Planning (Or The Lack Of It)

The previous evening, around 9:30 p.m., my son ran into my cousin's son on the way back home. All of a sudden the two of them cooked up an idea: Ghati Subramanya Temple, first thing the next morning. Since the whole plan came together so late in the evening, we settled on leaving home by 7:30 a.m.

We left right on time. Five of us packed into our car, and the other car had four adults and a one-year-old. Both families knew the route well enough, so we let them lead and simply followed.

The Drive (And A Detour We Didn't Plan)

That's where we made our first mistake — taking RV Road. We got stuck at the Lalbagh signal for over twenty minutes without moving an inch. Three things were working against us that morning: it was a weekend, it was peak time for morning walkers, and everyone seemed to be out checking on the Independence Day flower show arrangements at Lalbagh.

Then, without warning, the car ahead of us started taking odd left and right turns. We assumed they were dodging traffic with some shortcut. Turns out they just really wanted breakfast. They pulled up at New Modern Hotel (NMH) at around 8 a.m., and honestly, I wasn't complaining.

We ordered idli vada, masala dosa, khara bath, badam halwa and chiroti for the table. Their signature move is serving a full bucket of sambar — no rationing here. The masala dosa was crisp and genuinely tasty, the khara bath was fine, nothing special, but the badam halwa and chiroti were fresh and I really enjoyed them. We stayed almost 45 minutes and got back on the road by 8:45 a.m.

Darshan

By the time we reached the temple, the crowd had built up properly — it was a weekend, after all, and the Maha Mangala Arathi was scheduled for 10:30. With that many people around, there wasn't much chance of a long, peaceful look at the deity, but I'd been here enough times before to know exactly what to look for.

Inside, you can clearly see the idols of Subramanya and Lord Lakshmi Narasimha — the two are positioned back to back, and a mirror is angled just right so you can catch a clear reflection of Lord Narasimha even though he faces away from the main hall. It's a small detail, but it's the kind of thing that makes this temple memorable if you know to look for it.

After Darshan

Once we were out, the temple priest was handing out theertha (holy water). We took ours, walked over to the Dhwaja Stambha, and offered our prayers there. At a side table they had chandana (sandalwood paste) as prasad, which we applied on our foreheads before moving on.

Past the temple prakara, there's an open hall where annaprasada is served. We picked up cups of tomato bath being handed out as prasad, ate there, and then made our way out of the temple premises.

Shopping Near The Temple

Right outside, there's a stretch of shops selling pooja items. My husband made a beeline for kadlepuri (puffed rice) — there were four different varieties on offer. If you're here, don't skip this. It's crisper and tastier than the regular puffed rice you'd find back in the city, and it's genuinely different in a way that's hard to describe until you've tried it.

After that, we walked back to the parking area while my son went ahead to bring the car around. We were finally on our way back by about 11:30 a.m.

Vegetable Shopping On The Way Back

About a kilometre down the road, we ran into a stretch of roadside vegetable vendors on the left. We stopped, and the produce was unbelievably fresh — I picked up some dantina soppu (a leafy green), navil kosu (kohlrabi) and ladyfinger. Most of it comes straight from nearby farms. The next day, when I cooked the soppu, it tasted noticeably better than what I usually get from the regular market.

The whole trip was so last-minute that we barely had time to plan it properly, and yet it turned into one of our more memorable short trips. We were back home by 2 p.m. — tired, full, and already talking about doing it again.