I woke up in the morning pretty early to get some yoga in and be sure to pack up appropriately. Mohamed was going to take me to the airport, and you know we had to get some dosas before making the journey.

Fortunately because it was a Sunday the traffic was going to be fairly light, but you still cannot take any chances.

Rather than going to MTR, Mohamed had another place he wanted to take me. Little did he know that I had already been to Taaza Thindi the day before! Elated I was to go back. Because we were there before 9AM on a Sunday, it was fairly empty and we were able to procure food fairly quickly. I kept it simple, 1 dosa/vadai/idli/coffee.

As we made our way to the airport Mohamed told me he had one more stop for us. It was slightly past the airport by a couple of km, and was the birth place of Tippu Sultan, the owner of the palace we visited a couple days before.

We made our way on the highway and saw the aftermath of a terrible accident. As Mohamed is in close contact with a group of drivers, it turned out that there was a group of people on fast bikes and one got in an accident. Broke the bike in half. Their friend had passed and it was very sad seeing all of them on the side of the road distraught. A reminder to us all to be safe when on the roads.

We made our way to the fort that contained the birth place of Tippu Sultan.

I had no idea that behind this fort would be such a huge village! It was its own miniverse (shout out Rick and Morty). It was pretty incredible, this village with everyone one could need operating outside the major city. We drove around and came to the birthplace!

I got to the airport and got all checked in for my flight to Mangalore. Natasha said the night before that it was probable this flight would be on a “prop plane”. I said huh? She said propeller. I said oh shoot. She was right.

Got on board, and this plane was a tiiiiiight sqeeze. You could barley put anything in the overhead storage space, and I had to squeezeeee my bag into the ‘space’ underneath the seat in front of me. I promptly went to sleep, and there were a couple of sudden drops in the air on the approach to land that had me sweating. But then we landed in Mangalore!

After being scared that my bag didn’t make it, I went outside and was met by my aunt, Athai Goda. She is my dad’s youngest (and only) sister. It was so fantastically amazing to see her. I haven’t seen her in at least 15 years.

We got to the cab and started making our way to lunch, and eventually to Udupi, a town 2.5km from Manipal where Shruthi, Athai’s daughter, works as a professor.

The ride was so amazing! We got to lunch and had another Thali. Oh my goodness it was soo good, and they had puris!

The rest of the car ride went by so quickly. We were just catching up as if not a beat was missed. Talking about family, and, well…mostly family.

We arrived home and I was met by their pups Chinny and Chikki, and I was able to give Shruthi a hug as well. I cannot remember the last time I saw Shruthi!

I brought my things upstairs to my room, and got in an afternoon yoga after the flight. I’ve noticed that after flying my hips, especially on my (bad) left side get really tight. Once complete, I showered up, and Shruthi and I made our way the door.

We drove by the university that she teaches.

She told me that Manipal is a university town, with a number of top tier programs int eh country located here. She is a professor in HR, and was working in Bangaluru before taking her dream job here. This school is where she met Benji, her husband, and where she compelted her masters. I completely understood the circular feeling of coming back, similar to both LHS and TCNJ.

Also, we popped out to the liquor store to procure some beverages for the evening. They wanted $75 for Johnny Black…crazy! We got Antiquity, a really smooth blend and brought it back home.

And started digging in.

We just chatted and chatted and chatted away. Athai and I chatted ¾ of that bottle away. About what I cannot really tell you, but mostly revolving around family, reminiscing, and food. And gossiping. So much gossiping.

Also, Athai made SO MUCH AMAZING FOOD. This night we had some parathas and chole with another vegetable. So delicious.

Before I knew it was 10:30 and time for bed! We said our goodnights as Athai and I would be heading out the next day around 9AM for some temple visits.