Go ......

We really had no reason to get up early & so we didnt. We knew that today was going to be one of the most chillaxing days of this entire trip. We had an entire day in Gokarna. Since temple was not an option for us today all we were left with was the beach. So basically we had an entire day at the beaches of Gokarna. Now some trivia about the beaches at Gokarna. AFAIK there is only ONE beach in Gokarna. Its one huge straight line of a beach separated by cliff's. There are various names though. It starts with Kudle beach, then a walk on the cliff will take you to OM beach & another walk/trek will take you to Paradise beach. Then further ahead there are even more secluded beaches which are probably accessible only on boat. Even Paradise is very tough to go by foot and its always through a boat from Kudle or OM that people reach Paradise.


We decided to leave our bikes behind & went on-foot to Kudle beach. Me, Ajay & Roshan were smart enough to buy ourselves a pair of cheap hawaii (till today I dont know if this is a Kannada word or English word) slippers, the others were not as smart as us. On the way to the beach we (Me, Ajay & Ashwin) decided to give a visit to the temple since we were passing by it. But it was closed at that time. Ashwin took this as a bad omen since he was planning to ask for forgiveness regarding an incident which had happened over here last year. It was late night & we were returning from the beach with a bottle of beer on these same roads. There was a sign saying "Keeping in view the ancient Hindu cultural center and a piligrimage, Please avoid wearing Skimpy or Short clothes". Now this forced Rakesh, Chetan & Ashwin to remove their shirts & pose for a photo in front of that board. But hardly had we gone a little ahead a priest (I am guessing he was one) started scolding Ashwin as his sign of Brahmanatva i.e his janivaara was clearly visible when he was 'topless'. From then on Ashwin started attributing whatever bad thing that happened to him to those above curses.

At kudle beach we hopped onto a boat who took us directly to Paradise beach at half the rate he charged the foreigners. Now Paradise beach is a very very very tiny beach. There's really nothing at all to do there except sit amidst the coconut trees & laze around the whole day. Its just a nice secluded beach to cut yourself out from the world. Very obviously the majority crowd here are the foreigners/hippies/pink-skinned people. The only way for Indians to feel comfortable there is to "Not give a shit about anything". The best thing about this beach is the shack people are totally chilled out. They are the most laziest waiters you would ever find but thats exactly what is expected of them. You just want everything over there to happen as slow as possible. Another important point is that they dont have an attitude in the sense they dont make their own country-men feel unwanted (trust me there are numerous places which do that blatantly). We lazed over there, eating & drinking as long as our patience let us. Then some of us ventured into the sea. It was kinda steep & hence the water was fun to play in. Just when we were about to leave a old-man walked upto us and started conversing in Kannada saying "You guys seem a bit different than the rest of them here". He was uneducated in an educated way but one look at him & you would know that the years in him had made him wise. We came to know that his hometown was very near to Ajay's hometown of Gadag. From one topic to another we reached till the US as well, he mentioned something to the effect of "Everybody goes to US but they hardly know that US is right here" (interpretation is upto you). All in all it was a pleasant experience to have met him & maybe if we werent leaving we could have bought him a drink & spoke a little while longer. We then took a boat to OM beach a little before sunset.

We bought beer from Hard Rock cafe & left to the rocks since the plan was to have beer 'on the rocks' watching sunset (one of the things-to-do in Ajay's checklist). That was quite a scene coz at the right time Ashwin played Floyd's Coming back to life on his mobile. It hardly mattered that it was not the 'shining' sun but the 'setting' sun that we were staring at. After the sun went beneath the horizon two of us threw our bottles into the sea (I cant remember who two). The surprising thing was that one of the bottle landed with its mouth on top and was staying afloat without letting any water inside, it would somehow magically rise above each wave. The other one landed with its mouth in water & started to float on the sea in a vertical position (you are free to think of all the physics you want).
We watched both of these for a long time and it was an exercise which needed utmost concentration since one blink & we would lose sight of it. I must admit the two tiny bottles held their ground against the mighty sea and didnt sink for as long as we could keep track. I couldnt help but compare the struggle of these two bottles to stay afloat to our own battle with our lives. The lesson I could make out is that it doesnt matter if you are in a position where your head is held high or if you are in a position where your head is held low, you can survive.

We took an auto back to our lodge, freshened up & went to the only decent restaurant that we could come across in Gokarna (Hotel Green Park or something similiar). Had a nice dinner and called it a day.
29-12-08: Gokarna