Hi folks, hope you all are doing great.It gives me immense pleasure in posting this, on the eve of Christmas. Merry Christmas and a very happy and a prosperous new year my friends. please do keep showing your continued patronage to all my posts as you guys have been doing ever since my first post.
Yes, it has been
almost a month since the great Sachin Tendulkar retired and believe it or not,
the earth still continues to rotate and people still continue to live happily
and I am no exception.
It has been ages together since I travelled and explored
some new places. Thanks to my office friends for not only planning an extempore
trip by roping me in, but also for having executed it to perfection.
It doesn’t matter
where you are going; it’s who you have along with you. I have an amiable team
to back me up; despite the perpetual shyness, the kind of insecurity or the
hesitancy that usually prevails in me. We found a beautiful place to get lost. it was 'Gokarna'
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| The Majestic Kudle Beach |
Friday, 13th
December 2013,
The Friday at the office was even more frenzy than the usual
ones. Without any second thoughts, the sheer anticipation about the trip
brought in the wild excitement and the delirium that made the day move faster. Paul was the trip organizer. He had already booked the Silicon Cab Tempo Traveller for the trip.“We”
in the passage shall henceforth denote (Paul, Swathi, Kavita, Udhay, Praneeth,
Hema, Sunil, Vineeth, Akash and me). We all were off to a slow and steady start
after filling in the diesel at KR Puram gas station. There was one heck of
traffic near Nagawara. We reached hebbal around 10.30 pm. Finding a good driver is as important as finding your life partner, in
both the cases our precious life is at stake. We were lucky enough to have
had Mr. Ramesh as our driver. He drove the Tempo traveller very subtly. As the
saying goes calmness is the cradle of power, Ramesh was very calm and composed all
throughout the journey. The weather was freaking cold outside. It was around
11pm when we halted at the Chandu Dhaba on the Tumkur Road as our tummy started
cribbing and whining for food. We would rather say that the supper out there at
the Chandu Dhaba exceeded our expectations.
There shall be two mandatory requirements for any road trip
to be ever cherish able and to be etched in your memories, “1. People around
you, who makes sure that you aren’t left out isolated in the entire gang and
who never makes you feel aloof in the entirety of the travel” “2. The perpetual
fact is that any memorable trip shall be incomplete without some Good music”.
Luckily we had the above two requirements in the kitty. I am not sure if I gave
a good company to the friends who came along with me, but without any second
thoughts I had a beautiful company of all the 9 others who were along with me for
the next two days.
Let us get back to the journey now, after the sumptuous
dinner at the Chandu Dhaba, we continued to travel. The irrefutable fact is that the number of
toll plazas on the Indian highways is inversely proportional to the number of
good roads we have. After having crossed some two to three toll gates within a
short trot we continued to move. It was around 1 am when we halted for a tea
break as the driver desperately needed a break. Ramesh was clever enough to
have taken the necessary tea breaks or time outs whenever he felt, he needs
one. Those small and decisive breaks which he took played a crucial role in
ensuring a smooth and hassle free travel.
Saturday, 14th
December 2013,
It was 6 am when Ramesh switched off the Tempo’s engine and
everyone woke up involuntarily to the sudden serenity. Every one of us had
slept only in dribs and drabs. We had
reached the foothills of the Western Ghats by then. We were restrained to
proceed further as the early morning fog had insinuated the ghat roads. Framed
by the majestic Western Ghats we were witnessing some breath taking scenic
visuals. There was a serene and settled majesty that creeped into our souls and
delighted us. It stood a testimony to the Statement “Mountains are the
beginning of all natural scenery”. The beautiful 60 km ride through the ghat
road ended. It meant that we had reached our destination “Gokarna”. Vineeth had
his Global positioning System switched on in his note 2, so as to navigate
inside the town. Thanks to the 31+
satellites zipping around the world that made us navigate bang on to the
destination every time he we typed one. Kuddle beach was the first destination.
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| The Beach View from the Gokarna International Hotel |
Every now and then life takes its toll on us. We get so busy
and occupied with the day-to-day chores and just forget to live for ourselves.
The top view of the beautiful Kuddle beach awakened my senses and made me
realize that life is beyond all these day to day chores. After a short trek to
the shore we were welcomed by the relaxing sound of the overlapping waves. The
blue and the fresh Arabian Sea welcomed us. All I wished was that the 576
megapixel camera in our eyes had the ability to capture things and display it
later whenever we wanted to see those. After a brief inspection to a few shacks
we all settled down at the Gokarna international. The rooms were pretty
visually appealing and the sea was less than 100 metres from the hotel. It was
around 11.30 am when we had our brunch at the paradise restaurant. The food was
pretty expensive but it was the worth the brag. We had a satisfying meal over
there. Kavita’s exceptional expenditure management skills need a special mention here. She did that to sheer perfection all throughout the travel and ensured that everything was crystal clear without ambiguity. Way to go kavita, you shall be our permanent expense manager henceforth.
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| From the left (Hema,Swathi,Paul,Mukunth,Kavita,Udhay,Sunil,Suresh,Praneeth,Akash) |
We were all set then, to have a dip inside the sea. To every one’s
surprise the Arabian Sea was very shallow. We were able to walk a few hundred
metres into the sea from the shore. Having been to many other beaches down
south, we found this water to be very saline. There was no looking back at the
shore. We were playing like kids who knew nothing other than happiness.
Praneeth, Udhay, Kavita and Sunil mutated themselves into professional
swimmers. They were displaying their swimming prowess to perfection. Others
including me were mere spectators who were scared to go on further. I didn’t
want to play spoil sport so I restrained myself from going any further. We
played with the discs for quite a while inside the water until everyone became
totally exhausted. I was gasping for breath on few occasions but that didn’t
stop me from playing in the water. We continued to play in the water until our
body alarmed us saying enough let us get back to the shore.
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| From the Right (Mukunth, Vineeth,Sunil,Akash,Udhay,Praneeth) All Excited before the dip into sea :) |
After a short rest, we were all set for the spectacular and the
stupendous banana ride. I must confess that it was a one heck of breath taking
experience in our life. Our air boat will be tied to a motor boat and we will
be taken some 300 odd metres into sea at about 60 kmph and we will be jostled
from our boats. It was until this moment I came to know the sheer importance of
a life jacket in my life. Yes we all experienced a life threatening, Bone
chilling and Spine tingling Archimedes principle of buoyancy. “Any object,
wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the
weight of the fluid displaced by the object”.
After the Incredible banana ride, we played some beach football and
beach volley ball. It took some time for everyone to get their teenage and the
childhood nick back. At once we all got the form back, we were exhausted and we
got back to the hotel.
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| The Breath Taking Banana Ride |
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| Wheee... Gosh ....It was indeed a Spectacular Ride |
After an hour of
rest and snacks we dressed up and got ready for the evening walk along the
shore. Vineeth turned a part time photographer by then; he had taken some
beautiful captures. The best images are the ones that retain their strength and
impact over the years, regardless of the number of times they are viewed. Without
any second thoughts, Vineeth had captured some beautiful and mind blowing
images. Those images by itself shall narrate a plenty of memories for the ages
to come. Paul had then arranged for a camp fire later that night with the aid
of Suresh (worker at the Paradise Restaurant) who was ready to help us out for
the camp fire. We all had a breezy walk along the shore, witnessing many
foreigners enjoying their stay at our country by singing and dancing happily.
Camp fire was all set followed by more than 2 hours of dinner at the shore with
the sea breeze. Would you ask for more? Life seemed really beautiful for those
2 hours.
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| An Elisha Vineeth Capture :) |
Everyone turned nostalgic and was asked to share their love stories.
All were cornered; no one had a chance to escape. You either had a story or
not, but you were supposed to at least cook up something and narrate in front
of everyone. Echoes faded and memories flashed, one after the other everyone
started narrating their beautiful and their painful past. The rest were keenly
observing the narrators past. We all came to know that everyone has a beautiful
story teller in them. It was 12 by then. Time ran in a jiffy just like our
past. We were off to the hotel room. I believe we all had a sound sleep that
night.
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| Campfire Unleashed :) |
Sunday, 15th December 2013,
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| The Front View of the Gokarna International Hotel where we stayed. |
Next morning after having the breakfast at the Gokarna
restaurant, 7 of us( Kavita, Udhay, Praneeth, Hema, Swathi , Vineeth and I)started to
Mahabaleshwar temple. Rest were busy sleeping.
I was taking few snaps of the beach in my mobile until I was
stopped by a foreigner from Poland who told me to take snaps of the clumsy
shore as well. He was telling how people have made a real mess of this
beautiful place by throwing plastic bottles and covers just like that. I felt
ashamed for being a helpless Indian when the foreigner told so. It was time,
once again for Vineeth to unleash his photography Skills before we started the
temple. We went to the temple and we were made to do the rituals on our own.
Money played a crucial role in making us see the God quite earlier than the
others who were waiting in the Queue for hours together. After all money is
everything, God isn’t an exception. You need money even to see him faster.
Swathi, Kavita and Hema went on for a shopping until Ramesh went on to pick up
Paul, Sunil and Akash. It was around 12.30 pm when we started to jog falls.
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| And this is where we stayed :) |
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| The all dejected gang at the water less Jog Falls :( |
After a
horrible lunch at the Kamat hotel which elevated the stature of Tami Nadu and
Andhra food even higher. We reached Jog falls around 4.45 in the evening. We
did a strenuous trek just to witness that water wasn’t there at the falls. But
that didn’t stop us. We went on to take enormous snaps so as to cherish those
for a life time. Who knows we may never come again to this place. We started
around 6 pm from Jog falls. En route to Bangalore our next halt was for supper
at the Shimoga district. We had an extremely scrumptious dinner at the Bright
restaurant as suggested by a local auto driver. Bangalore was some 271 kms from
there. It was Ramesh heroics all the way from there. There was no looking back we
landed Bangalore by 3 am.
There ends the beautiful and an Exhilarating two days at
“Gokarna”. Thanks a lot Paul, Swathi, Kavita, Udhay, Hema, Praneeth, Vineeth,
Sunil and Akash for these 2 most amazing days in my life. "It’s nice to be important, but it’s more
important to be nice." You guys were indeed so very nice to me and I believe
that I won’t be spared or left behind for any of the future trips that shall be
on your cards.
Post Scriptum:
No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes
home and rests his head on his pillow and bed. I did realize that awesomeness
after this beautiful trip. please do take a sun screen lotion whenever you travel to a beach from now on.
