Sugganahalli Visit

30-Sep-2006:

Main Deity: Lakshmi Narasimha

Speciality: Standing Posture (Rare for Narasimha) – in the same way as he gave dharshan to a rishi.

Today we visited Sugganahalli, another beautiful Perumal koil in Karnataka. We went by Maruthi Car driven by our driver, Shibi. (Interesting episode about Maruthi later).

Address: Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple, Sugganahalli, Kudur Hobli, Magadi Taluk, 91-80-775 1002

Route and timing: We left our home in Malleswaram, Bangalore at 8.20AM and went towards Nelamangala (or Neelamangala) where we took the left turn, NH48 towards Hassan (about 1 hour and 24 KM). Then we reached Solur (1.5 hr and 42KM from home). From Solur, we took a right turn towards Kudur (called as Ku – dhoor). We proceeded beyond Kudur (1 hour 50 min, 53KM from home) to reach Sugganahalli at about 10.40AM, covering a distance of 64 KM.

Temples and Murthys: Lakshmi Narasimha, Amruthavalli. There is also the garden reared by the rishi; there is a rare Chakrathalwar sannathi. The interesting spot is the Sthamba Narasimha, about 2-3 KM away. In the middle of the field – a small building.

Interesting Events in travel: The Maruthi car just stopped on the return journey as we were leaving Kudur. There was a person (my God! I did not even ask for his name!) on a two wheeler who took my driver and left him near a two wheeler mechanic. The mechanic came in his two wheeler along with his friend and my driver. He tried doing several things – and the car would not start. Then he went below the car and tapped certain place – and lo, it was an empty container’s noise. He became thrilled and told us that it was in deed lack of petrol. We were puzzled – though the petrol indicator was behaving erratically, it cannot be an empty tank. Anyway, there was not much choice. The mechanic’s friend took the driver who in turn took Rs 300 for 5 litres of petrol.

Guess what, the car in deed started after adding petrol.

I asked the mechanic for his fee. He said that I could give whatever I felt like. I gave him Rs 100 – and he said that I needed to give him only Rs 50. Real village honesty – we were in deed moved.

With fear in the heart, we started the journey. May be the mileage of the car has reduced to something like 5KM per petrol? Does it mean, can we reach the next pump safely?

God was with us. We reached Solur and located a pump. We wanted to try the full tank and we did not have money for it. Fortunately the pump was accepting Credit Card. I checked with him twice. He confirmed it. He inserted the pump in the tank and started the pump – and it was just 20 sec or so – he had to stop it. It was FULL TANK already. And, he filled petrol only for Rs 140! Oh…oh…what is happening? Was his diagnosis wrong? How could he sense an empty tank?

With thousand questions and zero answers, we proceeded towards Bangalore – and we went on changing our positions. The mechanic was a god send person the first moment. No..no…he did not know his job the next moment.

Second times, Guess what – the car again stopped near Penya. Similar method. In the middle of the peak traffic. Fortunately, there was some space in the side. We moved the car there. There was no mechanic nearby. So, we called our favorite ‘family mechanic’ the Iyengar. He is a very efficient man. Over phone, he collected the details and through a remote diagnosis, suggested what should be done: the fuel pump might have become hot. Cover it with a damp cloth for a few minutes. Then it should start.

We did that. Like the lady who goes around (circumambulate) the peepul tree for a child and then at the end of it, checks if the child has in deed come, we kept trying to see if the car starts. The driver removed the tube feeding into the circular pump and kept sucking petrol through it (the tube) to see if the petrol flow is there. No, there was no flow. Then he found that the end was kind of cut and he trimmed it and then sucked again.

I have a feeling that the tube had some holes and cuts at the feeding point and with running, the tube became hot and the sucking did not have any effect. But, we will know the real picture only with passage of time.

Let us see. Till date, it is running OK.