A short break from everything.
Not just from work, but from the normal way of life itself. From TV and all
kinds of electronic equipment for entertainment, from Facebook, LI, and other
myriad ways of staying connected including mobile phones.
I never imagined living for a few
days without mobile phones and electricity, but that’s what I did when Tony and
I went for a short break to Gokarna to ring in our first wedding anniversary.
Gokarna is a beach town in
northern Karnataka. I have heard a colloquial usage, in Malayalam, of the word
Gokarna to imply a no man’s land. Though a popular pilgrimage destination for
Hindus, for the tourist without a spiritual objective, it is indeed a no man’s
land or rather a land without the modern, commercialized conveniences.
Apart from the holy beach of Gokarna,
there are 4 more beaches in Gokarna. Aum, Kudlu, Half Moon and Full Moon aka
Paradise beach. While Aum beach remains
the most happening beach resembling the night life of yester year Goa, other
beaches are very secluded and non-happening for the ones who like the quiet and
solitude. The Half Moon beach and Paradise beaches are not even accessible by
road. A long trek up and down a hill awaits the sporty and outdoor loving folks;
others have the option to reach there using speed boats.
Our objective was to get to the
most secluded beach and hence we started a trek to Paradise beach from Kudlu.
After leading the broiler hen life
for so long, it was not an easy trek and I almost lost my breath by the time we
reached Paradise. The accommodation facilities here are shacks made out of
dried coconut leaves and mud polished floors. Just the basics! As much as the
beach was secluded, we were surprised to note that there were no available
shacks. A group of the new age hippies had come the day before and occupied the
entire facilities in the beach. No wonder this beach is known as the hippie’s
paradise. Unable to make another trek with the heavy back packs under the hot
sun, we hired a speed boat to reach the half-moon beach. May be because of the
weaker positioning as a secluded beach compared to Paradise, ironically, Half
Moon was the most secluded beach of all, with a handful of shacks thrown in
here and there. We talked to the shack operators and gladly occupied a simple
shack with a rent of Rs. 100 per day- just a roof on the shoulders.
As much as the idea of doing
nothing, except swimming in the sea, sun bathing and lazing around in the
shades for a few days, was appealing; the food available there ( rice and dhal,
cold beers) was not enough for us. So we decided to take a trek in the evening
to Aum Beach to have a dinner of fresh sea food along with a couple of beers.
The restaurant in Aum beach, where we ate a continental breakfast before
trekking up to Paradise, was beckoning. I still can’t seem to forget the pomfret,
grilled prawns and king fish we had from there any time in the coming few
decades. To top it off, there was a lovely performance of fire dancing by a
group of daring foreigners at Aum Beach.
This was pretty much the schedule
for the next couple of days. A trek up and down a hill from Half Moon beach to
Aum in the mornings for a continental breakfast, same pilgrimage repeated in
the evenings for a mouth- watering dinner of sea food dishes. The time in
between filled with swims in the sea and sun bathed naps along with cold beers
of course!
A few days of doing nothing,
staying away from the rat races, and staying away from the social oxygen. Woah…so
much for being a Millennial!!
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