A place where you can experience
everything and nothing, where peace and a blizzard of noise co-exist, something
at the turnstile that will always surprise you and bring a smile back to your
face. So, drop your guard and let the colors take you over!
Gokarna is a beach town that's on the darshan circuit
for devout hindus. However, the town in my mind is just like another religious town
in India. I wouldn’t know about this temple but perhaps that might be different
(Legend has it that Hanuman dropped a piece of the Sanjivani Parvat that he carried
over the skies on his way back from the Himalayas to Lanka). However the true
wonder of this town to the travel junkie lies in its beaches. This small town
has 5 good beaches to soak in, each of them with a different character of its
own!
To add to the wonder, each of these hemispherical beaches is
located in a horse shoe mountain range that form part of the western Ghats. So,
you can never see the next beach from your current beach and so the further you
go the more remote and sparse the beaches get. To get to the next beach you need
to trek across the edge of one horseshoe Mountain into another. It is due to
this not so easy accessibility that the beaches are perhaps the last bastions
of an ‘everything and nothing’ place (Paradise beach is at the extreme end).
Where you can find random yoga enthusiasts practicing close to a bunch of
saffron clothed hippies dancing to a melodious cacophony of absolutely unheard
instruments! All as the local dogs play football with kids and Frisbees soar
across passing fellows juggling circus devil sticks.To give Gokarna its
rightful name (The cow’s ear), you have lazying happy cows across the beach in
search for the next canopy and right spot to doze by. Where do you wish to fit
in? choose your spot!
The 4 beaches (I’ll call them the 4 brothers!) in order of
accessibility from one to the other are – Kudle Beach, Om Beach, Half Moon
Beach and Paradise Beach (Gokarna Beach is the local beach just before Kudle
Beach). Each beach is a good 20-30 mins walk from the previous and vastly
different in character. We based ourselves at the Kudle beach which in ways
along with Om beach is rightly sandwiched to make a trek to both sides of
beaches easier. We planned to spend the New Year’s on the beach and
reservations though many months in advance were hard to come by. I made a few
calls to the beach shacks but they mostly asked me to call back in early
December, which when I did only to discover that they were sold out! I
frantically googled the other options on the beach and stumbled upon Sunset
Café. Not entirely sure about the place but delighted they had an available
room (I had initially shortlisted Namaste and Om Shree Ganesh on Om Beach), I
made the advance payment and dug myself deep into bed hoping that they don’t
end up canceling (due to the peak season, there is no shortage of tourists and
you are perhaps only considered serious if you can pay 3x - 4x of the normal
rentals. While some may call this extortion, I don’t mind it – if we get
bonuses over and above our salaries / charge high fees if a client / customer
wants something pronto isn’t it only fair for them to increase rentals during
the peak season?
Ohh yes, how did we plan to reach there and head back home? –
We booked our train tickets perfectly 2 months in advance exactly at 8:00am
when IRCTC opens for reservations and we landed ourselves a WL 4/5 at 8:01 for
a 3AC and as a back-up plan at 8:15 at a WL 23/24 for SL! Incredible but I
hoped my train luck would not die on me this time. My learning – during festive
season book your tickets immediately when the counters open. The train journey
from Mangalore to Gokarna is a lovely 4 hour picturesque ride aboard the
Matsayagandha Express, this stretch covers half of the Konkan railways and runs
parallel to beaches and over the backwaters and through tunnels deep in the mountains.
Reaching Kudle beach (or Om Beach) in the night from the
station makes you feel like you’ve come to a safari destination as the car
snakes its way through the jungle with strong woody scents with a jungle dog
crossing the road. I can’t imagine how people use two wheelers during the night
time here (though they do!). Relieved that we had finally arrived at a place
(the parking area for Kudle), we were told that the next 100 metres we would be
on our own. Excited by having almost reached our destination but weary from the
train journey we lifted our bags and made way for the clearing. With a torch in
one hand and 2 bags in another, both of us trekked through the highly uneven,
at times sandy and at times rocky path heading southwards to the beach. It
isn’t at all a bad idea to take a pitstop 5-10 minutes into the descent, you’ll
need it. As we walked further and finally reached the end of the path, Hola!
there lay beach infront of us but where be Sunset Café? Walk ahead we did.
Also, to better appreciate our predicament we had 2 large duffle bags and a large
suitcase and beach sand to drag the suitcase by. Not the best of times to have
luggage on you (rucksacks – the holy grail for travel!). Sunset café sits smack
in the middle of the beach, once we reached the place Prasad (or ‘uncle’ as
many call him) greeted us with a big grin and offered us some cold beverages seeing
the sweat on our brows. There are only a few rooms here with attached washrooms
so we had our fingers crossed on getting
one. Uncle obliged and we rejoiced! He did mention that these rooms are quite
in demand, I couldn’t appreciate this entirely till into a few days of our
stay. For the bachelor or an overt beach junkie the thatched huts could very
well be comfy but when you sprout white hair grey and a paunch seems to be the
only constant in a sea of variables, some comfort even though basic is bliss in
the near wild. Without taking anything away from the rooms, you do need to shed
many inhibitions as you stay in any shacks by the beach. This doesn’t have to
do with hygiene but with a choice, you can either stay in the duveted hotels
overlooking the beach close to the parking area, or stay at the nicey looking
Kudle Beach International, or the wayyy pricey Namaste Yoga farm with balconies
overlooking the sea, or Jungle Lodges at Om beach, whichever ways we were delighted
with our choice of a mud hut at Sunset Café. With lovely country and jazz music
humming in the café, rooms where you can hear the roar of the waves and where
the first thing in the morning you can see as you open the door is the beach,
why would you choose any other place? J
Fresh from a shower and dazzled that we got acco during the
season, we were set to have dinner at the Café. I was pleasantly surprised to
see a fairly large spread in the Menu – Israeli, Spanish, continental, pizza,
pastas and a variety of the season’s catch! A cold beer to down the diner, a
day long train journey and the gentle breeze of the sea sent to me to my next
destination – the bed! The thing about shacks is that you’re lucky there’s acco
by the beach so everything you expect in a hotel is slightly upside down, and
as I said before it’s a choice J With a
mosquito net over the bed, I think a safe night’s sleep is fairly assured if
you have good neighbors! The construct of the shacks give way to inter-room
communication at all times of the day and at all places!
Day I:
830 am, the sun in its rise, arms stretched, combed and a
spring in our steps we stepped out after some hearty breakfast (the breakfast
fares are excellent options for a full meal). As Sunset Café is smack in the
middle of the beach, you get to see a lot of action including the local
fisherfolk getting their nets out. They lay their nets sometime in the evening
and every morning around 8, they start actually ‘pulling’ the nets ashore. It’s
akin to a tug of war! With help from the people around the beach the tug of war
goes on for almost 45 minutes till the entire net is onshore. They start the
pulling from the centre and to avoid getting the nets entangled they have lay
the nets by the beach, only to end up with the fish net at the corner of the
beach. As the nets reach the beach, there’s an explosion of curious onlookers -
some clicking pictures, some enquiring about the catch and some looking for
fish and crabs that they can still be sent back to the sea. Here are a few pics
including one where a sting ray is sent back to sea.
Since it was Goood morning time, you will also see folks
exercising on the beach, stretching, doing calisthenics, push-ups, crunches,
Yoga and people like us lazying around.
Walking through the beach with waves crashes at ankle depth,
you will be amazed to see the wonderful little sea creatures brushing by the
beach close to your feet, tiny crabs in shells, starfishes and other tiny sea
fauna, the early bird is bound to get its catch, literally!
As you walk towards the end of the beach, Bougain Villa, Sea
Rock Café, Little Paradise Café, the German Bakery, the Old Pizzeria Place, The
Spanish Place, Ayurveda Café, Ganga Café will pass you by. To my mind most of
the shacks are variants of one another but for the odd looking hotel – Gokarna
International smack next to the shacks. There’s a vibe, an energy, a certain
still comfortable laziness that sweeps you by when you stay in a beach shack.
Apparently, Sunset Café at Kudle beach, Namaste Café at Om beach and another
shack on Paradise beach are owned by three brothers, we met with one of them –
Gopala, a happy BJP supporting enthusiast who was delighted that we were
perhaps the first folks his shack had welcomed from Gujarat. They mostly get
weekend backpackers
from Bangalore and some folk from Mumbai.
If you decide to explore the other beaches as we did, there
are a few travel options (1) Trekking (2) Rickshaw and (3) a boat ride. I
strongly recommend the trek, a Rickshaw ride is a faux way to get the next
Beach – Om Beach (you have to go uphill to get a rickshaw and once the rickshaw
reaches you have to go downhill again – completely not worth the time). If you plan to make the climb to Om Beach,
some wisdom to the parched throat is a coconut seller just as the rocky path
begins. Sip in some cool coconut water (pricey!) as you gaze the beach and on
your left see some Yoga enthusiasts in exotic postures! One that we saw a few
times was a man lying on his back with his legs raised up from the waist. Gradually
a lady began to push herself up and settled striking a delicate balance on the
man’s soles of his feet!
The trek leads you through a parking stretch, through a
mound, an almost visible path and finally over a garden. To know you have
arrived, there a fence that has a turnstile type opening and once you reach the
end of the garden you have to jimmy yourself through the gate. You will meet
hippies, travelers and shack caretakers shuttling crates of booze and drinks between
the two beaches.
As I mentioned earlier in the post, Om Beach is a busy beach
and expect crowds at the entrance. For some reason people gather at the edges
of beaches in India (or is it everywhere?), perhaps that’s because they have
walked so much and once you see the beach, you want to let down your worries and
drop then & there! J Namasate
Café (highly recommended) set at the start of the beach is a good pitstop to
down a cold beer and some chips after the trek. There’s a small shop going at
Namaste that’s perhaps your best ‘shopping’ bet across the beaches. A must buy is
the khadi (hemp) kurtas and multi colored PJs. There are also a few beach
hawkers selling beads, khadi clothes and such. But if you plan to shop – you
can count on this place for variety. There’s also place next to Ganga Café on
Kudle but is much smaller.
The first bit of the beach is slightly uninteresting and you
must walk to the second half to get into the action! With folks playing
volleyball, guys flying the Frisbee and catching them on a finger to a backhand
catch and through the legs to flinging it back, this place is Frisbee country
and how! We saw a bunch of folks digging a 10 metre ditch downhill from one of
the shacks and opening into the sea, when someone asked around – one of them
said – ‘this is to let the water flow’, now while you may wonder which side
gravity works but do consider the effect of herbs on these gentlemen and then
you will see the answer isn’t one to be reasoned with :)
We then decided to sit on the beach taking in the Sun and
watching the waves chase each other. A few minutes into our sojourn, there was
a gentle nudge on my knee. As I turned, there was a beach dog tapping a
friendly paw on my knee! Not sure how to react, we shooed the dog away only to
see that he went a few steps back only to be welcomed by a bunch of hippies
sitting behind us, the dog was joined by another and they both spent time
socializing with beach folks. I exclaimed to my wife, WOW those canines can
communicate! As you will see later in this write-up, the animals on the beach
seem to float around in an alternative state of blissfulness by the beach.
Once you have taken in the sights and sounds of Om, and luckily
have the Sun on your side it is time to pack-up and move to the next beach –
Half Moon beach. This is by far the most interesting of the treks across the
beaches. The trek takes a good 30 minutes as you find your way between a tad confusing
path in the thicket. A 100 metre stretch in the trek has a splendid view of the
Arabian sea as you tread through a narrow muddy path on the edge of the cliff (
you need to be careful and must avoid this path during the rains). You will
reach a crossroad during the journey, one of which goes into the woods and the
other path leads you to the beach. It’s definitely a good idea to ask fellow travelers
for the right turn and yeah do confirm the path once more as well (as we did
only to know that we took a wrong ‘advised’ turn!). 
Alas, for us this was the end of our trek
with Kudle seeming a good 2 hours away. After downing a cooler, emptying our tanks
(courtesy the beer, water and a cooler) we set back to Om and then finally to Kudle.
Mid way between Om Beach and Half moon, we accidentally took a path towards the
cliff and ended up in a clearing where a couple of backpackers had pitched in a
tent, with a campfire going on one side and a lazy hammock flung between two
branches by the other! What I love about the trek, is that you bump into a
variety of folks, each recognizing the distance the other has walked and
sharing notes on how long the trek is and voila! An instant camaraderie is
established! This along with the sights and woody scent on the trek makes a
worn-out trekker spring back into life at the next twist and bend. We reached
back at Sunset café just in time to catch the ‘sunset’ and to take forty winks before
heading out for the evening.
There are fairly good dinner options at the Café (and the beach), most
have large potions. We settled for a Pizza, noodles and a Banofi pie for
dessert at cafe itself (must try). Booze options on the beach are a tad dry – there apparently
is some issue with selling hard liquor on the beach, and you need to settle
between beer and the standard cocktails. Don’t expect some bomber shots,
tequila shots etc.
Walking late in the night on the beach is fairly safe as there
are quite a few people taking a stroll and you do have a few cops doing their
rounds by just to ensure the odd over the top chap isn’t making a scene.
Sleep – this is something I had a challenge with! you need to
be lucky to get the right neighbors. We weren’t and were privy to a saas bahu
sounding serial / movie, commentary from a cricket match and to top it off -
some unheard really slow music (I’m a music lover – but at 1130pm when you are
about to hit the sack, this generally isn’t a favorite). Surprisingly there was
no talk – only these strange serials etc at a shack by the beach at midnight
(get a life!!!) As travelers, wherever we travel, we make a conscious attempt
to be cognizant about the peace of our neighbors at night, and am sure they in
turn can avoid the movie and serials for a few nights especially when the tin
roof and sound padding is friendly to noise and voice exchange! J
Day II:
We spent the next day lazying at the beach by sipping some
coffee. The most interesting hour was watching a couple pitching a tent (Sand
bags that hold a large sheet at its corners, the sea breeze keeps the sheet up
and the sand bags keep the sheet from flying away). What started as sun bathing
as they read turned into a cacophony of sorts. Within a few minutes of setting
up the tent, a dog settled into the shade and decided to take a nap. Within
some minutes of this, the hawkers decided to squat here in hope that the couple
buys some gear. And to top it all and not miss the action, a cow lingering
nearby thought to walk by and join this herd. So, with the cow at one corner, a
dog at another, hawkers at the fore and the couple in the middle – this became
an interesting flock! Finally, the couple decided to pack-up and call it a day,
not after giving passersby some moments of laughter. There are many characters
you can see around – some that caught my eye - a Noah like looking dude with a large
stick and a lady heavily dressed in black flowing robes.
We decided to take a long walk in the evening for one last
time, somewhere in-between we saw a lone traveler and a beach dog playing
football together. The guy would kick the ball towards the dog and the dog
brought it back and so-on. Kids joined in the fun and the dog kept them
company. When another canine thought to join in, the football dog spared and turned
him away. This is surely the first time we saw such engaging football. As if
this were a scene from a long past book, close by a bunch of hippies settled
down and played their musical instruments and chanted a song they had written, they
were gradually joined by many passersby into what eventually became a large disarranged
diaspora knit together with music, sand, peace and the odd herbs J.
To sum up our experience the Beatles number 'Lucy in the sky with diamonds’perfectly describes the beaches of Gokarna–
a place where everyone does their own thing, where you breathe in the song of the
place, where you let go of your city inhibitions, a place where you might just
meet a friendly stranger and a place where you can experience everything and nothing!
What we couldn’t do – Take a boat hopping trip from Kudle to
Om to Half Moon to Paradise and back. Take the trek from Half moon beach to
Paradise beach (a 30 minutes walk, we heard the beach is worth the trek)
What you should do – Get loads of Sun block if your skin is
sensitive to the overhead sun.
So Gooookarna, and have a blast :) :) :)
