Year end vacation 2025

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 days before the trip, which somehow made him ill—this was the first time I had heard of someone falling sick from excessive gym workouts! We had given him Crocin/Dolo at home before leaving, but he still had severe shivering on the flight. My wife and I kept rubbing his hands to keep him warm. Fortunately, there was a medical centre at Bengaluru airport. The doctor suggested administering Crocin intravenously and was not very happy when we said we would continue only with oral medication.

There was a family function happening right below our hotel room, giving us a clear view of the celebrations. They had a DJ and a lot of dancing, and after the DJ stopped, they continued singing and dancing on their own. I heard a song called “Darling, Open the Door…”—looks like it’s quite popular there!

Because of the noise and my son resting, I went sightseeing alone on the first day. I visited the Kukke Subramanya temple and had a good darshan. I spent about 2.5 hours in the queue, out of which one full hour was without any movement, as darshan was closed from 11:30 to 12:30—a routine practice at the temple. After that, the driver took me to a small but powerful Pillayar (Ganapathi) temple. It was an open and small temple with no buildings, but the ambience was good.

I then proceeded to Dharmasthala temple and reached around 3:45 pm, only to be informed that darshan would start at 5 pm. Having already waited an hour at Subramanya and being alone, I decided to skip it. I called my family to check on them; they sounded quite happy and comfortable at the hotel. So I headed to a nearby beach before returning.

The beach was pleasant and much less crowded compared to Chennai beaches. I had some cut mangoes and pineapples, walked on the sand (though I didn’t step into the water), and spent some time there. I dropped a few mango and pineapple pieces for a calf standing near the crowd, but it didn’t eat them. People nearby said it wanted bhel! (At least, that’s what I understood!)

The next day, my son was feeling better, so all three of us went out together. We initially planned to visit Kollur Mookambika but skipped it due to time constraints. We had darshan of Lord Krishna at the Udupi temple through the Nava Dwara and also worshipped the other deities. Later, we had the temple food, which was served in batches. The food was good. It is believed that Lord Anjaneya himself cooks there, and that each person experiences the taste they like most.

We also met a friend of mine at the temple. He lives about an hour away from Udupi, and he and his wife helped us with the darshan and explained the significance of various aspects of the temple.

That evening, we visited our Kula Deivam near a place called Moolakandam in Kerala, about an hour from Mangalore. We visited our relatives and stayed with them. The Kula Deivam temple and our relatives’ houses are located right next to each other.

The next morning, we caught a train and reached Guruvayur in the afternoon. The temple looked serene, and the areas surrounding it were fully covered with roofing sheets, which gave the place a unique and pleasant feel. We spent about 3.5 hours in the queue and had a good darshan. We also got to see around four elephants inside the temple—it was nice to see elephants after a long time.

The following day, we visited the elephant camp in Guruvayur, which houses around 20 elephants in a more natural setting. It was a refreshing experience to visit a non-temple destination as well. Later, my wife had another darshan at the Guruvayur temple, waiting for nearly three hours again. During that time, my son and I watched continuous Bharatanatyam performances happening inside the temple premises. With the ongoing events, covered walkways, and constant crowd, the temple always had a festive atmosphere.

The next day, we rushed through three temples in Thrissur, as all of them would close by around 11:15 am, and then headed to Chalakudy Falls—another non-temple destination. It was a good visit too.

We then proceeded to the Kalady Temple, the birthplace of Adi Shankara. We also visited the riverbank where a crocodile caught him and held him until his mother granted him permission to take sannyāsa (monkhood). After that, we headed to Kochi (Cochin) Airport, which was just about 15 minutes from the temple.

That was the end of our trip. The flight captain wished us a Happy New Year at midnight while we were in the air, and we finally reached home just before 2 am.