Ravi Shastri visits Karvalu Vishnumurthy temple in Karkala
Udupi (Karnataka), Mar 18 (PTI): Former Indian cricketer and coach Ravi Shastri on Tuesday visited the Erlapadi Karvalu Vishnumurthy temple in Karkala taluk, Udupi district with his family.
During the visit, rituals including Panchamrita Abhisheka, Kalapokta Puja, and Nagatambila Seva were performed for the temple’s presiding deity, the original Naga deity, followed by a grand Mahapooja to Lord Vishnumurthy.
Between 2007 and 2025, Shastri visited the Karvalu Temple 13 times, offering special prayers to the Naga deity. Every time, he was escorted by his distant cousin and a former journalist, the late Manohar Prasad, but Prasad was no more, and Shastri remembered his commitment to the growth of the temple.
Shastri’s ancestors hail from Erlapadi Karvalu of Karkala taluk in Udupi district.
His grandfather, M V Shastri, was a noted doctor in Mangaluru during the 1950s, while his father, Jayadratha Shastri, pursued his education in Madras before becoming a doctor and settling in Mumbai. Though there are not many from Shastri's clan living in Karvalu, the temple devotees, elders and leaders still remember the family, said an elder of the village.
Born and raised in Mumbai, Shastri completed his education there before joining the Indian cricket team. Since the birth of his daughter, Alika, he has made it a tradition to visit the temple annually and offer prayers.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
