Cricketer Ravi Shastri visits native place to worship family deities

Cricketer Ravi Shastri visits native place to worship family deities

Mangalore Today News Network

Karkala, Dec  7, 2011 : Ravi Shashtri, the former Indian cricket team member and internationally acclaimed commentator, visited Lord Mahavishnumurthy Temple and the nagabana at Karvalu on Dec 6 Tuesday.

Shastri was delivering the commentary on the one-day India vs. West Indies match in Ahmedabad yesterday and had caught the Tuesday morning flight to Mumbai, after which he had flown to Mangalore.

Shastri’s native place is Karvalu, and Lord Mahavishnumurthy is their family deity.

Shashtri had visited the temple and the nagabana five years back with his family and had offered puja there, after which the couple got a daughter called Alaika. Since then, Shashtri has been an annual visitor to the temple. His present visit is his fifth. 
 
The cricketer was accompanied by Kavita S. Shastri and Dr. Santhosh Kumar Shastri. He offered puja to Lord Ganapathy, the nagas, Lord Mahvishnumurthy, and Durgaparameshwari. As usual, he also donated to the Bailoor School and the temple.

K. Somashekar Rao and G. Chandrashekar Hegde, the president of the temple trust, honored him on behalf of the temple. Speaking on the occasion, Shashtri said that he has established an emotional bond with this place and that it has changed him in a special way.

 

Shashtri also felicitated Pramod Kumar, the sub inspector of the Karkala Police Station, who bears the credit of solving several thefts in a short time. He also honored Jappu Chidananda Naik and Mr. and Mrs. Asha Naik for their support of cricket in Qatar. Manohar Prasad, the bureau chief of Udayavani; Anand K., the vice president of Udayavani; and H. Yuvaraj Naik were present on the dais, along with a number of local influential people.

Ravi Shashtry spent the night of Tuesday at Manipal. He will visit Shirur Mutt today before going to Indore through Mumbai.