there is a railway station called 'gokarna road'... its south of goa. buy a ticket to this station, get down, and walk for about 1km outside (no need to take an autoriksha for 100's of rupees)... you will reach a road, and if you can wait for few minutes, you will get bus to gokarna main town and beach areas, for rs. 15/-
get off at gokarna main bus stop/stand... its not a big place, but not totally rural either. there are many cool and quiet beaches nearby. there is a gokarna main beach, which is not preferred, as its too commercial. (what makes a beach commercial or coveted one is difficult to define). from gokarna beach left corner, there is a small path leading up, which takes you to kundle beach (its not pronounced as 'table, but e sound is used). to the left of kundle beach, 20 minute trekking through small hill takes you to om beach.
om beach is even more quiet and have less shops and restaurants. from om beach, towards left, are half moon beach and paradise beach. there are boats going to these beaches, but walking through hill areas, and even some rock climbing is part of it, so its much more exciting. to enjoy riding in a boat, take it on the way back.
in paradise beach, there were about 20-30 people... there are no shacks or huts or anything... people were ultra social and friendly. thats what non-commercial beaches bring out in you. commercial one's make you want to bargain and be competitive ;)
in kundle beach, there are volleyball nets tied up on poles, at different parts of the beach. generally its ok to talk to a group playing it and join them.. beach volleyball is more tiring as loose sand makes your movements happen as if in slow motion. it took me some time to get used to it and understand timing.
but, best of all, these places are best to be on barefoot... sand and sea makes footwears useless, unless you want to keep them prisoners. but, even in such places, you see people who just want to get drunk and shout, as they think, its the only way to have fun.
someone i met, some from outside india, commented as part of the conversation, 'i have seen most immature people in india... it wasn't surprising to hear such a comment. it could be even rephrased into more politically incorrect phrase, that is, 'indians are the most immature people of the world'.. though, what is immature is not easy to define. there are so many of them around, either walking with slouched shoulders, with a constant scowl on their face, either giving sneak looks at other people or openly staring at them, demanding service in a rude way to other people, such as hotel, restaurant, and any other staff, as if they are beneath them, and bargaining in crude ways. most of them hell bent on faking it as much as possible. imitating what others are doing, because, they never had time to relax and think what they exactly want to do.
in the evenings, during sunset, many hippie like people, wearing all sorts of clothes, hair styles, sitting on beach and playing different instruments, in groups or alone. the groups informally form some form of orchestra and a sense of rhythm and peace forms around. there are people doing yoga alone, or group yoga and create human pyramids. at night, people light a candle in the sand, for symbolic fire and sit around it and discuss. the 5 elements come together... fire, water (sea), earth, skies and air. and make people realize their tribal spirit, connect to our ancestors who lived like this long ago. shanti, shanti shanti hi...
No comments:
Post a Comment