A trip to Maddur

Some weeks back , I decided I'd take the geriatrics to to Maddur.Why Maddur? 'Coz of the famous Vaidyanatha Temple thats a few kilometres from the town and also the Ambegal Krishna temple at Doddamalur , near Chennapatna.
Now , lets talk our language.
We set out at 7:30AM laden with biscuits , fruits , dates , Filter kaapi flask , hand towel , leg towel, towel towel , newspaper , 3 library books(which were stored carefully in a separate 'book' bag in case they got lost/damaged/lost and damaged),iodex, amritanjan,shampoo hair comb, paddle hair comb, soap,dettol.
Suffice to say , my Mother's previous birth must have been that of an ant.A wary one at that.
Car driving always puts me into a bad mood.The pressure of having to save one's life , one's dependent's lives(which includes Petunia's as well) is a little too much to handle.Especially with Petunia , she's certainly not a morning person.There was a maddening jam at the Mysore road junction , a demented Sumo guy came and hit my bumper and sailed forth after showering abuses on ME!I showed off my vocabulary rather well , only to find two horrified faces looking at me wondering what they had done wrong. Sheesh! Sometimes there's no winning , is there?
Once out of Kengeri , the highway broadens into three and that's when you really start enjoying the drive.At this point , I felt like the girl from the Sumo Victa Ad , any of you remember her?She's the one who drives a Sumo Victa with her entire family dozing behind her.Found it.
An hour later , we stopped at Kamat Lokaruchi(Lok-aa-ruchi as Gee calls it in her Punju accent :)) for breakfast.You have a choice of a breakfast-Buffet versus singal-singal order.Buffet it was!We were served little glasses of fresh pure grape juice , 2 hot idlies , crispa vadas , hot pongal,the kharabath-kesaribath duo, and quarter pieces of hot masala dosa, with chutney and sambar.That's one thing I love about Karnataka.The food.Its a vegetarian's paradise.
We washed down the breakfast with a cup of hot filter kaapi , found ourselves smiling dreamilly(obviously because of the breakfast) and sauntered into Janapada Loka which is right next to Lokaruchi.
Our next stop was to be the Ambegal Krishna temple at DoddaMalur.Ambegaalu in Kannada means "to crawl".Legend has it that it was after visiting this temple that Purandaradasa composed the famous "Jagadhodharana Adisidalu Yashoda".It was my favorite composition during dance practices.Coming to think of it , all songs describing Lord Krishna enthrall me.

What struck me most about the temple were its walls, walls that had probably seen history unfold.
Old.Majestic.Sanctuary , yes , thats the word to describe it best.

It was around 11 when we set off towards the Vaidyanathaswamy temple in Maddur,which is about 20 Kms from Chennapatna.You need to branch off into the Maddur Main road from the highway and take a detour that will lead you to the Vaidyanathapura road.There on , its a straight course.Ask any native the way and they'll go "Straight hogi madam , then swalpa yeda , matthe balagade ondu sethuve sigathhe , alli hoga baradu.. " and so on.For those lost in translation , that meant "keep going straight, turn to the left a *little* , turn to the right and you will find a bridge..that's where you mustn't be going :D.

In any of the Vaidyanatha temples , the pooja involves immersing some jaggery and salt into the Kalyani(to indicate that the disease will vanish just as the salt and jaggery do into the waters).

I watched as my Mom and Dad vanished into the temple before it closed for lunch and stood at the head of the steps.From where I stood , I could see forests, paddy fields and the river.. all at once.Sometimes , you don't really need a temple or an idol to pray to.

Come 1'o clock and we reached Maddur town.I insisted on stopping at the Maddur railway station.It brings back memories of my childhood when my entire family would make a trip to Mysore , our ancestral hometown.And my uncle used to make it a point to stop at the Maddur railway station for the famous Maddur Vadas.The railway station is so much from a scene from Malgudi days.So idyllic and sleepy.

The station guard sauntered up to me while I was clicking away and asked me if I was press-avaru.I told him I'd put it up on the internet , would he like to strike a pose?He blushed a brilliant red and changed the subject.He pointed to a poster of the ' Fairy Queen' and told me very sadly that steam engines were a thing of the past.
As I slowly pulled out of the railway station towards the highway , I could hear familiar voices in my head , that of Patti describing to me how my great grandad had to sell our Mysore home in order to treat a great aunt's illness , how Thatha used to come back to a *rented*(she would sigh at this time) house in Mysore , some more about the mango trees and the jackfruit orchards.Somehow that entire stretch from Bangalore to Mysore is like a cord that connects me to my past , familiar names -Chennapatna , Maddur, Mandya,Srirangapatna , T-Narsipur(we had old barren land there -but catch me calling it that in front of Patti) and then finally Mysore.