MANGALORECITY:MANGALORE AS A CITY

It might seem amusing now that in 1982 when I was asked to appear for counselling at present day NIT Suratkal I did not know where it existed and later was told it was in Mangalore also called Mangaluru in the vernacular...my earliest visit to this city was in 1982. Of late I visit the city on Holiday.

Many must be wondering how to reach this place.It is some 350 kilometers from Bangalore on the Arabian Sea coast by bus ..the bus traversing through Kunigal, Hassan and Sakleshpura and would take around 9 hours.Also note the place is accessible through many other points like Madikeri. Mangalore has an Airport which is connected to cities both national and international.There are many private buses that commute between Bangalore and Mangalore.

The State bus stand at Mangalore exists at a place called Lalbagh. Mangalore has typical coastal weather and has heavy rains during Monsoon.The city of  Udupi is some sixty kilometers from Mangalore along the sea coast.Mangalore has many beaches and one of them seen at Panambur on the Mangalore- Udupi highway and is said to be a violent beach with water currents and many are advised not to swim there.

One of the key temples in Mangalore among others is the Mangala Devi temple few kilometers from the city close to a place called Bolar..The name Managaluru is attributed to Mangaladevi Goddess.

  

Mangalore was called possibly Majarur in the past and was a key trading center in association with Elimali the modern day Ezhumala on the Arabian coast and was for many years under the dominion of the Kolathiri kings of Malabar before if fell into the hands of the Ikkeri Nayaks and later into the hands of the Mysore Kingdom. The language Tulu spoken by a large section of the populace has some similarity with the language spoken in Malabar.

What does the city of Mangalore look like...In the past it was a simple fishing village before the Portuguese influence gave it a more westernised colour and tinge possibly in the early decades of the seventeenth century establishing Churches and Educational Institutions.

The basic framework of Mangalore emerged from around a circular road that can be traced even today..the circle formed by Light House Hill Road to Pandeshwar to Mangaladevi to Kankanady and Valencia to the Bijai Church and back to the Hampankatta circle through Jyothi circle.This was the major through fare through which the city breathed since time immemorial and various institutions of significance emerged alongside this circular stretch. Bunder which was the port of ancient times fed economically this "Economic Circle" if one may call it. Within this circle were arterial roads which can be seen even today one of them being the road through Falnir and even the Balmatta road.