Day 219 of Indian places giving smiles – My native hometown of Mangalore

What do I write about my native place…the place of my origin, the place to which I proudly refer when I introduce myself as a Kannada speaking Mangalorean Brahmin? (Many Indians may have not even heard about this coastal town Mangalore confusing it with its better known cousin Bangalore). Sometimes Mangalore is in the news for the wrong reason like aircraft crash due to small airport and runway, communal tension, orthodox thinking and as the place of origin for Aishwarya Rai or even Shah Rukh Khan!

As a kid, going to Mangalore meant a visit to meet our paternal grandmother and many other relatives from our big family at our sprawling ancestral house in Car Street, sitting in the cool front portico, being surrounded by coconut trees, smelling jackfruit, eating Mangalore buns, listening to chirping birds, trying to break the tempting mangoes hanging from the branches, ringing the bells for the daily pooja, wearing fresh scented flowers plucked from our own garden and many more other pleasant experiences.

We would again smell the fresh flowers as we passed the Car street flower market, purchase home made pickles and local sweets and snacks at the small stores with the friendly uncle. We would stare at amazement at the variety of local pooja items that were easily available here. We would wrinkle our noses at the medicine given to us from the local Ayurvedic shop. We would drink some local flavoured concoction and be fascinated with a marble stuck within the soda bottle. We would stare in fascination as the local jeweller worked in front of us to set the diamonds in the gold earring.

A visit to local hotels like Moti Mahal for an evening Masala Dosa or to Ideal ice cream parlour to eat the famous Gadbad ice-cream was an extra treat to look forward to. And English movies would be screened only at the New Chitra talkies. And obviously we just had to visit Lord Ganesha at the famous Sharavu temple, Lord Shiva at the Kadri temple and also the Mangala devi temple from whom this city got its name. I believe she was just a kind and benevolent royal lady, people admired her so much that they constructed this temple for her after which the city got its name!

This was another opportunity to eat again, this time the coconut oil smelling puffed rice mixture called charmuri. We took a small local boat from sultan battery (with its old cannon) and went to play in the sticky and salty sea water of the beach for a relief from the heat. The Thaneerbhavi beach or the Pananbur beach would be almost empty with hardly any people. And yes we would eat raw cucumber and mango pieces spiced with red chilly powder. And we were thrilled to walk carefully down a hill and run through actual paddy fields to visit our maternal great grandmother’s house at Maroli.

And given the small size of the city, we almost always went walking in very narrow roads to the different places. The city centre Hampankatta, lighthouse hill and garden, Mangala stadium, the city market, the town hall, the open maidan, the even the quaint railway station all seemed to be in close proximity to each other. And I thought that people were very religious here. Almost every 100 yards I would see a small traditional temple which has an open courtyard in the middle and the deity standing serenely behind a row of doors. And we had many traditional functions to attend in not so hygienic community halls. The festivals were celebrated with devotion with processions of idols in chariots and people dancing on the streets.

It was a simple life in Mangalore with very feisty and spirited people. The locals have a very high sense of self esteem and would not tolerate any kind of disrespectful behaviour. Raised tempers and high pitched screaming among the adults was something that was confusing to my innocent childlike mind. The caste system was reinforced into my impressionable tiny brain. The labourer class would come from the villages to remove coconuts, clean the gardens etc and would be given food and shelter for the night, yet were never allowed to enter the internal premises of the house.

Even after I got married, my in-laws house at Pandeshwar was a true example of Mangalorean hospitality. The home cooked vegetarian food was filled with extra love that is still remembered by every guest who visited that place. Before the start of the Dassera celebrations the local boys dressed in freshly painted tiger costumes would first visit our house to seek the blessings of the elders. On rare occasions we also got to visit some of the beautiful churches too like the Rozario church and the St. Alloysius chapel with its many paintings on the ceiling.

After half a century of living on this planet…there are a lot of other things that have changed…thankfully a visit to Mangalore to meet my family at our ancestral house in Mangalore still means the very same thing…the cool portico, the coconut trees, the jackfruit, the birds, the mangoes, the daily pooja…this almost 100 year old ancestral house has still retained its old world charm in the heart of the city!

Yet when we step into the road outside, we realize that the world has changed a lot. The narrow car street has been widened to cope with the increasing traffic. The old houses on either side have either made way for new structures or worse still have completely disappeared. The once famous landmark of landmark of Car street, the quaint local Taj Mahal hotel with its piping hot snacks and filter coffee has been pulled down. (As my Mumbai friend discovered, it has absolutely no relation to the Taj group of five star hotels). The fields of Maroli have disappeared to make way for modern necessities.

A whole hill has been pulled down to make way for the sprawling Mangalore Central mall. I was told that this air conditioned place is a frequent hangout for the locals hit by a power cut during the many hot, hotter, hottest days in Mangalore. Another speciality of Mangalore is the wet, wetter, wettest days during the almost 6-8 month long monsoon season.

We still have many things to complete on our must-do list whenever we visit Mangalore, even if it for a few days.

attend a religious/social function in one of the many swanky air conditioned community halls that have sprung up around the place.
seek blessings at a local temple whether traditional or modern (sadly some of the new Mangalorean temples like the one at Gokarnath now occur to me more like a commercialized theme park)
do some shopping for local foodstuffs from the local stores or the supermarkets that have opened up.
do some more interesting shopping for gold or sarees at the many new swanky showrooms that have opened in the city.
go to a mall to watch a Kannada or even a Tulu language movie.
go with a big group of friends to Eden Club or the Mangalore club with its beautiful view of the bridge across Netravati river.

As a person belonging to this place, I have a special love, affinity and pride for Mangalore. As a tourist you will still love the unique, amazing traditional temples and churches, the green cover, the gardens, the beaches, the local food, the local festivals, etc. You also have an option of shopping and enjoying at the bars, clubs etc.

And yes, I love the fact that Mangalore as a city is still trying hard to retain its old world charm in the new modern era….

So what Indian place made you smile today?

Please share your experience of Indian places that made you smile.