Godse, Gandhi and us.

Kamal Hassan stated :  “Nathuram Godse was independent India’s first terrorist”.  

Stupid of him. He is a good actor but that’s about it. He doesn’t know the difference

between an assassin and a terrorist. His statement should have been ignored.

But we have a tendency to attach some value to every thing our stupid celebrities utter.

Sadhwi Pragya reacted : “Godse was a patriot”.  Personally, I don’t find anything wrong

in her statement. That is HER opinion.

I read that BJP forced her to apologise for making that statement. I can understand.

Here, votes are involved. One phase of election is still pending. There are voters

whose fingers may shift to other buttons on hearing a BJP person speaking in

support of Godse.

Now what is surprising is our PM getting wild and saying “can’t forgive Pragya for

Godse remark”. Does he really mean it ? I was under the impression that he has

better mental abilities.  Or, did he make that statement with the pending phase of

election in mind ?

Gandhi is a great man. Agreed. We call him father of our country and revere him.

Right. And he deserves the respect and reverence. But can’t someone - Godse in this case

- for whatever reason - hate Gandhi but love India ?  

Why are we mixing up things?

Mangalore - In Summer ??

Our walking/Swimming group made a trip to Mangalore last week end.

No one in their senses will plan a trip to Mangalore in the middle of summer.

And Mangalore is not such a great holiday destination. But we went anyway.

Because, for this group, it is the company that matters. Not the place !

My friends would have a good time even if lodged in Aguada jail !!

I don't mean that they are likely to be lodged there sometime. Don't read me wrong.

I enjoy all the trips organised by our group. I love going somewhere but hate

1. Deciding where to go 2. Making arrangements for travel. 3. Arranging

accommodation 4. Planning what to do once you get there.

Here, I am not involved in any of these activities.

Some of them join together and decide the place. Someone makes travel

plans and arrangements. Some one else takes care of accommodation.

And while being there, all activities are planned similarly and I just have to

follow others! I have an absolutely stress free trip and I love it !!

So it was, this time too. As I said Mangalore is not a great destination but I liked the

city. It is reasonably clean, roads are good and wide, traffic tolerable and prices

reasonable. As I have mentioned earlier, we had a very good time!

My blog www.dentaldiaries.blogspot.com is a sort of record of all my activities and

I have posted some pictures with captions. All in random order.

As It happened most of the Mangalore trip seemed to be centered up on Fish, Chicken and Ice cream and we did roam around a bit when not engaged with the above three !

Group goes gaga with the varieties of Dosas on offer. Khali dosa, Masala Dosa, Ghee dosa, Onion dosa, Neer Dosa, Tomato dosa to name a few. The picture here is neer dosa. 

Durgaparameshwari Temple at Kateel. Having nothing else to do, we visited umpteen temples and earned enough goodwill of all gods to last two lifetimes !!

Machali restaurant - The high point of Mangalore trip.

Though it looks like any place in Goa, It is mangalore. Bengre beach to be precise. 

Usual day and usual Sunset, posted here to fill pages. 

Gadbad icecream in Pabba's ice cream parlour. Biggest ice cream parlour I ever stepped in ! Unfortunately, at that moment I wasn't capable of eating that.  

Gokarnanatheshwar temple, Kudroli, Mangalore.  Picture above and a few below. A very old temple, in the present shape after a political renovation to play to the galleries ! All marble, all gold and all gods ! Janardhan Poojari of Cong  has left no stone un turned! We have Gokarnanath of course and then the goddess, Krishna, Hanuman, Ganapathi, Navagrah ( the nine planets), Ganga, Saibaba and Narayanaguru. Each one in his/her own Golden abode !! Could have very well included Our Lady and a Sufi saint !

The tired pilgrims from Goa. Left to right Rajaneesh, Triambak, Virendra, Raghunandan, Sandesh and Rajesh 

We visited so many temples, that I lost count. Venkataramana, Ganapati, Mahammaaya, Narayani, Katyayani, Hanuman to name a few. This should be Rajarajeshwari at Polali. 

The Fish god 'Visvan' at the temple called 'Machali'.  You eat the visvan prasad, ask for the bill and offer a prayer ! A Goan's pilgrimage to Mangalore is not complete without a visit to 'Machali'.

Hanuman at Gokarnanatheshwar complex

This is Polali for sure. No mistaking the 'dhwajasthambh'

My friends in a plaintive mood after booking a five seater car for six people and for half a day instead of full day !