The first time I came to Mangalore and asked for the location of KMC office, most of the people directed us to a place called Light House Hill Road. As soon as I heard the word “light house”, I was excited. Immediately my mind was filled with images of long spiral staircases leading to a tall tower and a beam of light lighting up different parts of the city and the best part where I’m so high up and can see the beautiful city when no one knows that I am there. I considered it to be a perfect hide-out spot.
Light house hill is situated in Hampankatta which is the market place and heart of Mangalore city. When the auto-wala dropped us there, I began looking for a light house and my eyes caught sight of it. There it was, a long and a lean tower though it didn’t look like it functioned anymore. KMC, MCODS and St.Aloysius colleges are situated in this road. 
There are book stores like Pranith medical books , Hero apron shop, Goodies, Misty Blues, Nallapad residency, Jos Allukas, Adlabs and a variety of shops which sell clothes, footwear and all materialistic things.There are a few famous religious places like the St. Aloysius Chapel and the Idgah mosque. There is a City Central Library located close to St. Aloysius College. This library is run by the Mangalore City Corporation. There are several branches for city central library within Mangalore.
The history of this place is quite fascinating. Originally, this “Light House” was built by Hyder Ali, a ruler of Mysore. The huge watchtower in the hill served as a base for the British, from where many resident commanders of the British Navy would monitor the movement of travelling ships. The base of the light house has a library, with a reading room named after Karnad Sadashiv Rao, a renowned freedom fighter.
Interestingly, this name seems to be common. There is a hill named Light house hill in the New York City borough of Staten Island. Lighthouse Hill is also a 2004 British comedy film directed by David Fairman and starring Jason Flemyng, Kirsty Mitchell and Frank Finlay. If a small place can hold these many secrets, then imagine just how many more are hidden. Any place can be interesting if we care to explore it and often there are surprises popping up. So, folks be alert and get ready to explore places in namma Mangaluru.
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