The private bus you have
taken for the sixty km trip from Udupi to Mangalore feels like a DTC Bus. A
boisterous bunch of students from Delhi and Noida studying in the Manipal
colleges are going on their pilgrimage to gorge on familiar burgers and
multiplex flicks. Apparently, even Udupi food needs a change sometimes! Independence
Day will be best celebrated with some MNC’s burgers and a Hollywood movie in
Mangalore.
As the students engage in
their typical intelligent Delhi banter like you used to, years ago, on your
weekly forays into Maharashtra’s Aurangabad from your suburban hostel, it seems the bus ride has suddenly transported you back from the Konkan to your familiar
city. It is too early to be thinking of going back to Delhi so for the next few minutes
you dive into google to figure out the afternoon’s program.
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| Mangalore's Jewel Box - St. Aloysius Chapel |
There was no particular
reason though to come see Mangalore. You really don’t associate Mangalore with
anything except maybe folks with the name Shetty who hail from the city and yes, Aishwarya Rai!. Or maybe the
fact that the city is in Konkan and will be the logical end of the Konkan
journey if you ever undertook it and yes; the city’s name rhymes with
Bangalore.
In no time the bus
deposits you in the middle of a city you are still not sure about. You have not
even looked up hotels before catching the bus in Udupi. It has happened to you
before. As the trip takes effect over a period of days, you let spontaneity
take over. Just yards away from where you get off the bus there is a hotel with
an airy large room. See, things work out themselves if you let them and this is
the cheapest and biggest room you have encountered so far and that too in the
biggest city!
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| Climbing the Lighthouse Hill |
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| Kasturba Medical College on the way on Lighthouse Hill Road |
You deposit your bag and come back on the streets with the google map showing the way to the only
attraction you have in mind. It is afternoon and you have few hours of sunshine
to walk around the streets. The food banter in the bus makes you realise that
it is not a bad idea to have some burgers yourself later and maybe catch a movie
before you head out back into the Konkan paradise in the morning.
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| Mangalore Ladies Club - really? - established 1923 |
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| The Idgah on the way to St Aloysius College - It is said Tipu Sultan built it with the stone from the razed Milagres Church |
Cursory research in the
bus is throwing the same place high up on the must see tourist attractions list
of Mangalore. You are going to see the marvellous St. Aloysius Chapel. Mangalore
is apparently built on hills and the undulating roads are making the progress
slow. But you like what you see about the city. There is an unhurried pace to
the life. Folks seem nice on the roads. Like Udupi, it seems Mangalore too is a
student town as you keep bumping into groups of students. The place has a
cosmopolitan feel to it. The hilly roads have always disoriented you and it is
after asking for directions several times you enter the St. Aloysius College
campus on Lighthouse Hill.
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| The 'Ferned' walls have been the feature throughout Konkan |
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| The first view of St Aloysius College, Mangalore |
A driveway with walls covered
with grass and ferns lead you into the college campus. You like what you are
seeing. A clean colourful set of buildings come into view. The predominant
colour of the buildings is the pleasant looking grey blue. It seems you have just landed in Shimla or Darjeeling.
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| St. Aloysius High School in Mangalore Karnataka |
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| The Beautiful St. Aloysius College, Mangalore |
On the right is the St.
Aloysius College building. The autonomous Jesuit college was established in
1885 and counts Booker Prize winner Aravinda Adiga, politician George Fernandes
and ICICI Bank Chairman KV Kamath as its alumni. On the left is a sister
institution of St. Aloysius High School.
But you are here for the
building that is in the centre. This is the St Aloysius Chapel about which
people are gushing on the travel websites. You walk around the building looking
at the stained windows high above. Of course you have seen grander churches in
Old Goa few days ago. So what is special about this chapel? On the front porch
outside the seemingly locked front door you are still trying to figure out what
to do. It is Independence Day holiday after all.
And then you step inside.
Your jaw drops. The first feeling is of pure awe. You have experienced this feeling
before when you stepped inside the little Jamali Kamali Tomb in Mehrauli
Archaelogical Park or as your eyes adjusted to the pitch darkness and the
splendid technicolour decorated walls delight you inside the grand Ahmad Shah
I Tomb in Ashtur, Bidar or seeing the glint of gold plated Sone Ki Dukaan in Mahansar,
Shekhawati. You have again stepped into a Jewel Box.
Your feet just seems to
be stuck to the floor as your eyes move around in slow motion. Every inch of available
surface is painted in the most glorious colours. The walls, the ceiling, even
the pillars have been turned into one big canvas. Oh yes now that you notice,
even the floor is painted! Between the pews there is a seemingly marble staircase
leading to the altar - You are walking into the embrace of God.
While you are in the art
induced stupor some more tourists have joined the group. You realise that Henry
has apparently started giving his talk as he sits you all and goes through the
history of the place and points to the marvels all around.
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| Aloysius as a Child - Ceiling Oil on Canvas Painting |
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| St Thomas - Apostle of India - Painting over the Altar |
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| Aloysius seeking admission to the Jesuit Order |
The chapel was built by Jesuit
Missionaries in 1880. The Italian Jesuits who played an important role in the
education, health and social welfare of local catholic community also built the
St. Aloysius College next to the chapel.
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| Jesus as the Friend of Children - on the rear wall of St. Aloysius Chapel |
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| Jesus being baptized by St John |
The chapel and the
college are dedicated to St. Aloysius Gonzaga, an Italian aristocrat who was a member
of Society of Jesus. Society of Jesus is a male religious congregation of
Catholic Church which was founded by St. Ignatius of Loyala and the members are
called Jesuits. St Aloysius died young in 1591 at the age of 23 while caring
for plague epidemic victims in Rome. He was canonized in 1726. St. Aloysius is
considered as the patron of all Christian youth.
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The Bust of Br. Antonio Moscheni who painted the St Aloysius Chapel in 1899
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Now let us get to the glorious
paintings adorning the walls and ceiling. Antonio Moscheni was an Italian
Jesuit brother and painter who with a passion for painting studied the
masterpieces of Vatican. His frescoes decorate the churches in Bergamo area. He
wanted to renounce his artistic career to serve people. But seeing his talent,
he was sent to Mangalore to paint the St. Aloysius Chapel in 1898 during the
Mangalore Mission of 1878. He is buried in the Jesuit cemetery of Cochin where
he died painting the Cochin Cathedral.
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| The Pillars are not marble - they just look like marble! |
Here in St. Aloysius
Chapel, Antonio Moscheni painted for two years from March 1899 to August 1901.
His passionate work has made the chapel a worthy contender to the Sistine Chapel
of Vatican City whose ceiling was painted by Michelangelo. Here, Antonio
painted both frescoes and oil on canvas in Baroque style that uses exaggerated
motion and clear details to produce drama, tension and exuberance in painting, sculpture
and architecture. Each frame resonates with beauty and grandeur.
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| Stairway to Heaven - Painting on the floor leading to the Altar |
The paintings depict the
life of St. Aloysius, the Patron of the College on the main ceiling. The
sloping ceiling panels depict the apostles. Also depicted are Saints on the
arches. The life of Jesus Christ is shown on the walls and the ceiling of the
aisles.
If Konkan blows your mind
off with the natural vistas in monsoons, this little serene chapel is simply staggering
with its vivid painstakingly put together collage of paintings; another example
of human endeavour that is so extraordinary and yet so common across India in
her architecture, culture and art.
Henry Pereira, the Chapel
Guide, is passionate about his job and it is apparent that he loves showing the
chapel to people. He also informs that the last restoration took three years and was done from 1991 to 1994 by an INTACH team from Lucknow. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside. Henry
promises to send the photos through Whatsapp, which he does immediately. The
interior photos shown in the blog all belong to Henry. You write comments in the Visitors' Book, thank Henry and
emerge out of the Jewel Box.
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The incredible jewel box of St. Aloysius Chapel in
Mangalore, Karnataka - Chapel built in 1885 and painted from 1899 to 1901. The
paintings are an unique case of Italian painting in India that rivals that of
Sistine Chapel of Vatican City
|
Standing in front of the
unassuming building you still cannot believe that every inch of the interior is
covered with a veritable treasure of paintings that could rival the Sistine
Chapel of Vatican City – India grows incredible every minute in your travels.
The plan is to hit the
mall but it is still early evening and there is another church midway. You
catch an auto for the short ride to Hampankatta locality.
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| The beautiful Milagres Church in Mangalore |
You are standing in the
parking lot of another church with its exterior again painted in the same easy
on the eyes greyish-blue. This is the pleasant looking Milagres Church or
Church of Our Lady of Miracles. There is a service going on inside and you hang
around soaking in the sun.
Milagres Church is one of the oldest churches in the
area and was first built in 1680 by Bishop Thomas de Castro of Goa. Tipu Sultan, reportedly razed the church in 1784 and brought 60000 Mangalorean Catholics to
Seringapatama as prisoners. Tipu suspected them of siding with the British in
the Second Anglo Mysore War. It is also believed that Tipu built the Idgah you
saw on the way to St Aloysius College with the stone from Milagres Church. Amazing
how history intertwines everything around you! The captives returned to
Mangalore once Tipu was killed in 1799. A chapel and then the subsequent church
was built in 1811 with the portico added later.
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| Streets of Mangalore |
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| Happy Independence Day! |
The nearest mall around
here is the City Centre mall and it is few blocks up ahead. The walk is
pleasant as you encounter Warli paintings on walls, street scenes and some remnants of celebration
of Independence Day.
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| Beautiful Warli Art decorating Mangalore's streets |
The mall is packed with
holiday revellers. Here is another surprise you are seeing for the first time. You
have never seen so many burkha clad women of all ages shopping in a mall with such
a vengeance. They are everywhere – in twos, in threes, in big groups! What is
going on? This is almost so funny seeing them with the determination and the sense of purpose as they move around holding on to their prized shopping bags. You better move out of the way before you get stomped on.
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| City Centre Mall in Mangalore |
What the heck; no you are
not going shopping yourself - you decide to feast on both burgers and pizza. Little
later you decide to check on Tom Cruise’s fifth instalment of Mission Impossible. It seems like yesterday when you watched the totally baffling but absolutely thrilling original MI
in Wisconsin. You still regard the third instalment as the most intense with the
late Philip Seymour Hoffman starring as the best villain so far of the
franchise.
Late in the evening as
you cruise the wet streets of Mangalore, you realise the city is a great place
to be in as your last stop in Konkan. It has been another wonderful day that
started with the waves of Kodi Bengare and ended with some dazzling frescoes. Maybe next
time your trip could start from Mangalore as you move down south into God’s Own
Country. Tomorrow you look forward to another sortie through the Western Ghats.
Konkan magic will continue.
Getting There
Mangalore is conveniently connected with trains and by air from Delhi and Bangalore. St. Aloysius Chapel and College is located on the Lighhouse Hill in the middle of the city.
Mangalore is 60 kms south of Udupi and Manipal
Travel Tips for St Aloysius Chapel
Photography is not allowed inside the St. Aloysius Chapel. Upon request the nice chapel guide will whatsapp the interior photos!
Visiting hours – Weekdays 8am to 6pm. Sundays 930am to 6pm. Free Admission
Contact Details of the Chapel Guide: Mr Henry Pereira – 9740908505 / 7204662885
References
Related Links on this Blog
http://justrippingg.blogspot.in/2015/12/trippingg-on-trains-konkan-railways-and.html
