Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     
   
 
 
 
 
India
 
Hebridean Sky
 
Sri Lanka
 
India
 

Day 13: Mangalore, Karnataka

A morning at sea. Later, we tour a cashew processing plant before
visiting Aloysius Chapel and Gokarnath Temple in central Mangalore.
Friday 28th February 2025
After two busy days in Kerala, we were happy to have a morning free as we completed the not inconsiderable distance up the coast to Karnataka state and its major industrial port city of Mangalore. (Mangalore changed its name to Mangaluru in 2014, but was referred to in its anglicised form in all of the literature we were given, so we're sticking to the old name for now).
 
 
By 11:30, having picked up the pilot a bit earlier, we were at the entrance to Mangalore's harbour.
 
 
 
While we were having an early lunch, we docked and a red carpet was rolled out for us!
 
 
Wendy, as ever, went out before us to ensure that everything was in order for us to go ashore.
 
 
 
As we got ready to disembark, a welcome party began to assemble.
 
What a lovely welcome it was...
 
...with warm smiles and drummers lining the passageway leading into the port building.
 
 
We joined a short queue in the immigration hall before heading out to our waiting coaches. The process was quick. The officials only glanced at the documents we’d been given previously, with no stamping required today!
 
The published itinerary for this afternoon was accurate, except that we did it in reverse order.
 
The map on the left shows our short drive north from the port (about 15 minutes in total) to the cashew processing plant. The other map shows the longer route that we took afterwards, driving south into the centre of the city for the chapel and temple visits (approx 30km round trip).
 
Sue ensured that we were comfortable in the coach and introduced us to our guide for the afternoon.
 
After a short drive, we arrived at the Kalbavi cashew plant, situated in the large industrial area close to the port.
 
 
 
 
On display were packets of cashews for sale.
 
 
 
We were given a comprehensive tour of the plant. We were pleased that we brought our headsets and earpieces with us, because there was a lot of commentary and it was quite noisy once we got inside.
 
We were shown all the processes and procedures listed below (except for harvesting obviously).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We were asked not to take photos of any of the workers without their permission. When asked, all of them indicated that they were happy to be photographed.
 
 
It was good to see their child labour policy, but we were slightly concerned about the high level of noise in the plant. Our guide asked the supervisor about this. She replied that all employees are offered ear-defenders, but prefer not to wear them.
 
 
 
 
At the end of the tour, it was back on the coach for the drive south, past the port and into the centre of Manglalore.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Our first stop within the city was here at St. Aloysius, which is a private, co-educational, Jesuit university, founded in 1880 as St. Aloysius College. (We noticed that every reference to it was careful to qualify its status with the words "deemed to be university", as if to suggest that there might be some dispute over that).
 
Within the grounds of the university is St. Aloysius Chapel which was the reason we had come here.
 
As the sign says, "photography & videography prohibited"...
 
...so these images have been downloaded from elsewhere.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Within the grounds of the university and within a building called the Mangalore Jesuit Educational Society, is the St. Aloysius Museum, known as Aloyseum. It houses a large, eclectic collection of artifacts such as stone age tools, postal stamps, Roman coins, pieces of the Berlin Wall, drawings of Antonio Moscheni, paintings of European artists, spears and arrows of Abyssinia, Neolithic stone axe, telegraphic equipment, Mangalore's first car and generator, whale skeleton, old musical instruments, etc. We had about 30 minutes to look around, so there was no way to do it justice.
 
The first car in Mangalore was prominently displayed.
 
Back on the coach, we drove on towards our final destination for today.
 
Hazrath Saidani Bibi Sahiba - a dargah (tomb or shrine) attracts pilgrims irrespective of religion, caste or gender.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mangalore Clock Town in Hampankatta.
 
 
 
 
An impressive looking chariot at Temple Square (Sri Venkataramana Temple).
 
 
 

We soon arrived at Gokarnanatheshwara Temple. After taking off our shoes, we explored the large site. We weren't sure of the significance of everything we were looking at, but there was plenty to feast the eyes upon!

(As one commentator remarked, it keeps devotees "spellbound, speechless and eye-captivating!").
 
From the entrance, we could see the temple itself beyond. There are also several sub-shrines in the grounds.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We couldn't go inside unfortunately, because the opening time was 4:00pm and that was the time that we needed to leave the site and return to the ship.
 
We did manage to get some photos of the interior by peering through the windows.
 
 
 
 
This video goes some way to explain some of what we had seen.
 
 
 
It was soon time to leave...
 
...and drive back to the port.
 
 
The welcome party had disappeared and was replaced by port security and other staff.
 
 
 
 
The local agents, however, were there to say goodbye to us.
 
At 5:30pm, the gangplank was raised and we departed.
 
 
Shortly after leaving the port, the pilot boat drew up and the pilot disembarked.
 
After another lovely day and a good overnight weather forecast, we were hoping for a peaceful night as we began the 178 nautical mile voyage from here to Goa.
 
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble