Just for you !

I haven’t yet finished writing my intended blog about our 2024 vacation, but here I am blogging about our December 2025 vacation! (I will complete the 2024 vacation blog and publish that first, before this one.) Also, inspired by my blogging motivator Karthik  Dubai Notes - by Karthik S - Pertinent Observations ) , I decided to cover the entire vacation in a single blog instead of splitting it into multiple posts, as I attempted last time. Last time, we travelled to UP. This time, the plan was to visit Mangalore and its surroundings since our Kula Deivam is located there, then proceed to Guruvayur, and finally fly back to Pune. Having travelled to UP earlier, I felt very little apprehension—almost none at all—about this trip, as South India is generally more organised and less crowded than the North. And indeed, it was smoother. The tour started on an eventful note. My son fell sick and started shivering during our flight to Bengaluru. He had overworked himself at the gym for two d...

  We left the Prayagraj hotel early in the morning and headed to the Sangam, where the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati (the invisible or underground river) meet. Only my son and I went and took a boat ride—it was extremely cold. We did not take a dip in the Sangam; instead, we cupped the water in our hands and sprinkled it on ourselves. This was partly because of the cold and partly because we didn’t want the hassle of changing out of our clothes and wearing them again. This was just a week before the Maha Kumbh. The crowds would have been overwhelming once the Maha Kumbh began. The boat ride itself was pleasant, with good views all around, though it began to feel a bit monotonous towards the end. I asked the boatman and then dipped my leg into the water for part of the journey and the water felt warmer than the air. After Prayagraj, we headed to Kashi (Varanasi). We were quite apprehensive about the hotel, but it turned out to be good. It was located at Assi Ghat, one of the nearly ...