Surathkal is a suburb of Mangaluru city in the Karnataka state situated at the west coast of India. It is at a distance of 13 km from Mangaluru and is well connected by train and bus from Mangaluru. I traveled to Surathkal to attend a conference (FMFP 2015) which was organized by NIT Surathkal inside the NIT campus. I stayed at NIT Surathkal from 13 Dec 2015 - 16 Dec 2015. During my stay at NIT Surathkal, I traveled to different places around Surathkal.
From Mangaluru Junction, I took a passenger train (MAQ-MAO Passenger) to Surathkal from Mangaluru Junction at 6:30 AM. The train arrived Surathkal railway station at 7:05 AM and I took an autorickshaw to NIT Surathkal which is at a distance of 4 km from Surathkal railway station. I arrived on a day before the starting of the conference. I stayed at NIT Surathkal campus. After reaching NIT surathkal, I refreshed myself. Then I took a bus from from the NIT main gate to Karkala which is about 50 km from NIT Surathkal and the bus took one and half hour to reach Karkala.
Exploring Karkala:
The bus dropped me at Karkala bus stand. The town is located at the foothill of western ghats. The place has religious significant for Jain community. First, I walked to the Chaturmukha Basadi which is at a distance of 1.2 km from the bus stand. Chaturmukha Basadi is a Jain temple built in 16th century. This monument is protected by Archaeological Survey of India. I spent approximately 1 hour and observed the architect and beauty of the monument. The monument is completely made of granite stone. It is symmetrical in all the 4 sides. There are lots of statue of Hindu gods on the outer wall of the temple. There was a prayer going on inside the temple and I joined the prayer for few minutes. Then I left Chaturmukha Basadi and walked to the next destination. I walked 500 m from the Chaturmukha Basadi and arrived at Gomateshwara temple. The Gomateshwara temple located on the top of a hillock. There are few food stall and restaurant at the foot of the hillock. I took food and drank coconut water. Then I started climbing the hillock. It is very steep and felt tried after reaching the top. The temple has the 2nd highest monolithic statue of Gomateshwara which has a height of 42 feet. It was built in 1432 CE. The Gomateshwara monolithic statue stands inside a high brick wall surrounding the statue. There is only one entrance on the north side. There is a statue of Kshetrapala on the top of a Manastambha facing the entrance. I removed the shoe outside the temple and crossed the entrance. I spent approximately 30 minutes there and left the temple.
Chaturmukha Basadi viewed from Gomateshwara temple.
I moved to the near Ramasamudra Lake and there was nothing much to see. Then I returned to the bus stand and took a bus to NIT Surathkal. I arrived at NIT Surathkal at 6 PM. The conference registration started at 7 PM on Sunday. I registered for the conference and collected the conference kit. I took dinner at NIT Surathkal canteen and went to bed. The conference started on Monday. As there was no session related to my research field, I decided to skip the presentations and planned for another trip to a near by place. I started my journey to Dharmasthala which is about 85 km from NIT Surathkal.
Exploring Dharmasthala:
There is no direct bus from NIT Surathkal to Dharmasthala. First, I took a bus to Mangaluru KSRTC bus stand from NIT main gate at 5 AM in the morning. The distance of Mangaluru KSRTC bus stand is about 18 km from the NIT gate and it took approximately 30 minutes to reach there. I took a bus from Mangaluru KSRTC bus stand at 6 AM and traveled to Dharmasthala. The bus moved towards east and passed through a mountain range. It felt cold as it moved further towards the east. The bus took approximately 2 hours to reach Dharmasthala old KSRTC bus stand. I arrived at 8 AM at Dharmasthala and have breakfast at the bus stand. First, I moved to Dharmasthala Manjunath temple which is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple is unique where the Shiva linga is made of gold rather than stone. The temple was crowded by pilgrims. I visited the temple. Then I moved to Manjusha museum just in front of the temple. The museum is big and has a good collection of ancient manuscript, musical instruments, all generation of television, telephones and cameras, tribal ornaments and many more. I moved to Manjusha car museum which has a good collection of old model cars. After visiting the car museum, I walked to Chandranatha Swamy Basadi which is just nearer to the car museum. I sat at the temple for half an hour and enjoyed the peaceful environment. Then I headed towards the bus stand and took a meal (a south Indian thali) in a restaurant at the bus stand. There was a temple (Annappa Betta) on the top of a hillock near the bus stand. I climbed the hillock and visited the temple. The environment of the temple was very peaceful and less crowded. I spent 15 minutes at the temple. Then I moved to another Jain pilgrimage site nearer to it. It also lies on the top of a hillock near the bus stand. It has a 39 feet high monolithic statue of Lord Bahubali. After visiting the place I came down to the bus stand and took a bus to Mangaluru and then to NIT Surathkal.
Chandranatha Swamy Basadi.
Exploring Surathkal sea beach:
Next day (Tuesday), I presented my paper and attended other presentations related to my field. I and my friends traveled to the nearest Surathkal beach after the presentation. We visited the Surathkal light house. We returned to NIt before it was dark. We joined the dinner party organized in the evening and went to sleep. Next day morning, we again went to the beach to explore it more. The sea beach was very clean and beautiful. We captured lots of photographs. Then we returned back and attended few presentations and valedictory function of the conference at 12 noon. In the afternoon, I packed my luggage and traveled to Trivandrum from Mangaluru Junction to attend another conference.
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13 Dec 2015
About me
Tapan Kumar Pradhan Post Doc Researcher, IIT Kharagpur PhD, IIT Kanpur http://tapankp.weebly.com Distance:
Delhi - Khajuraho = 650 km. Kanpur - Khajuraho = 220 km. |