rest of the group went ahead with visit to the famous Udupi Sri Krishna Temple.
Thousands of  devotees throng the Krishna temple all round the year to catch a glimpse of Lord Krishna. The unique feature of this temple is that the Lord is worshiped only through an exquisitely carved and silver plated window with nine holes called the Navagraha Khidiki. 

A pleasing & customer friendly Front Office at Ocean View

The Entrance to The Sri Krishna Temple Udupi

The Holy tank or teertham

A  captivating selfie with brightly festooned temple chariots in the background 

Posing alongside a huge statue of an ancient soldier

After visit to the Temple at Udupi we checked out and departed for Mangalore via Mulki & Kateel. At a distance of 29 Kms from Udupi, Sri Venkata Ramana Temple located in Mulki is a 12th century temple dedicated to Sri Venkateswara. Mulki is situated on the banks of River Shambavi on NH 17 between Mangalore & Udupi. Sri Venkataramana, Bindu Madhava, Lord Vittala and Ugra Narasimha are worshiped in this temple. The presiding Lord of this Temple is popularly known as Volalanke Ugra Narasimha. The Sthala Purana says that Lord Hanuman on his way back carrying the Sanjeevani mountain of herbs mistook this beautiful locality for Sri Lanka and started descending. But soon he realised that this is not Lanka and therefore at once ascended and resumed his journey calling this as Volalanke or fake Lanka.The word Mulki is actually derived from Moolikapura. Moolika – means medicinal herbs. People say that a few herbs had fallen here in Mulki from the mountain of herbs that Hanuman was carrying and hence the herbs and medicinal plants grew here. The priests at Mulki informed us that food was ready and it was customary of all devotees to eat there. As we were short of time we expressed our apologies and proceeded on our teertha yatra.

The deity at Venkataramana Temple at Mulki

Entrance to Sri Venkataramana Temple

Next we motored on to Kateel to pray at the Durgaparameswari Temple before continuing on to Mangalore a distance of around 25 Km from Kateel. We finally reached Mangalore around 3.00 pm. We had some basic lunch comprising of Curd Rice and Pickles. From this point our friends carried on to Bajpe Airport to catch their flight to Bangalore scheduled to depart at 7.00 pm. Meanwhile we checked into the retiring room at Mangalore Central. Our train to Coimbatore which was scheduled to depart at 10 pm was reported late by two hours and we finally departed well past mid-night at 12.30 hours.
This brought the curtains down to an incredible trip to important temples of religious importance in South Kanara, Chickmagalur, North Kanara & Udupi districts of Karnataka. The four of us had some awesome darshans, drove through spectacular reserve forests, viewed breathtaking scenery enroute, clicked countless pictures including some memorable selfies and enjoyed some great camaraderie, stimulating conversation and amazing moments together. The high point of the trip was of course the visit and overnight stay at Shringeri and meeting with the illustrious Acharyas.

Kateel Durga Temple

Murudeswara Mahadeva Temple

16 February 2018: Our next temple stop was Murudeswara  a town in Bhatkal Taluk in Uttara Kannada district in the state of Karnataka State.Famous for the world's second tallest Shiva statue, the town lies on the coast of the Arabian Sea and is also famous for the Murdeshwar Temple. Murdeshwar has a railway station on the Mangalore Mumbai Konkan Railway route.From the temple one gets a fabulous view of the magnificent Arabian sea. The tall Rajagopuram in front of the temple is towering like a massive phalanx standing guard over the temple.

Colorful fishing boats moored on the beach

Boats sailing on the high seas

Magnificent beaches at Murudeswara

Side View of the Rajagopuram

The Tall Towering Rajagopuram

Picture taken with help of a local photographer

The bus terminus & car park

The huge Shiva Statue on a small hillock overlooking the Arabian Sea

Finally a Sparkling Selfie

Kollur Mookambigai Temple

16 February 2018: Our Karnataka temple tour continued. We checked out of our rooms at Sringeri and left for Kollur via the scenic Agumbe ghats covering the distance of 110 kms in approximately 2 hours.We reached Kollur by 12.00 noon and immediately proceeded for darshan. The temple inner prakaram reminded me of Guruvayur Temple in Kerala. There was already a long queue of devotees in the general darshan. We bought Rs.100/- special darshan tickets which helped us cut short the waiting period.The entrance into the sanctum sanctorum was quite narrow and three queues of devotees were simultaneously allowed to enter - free queue, the Rs.100/- queue & the Rs.500/- queue. This resulted in a bit of elbowing and jostling near the entrance. Once inside things were controlled again. We had a wonderful darsan of Goddess Mookambigai.
This famous Mookambika Temple is situated on the banks of the never drying river Sauparnika.The gold plated vimanam and copper roofs attracts thousands of devotees and is considered one of the most important places of pilgrimage attracting pilgrims from all over India.
 The Goddess Mookambika is in the form of Jyotir-Linga incorporating both Shiva and Shakthi. The Panchaloha image (five element mixed metal) of the Goddess on Shree Chakra is believed to have been consecrated by Adi Shankaracharya during his visit to this place. There is also an exquisite sculpture of Panchamukha Ganesha.
After darshan we had lunch at the Mahalakshmi vegetarian restaurant - exquisite aloo and gobi paranthas along with refreshing thirst quenching lassis & milk shakes. Our appetite fully satiated and thirst thoroughly quenched we clambered back into our Etios sedan for our drive to Murudeswara.
For more details about this temple,poojas & sevas log onto: Mookambika Temple

The Rs.100/- queue

Devotees who have completed darshan taking a relaxed over view

Twin Dwaja Sthambhas or Flag Staffs - common feature in all Hindu Temples

The chariot that is used to seat the processional Goddess on festival days

The copper roofings

View of the temple from outside

Instructions to devotees before entering the temple

Entrance to the Mahalakshmi Residency & Restaurant

The lunch was satisfying

Coimbatore - The Smart City

As part of the Smart City initiative Coimbatore Corporation has in collaboration with OFO launched OFO App based cycles in R.S.Puram on an experimental basis.Around 500 cycles have been introduced in R.S.Puram. Currently there are 9 pickup up points and progressively over the next few weeks increase the number of cycles deployed to 2000 and pickup points to about 80.
OFO (pronounced oh-foh) is a Beijing based bicycle sharing company founded in 2014. It operates over 10 million yellow-colored bicycles in 250 cities and 20 countries, as of 2017. The dock-less OFO system uses a smartphone app to unlock bicycles, charging an hourly rate for use.
To start with users require to download the OFO App and then pay Rs.99/- by debit/credit card or PayTM. Next with using blue tooth scan QR code to unlock. After use he returns the cycle to one of the pickup points and lock. The duration is automatically recorded and applicable charges debited. The cycles have inbuilt GPS and hence can be tracked. As part of the initial experiment the cycles can be used only in R.S.Puram area.
Great initiative indeed and kudos to Coimbatore Corporation. The only point of concern here is that  these cycles were imported from Beijing thus going completely against the principle and spirit of Prime Minister Modis "Make in India" initiative. India being one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of cycles why were these cycles not sourced from a reputed Indian manufacturer ?

QR Scan for unlocking