Having been down with a flu today, this one is from the archives, I thought of jolting down my trip to Gokarna. It was way back in December 2008. This is all from memory, and I have a selective memory, so here it goes..
Its been a long time: It started with Gururaj (Guru) wanting to go to Idagunji (Shri Mahaganapathi Temple), and he managed to talk Rohit (Roti), Harsh (dude from the west), Sanjeeb (dude from the east), and myself into it.
Sakkat falls: Initially, the plan was to go to Dabbe falls and trek to the falls, camp there for 1 night, trek back and catch a bus to Bangalore the next night. Once we boarded the bus to Honnavar, the heavens opened up and almost all through the way it was raining. We got down at Honnavar took a tempo/minibus to Idagunji, and after the darshan, we took a red bus and back to Honnavar. After a local version of Coca-Cola (A-One) and having waited in the bus stop for nearly 2 hours and since it was still gloomy and probably going to rain, we decided that it would probably be a good idea to go somewhere else. After a small discussion, me and Guru decided that Gokarna was our best bet. Others were game for it, but Roti seemed a little apprehensive since had already been there.
I am not hungry: Nevertheless, we boarded the next bus to Kumta. From there we made our way to Gokarna. Since we were all hungry, we decided to eat something in a restaurant in the bus stop. It was filthy and dirty and we a saw an old beggar lie on the table and actually managing to get some food from the hotel incharge. I and Guru decided not eat anything, while the other 3 were too hungry to say "naa-ahh." Then, we too gave in to hunger and ate some ice cream.
Room Hudku Mari(Find a room): Going by our hotel incharge's advice, we found a guy who apparently had rooms and showed it to us. After having taken a look at the room which was quite decent, we decided that it was too far from the beach and it would be stupid of us to check in here. So, we decided to rent a shack for a day somewhere near the beach.
Local nan Maklu(Bloody Indians): We reached Kudle beach around evening and we bingoed on to a place (Sea View), and he reluctantly gave us a shack (Rs. 200). His condition was that only 2 people were allowed to stay, and we were 5. We told him only 2 were going to stay in the room (boy!! did we fool him. He he he)..
Beach.alli Tent Haakana Mari (Lets pitch a tent on the beach dude): After having had the thought of pitching a tent and chewing upon the idea of it for sometime while we had some food and beer, nobody actually had the courage to and ask the owner about us pitching a tent smack in front of his hotel. What's wrong with a tent you say, wait till you see our tent. I eventually gathered some courage and pitched the idea about pitching a tent in front of the hotel to the owner, and without a second thought, he agreed. Of course, we needed fire. While the guys were at it trying to pitch a tent, I went in and coaxed some of the busboys to give me some kerosense for the campfire. After some ego clashes and ingenoius ideas, we finally managed to pitch the tent. Roti went and brought something that resembled a "chatta" (actually thatch made from coconut leaves). I was laughing my ass off. Finally, we managed to squeeze ourselves into the tent. Oh yeah, almost forgot, despite the so called "manager" telling us not to take the wood kept for construction as firewood, we did exactly that. But it was good wood, hehe, kept the campfire burning away to glory all night. We saw one videshi version of Baba Ramdev too.
Banni, Koothkoli, Mathaadana (come, sit, lets talk ): After the noise died down, I was just lying down and enjoying the sound of the waves hitting the shore and the stars twinkle, lo!! a shadow of a man. I woke up and went near the campfire, and I saw a firangi again. He wanted to join in, so I just called him and he sat down and we yapped until others got up from their nap and more firangis joined in. After all the firangis left, it was 2 or 3 in the morning, and we decided to sleep. Nobody was comfortable in the tent, one by one, we sneaked into the shack (we broke the 2-people-per-shack and the no-taking-wood-for-burning rules).
Enn Muchhitidya (What have you hidden): Early morning, we dove right into the water. Roti and Sanjeeb were lazing on the beach, when who should appear but our "Mama" (Police). After questioning about the tent and the camera which was apparently beneath a towel, he left. Later in the afternoon, we made our way to Paradise beach. We went up a hillock and came down sweating like pigs and decided to eat at an eatery there. We had to wait for our boat to come back that we took from Kudle beach. We reached Kudle, packed our bags, and left for Bangalore. All the buses were booked, and after running around the town looking for agents to book some tickets without success, we somehow managed to get a bus to Bangalore. An uneventful journey, back in Bangalore and back to the mundane life.
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