We all reached office on friday with our bags packed and all set to slip away from the office by 2pm for a simple trip which none of us expected to turn out to be an extremely memorable one.
The Team:
Dhanasekhar A.K.A Dhana
Nikunj A.K.A Nikunj (The Treasurer)
Deepam A.K.A Dopam
Srinivas A.K.A Srini
Veerendra A.K.A Veeru
Subhash A.K.A ???
Kumar ..... The Driver!!
The Beginning:
I and Jitesh had to struggle for around 2 hours to get the tents for the trip... But anyways since we were Out Of Office... We were enjoying the struggle :)
Though Jitesh was not coming for the trip, he was generous enough to arrange the tents for us.
After much delay from the original schedule, somehow, we managed to leave the office premises by 3.15 pm. Beginning of the trip wasn't very impressive.... As soon as we started from office it started to rain...We got stuck in traffic with in the city itself... and when we reached the outskirts, the rain got worse... The driver and I did not have lunch. Soon we stopped at a small hotel. We had our lunch and others had some snacks. Meanwhile the rain also stopped and we continued with our journey.
After a short tea break at Tiptur as we were heading for the destination, it started to rain cats and dogs.. The rain was so dense that we could not even see a meter ahead of the vehicle... I still wonder if Kumar was really able to see anything.. We were heading too slow and probably in 2nd gear.. The wind was so wild that there were trees fallen on the road... After travelling for around half an hour the weather had completely changed.. There was no sign of rain and the roads in that area were completely dry..
We stopped at a dhaba and had our dinner... The topics of discussions during that hour are out of the scope of this blog. Everybody seemed to enjoy them though. After dinner within no time we were all asleep... Atleast I was..
05 April 2008
I woke up next day at 6 AM when we reached our destination, Gokarna. The beach looked really beautiful at that hour. I guess it was partly owed to the tiring journey in the back seat of a Qualis and the rest was to the actual beauty...
We rented a room for 2 hours where we kept out luggage and jumped into the sea.. After cooling off for around an hour we went back to the room and took a fresh water bath. We then had a lavish breakfast and were all set to explore the other beaches in Gokarna.
We decided to leave the cab and explore the place on foot. That was a decision which we all were later happy taking. Else we would have missed all the scenic beauty of that place.
Our first destination for the day was Kudle Beach. One good thing about these beaches was that they were separated by beautiful hills. We trekked through these small hills to go to Kudle Beach. The trek was not at all tiring as we were enjoying the exquisite views of the landscapes and the sea all through the walk. Moreover, we were all quite fresh at that hour of the day.
After a trek of about an hour we reached Kudle Beach.. There was more than the sea for us there. There were a lot of foreigners in that beach. We even talked to one guy who had come from Germany and had come there on a vacation. Anyways, guys were not of our interest at that place. There were beautiful girls who were a real treat for our eyes.. After gaining the tranquility for our eyes and soul for almost an hour we headed towards our next destination, OM Beach.
After gaining the tranquility for our eyes and soul for almost an hour we headed towards our next destination, OM Beach.
The trek from Kudle to Om beach was a bit tiring and we were almost exhausted by the time we reached Om Beach.All we wanted at that time was a dip in the sea. To our ill fate, as soon as we reached the beach, we saw a policeman driving the people away from the rocks and and the sea. It seems that we are not allowed to go in to the water or on to the rocks.. "What the $%^& ??? What is the beach for if we are not allowed to get into water??" we thought.. Anyways, we restrained ourselves from getting into the water.. We cooled off on the shore for a while gaining some more of the tranquility stuff..
While having our lunch at a beach side restaurant we planned for our next destination... The Paradise Beach. To go there we would have to hire a boat who would drop us there and pick us up after half an hour or so..Soon we were on our way to paradise beach on a boat. Well, there were no restrictions on that beach. So we did not waste anytime and jumped into the water.. We played all types weird games in the sea like, who would be under water for more time...Srini was the winner. Who can stand the waves and move the least.. Dhana won.The next game was real fun. I remember playing it when I was a kid.. One person would chase the rest and try to
touch anyone. The person who gets touched would have to chase and touch someone else.. The only differentiating factor was that we the players are not allowed to get out of the water. Trust me folks, it was real good fun. Once all of us were out once, we were ready to get back to the shore. Meanwhile the boatwala was waiting and shouting from the shore telling its time.. But we were not in a mood for that. Anyways after the game we decided not to change and go the Om beach and get into water there.
Back to Om beach. We were all set to get into water when a policeman came and stopped us. He gave some lecture in Kannada, which to our good luck only Srini was able to understand. We waited at the shore for sometime. As soon as the policewala was out of sight we jumped into the water. Its always a pleasure to break the rules. What say??
After we had enough with the sea, we relaxed for a while at the shore enjoying the dusk. During all this we were on a constant look out for setting up a camp with our tents. But we discovered that it was not permitted to set up tents at the beach. So we decided to check into a hotel.
After dinner we played cards. That was it for the day and we were off to beds.
06 April 2008
Today's itinerary included the famous temple at Gokarna, Yana and if possible Jog falls. After a quick breakfast we went to the temple and after that - 'adieu to Gokarna'..
Yana was near about one and a half hour journey from Gokarna. We left our luggage in the cab and set out to trek upto the temple. The walk was not tiring. The walk through the jungle was really great. We took some snaps here and there on the way. We reached the temple. There were two huge rocks. One was Bhairava Shikara (Lord Shiva) and the other was Mohini Shikara (Goddess Parvati). The mythological significance of this place is that Lord Shiva and goddess Parvati had destroyed Bhairavasura here.
We first visited the Bhairava shikara and circled around the caves behind the temples. Then we went to visit the Mohini Shikara. From Mohini shikara we saw another road different from the one we had come. We were in dilemma whether it would lead us to the place where we had parked our vehicle or not.. "We have come for a trekking trip. We should be ready to take up risks!!" These were my words. The gang was ready to explore this new path. After a walk of around 20 mins we reached a parking lot. But this was different from the place we had parked our vehicle. There was one shop where we rested and had some water and cold drinks.
The guy in the shop told us that the other parking lot is too far. There are two ways to go there. Go by some vehicle to Gokarna (The place where we started our journey for the day) and from there to the other parking lot. Total time = 2.5 hours. Else, go back in the same route as we came there. There was nothing we could do at this point than opting for the second one. Anyways we were hungry and tired. We asked if there is anything to eat. "Avalakki-mesuru" he said. We gulped it and set back in the route we came.
The reverse path of 20 mins was ok except for 200+ steps which we had to climb. But the path thereoff was the mammoth task. Around 3.5 kms, most of which was going to be an uphill trek. I knew one thing, if I stopped somewhere to rest, it would become too difficult for me to get up and resume again. So I started the journey in a slow and steady way. I covered the up-hill part with liliput steps. Somehow we all covered the stretch and reached the parking lot.
We all were exhausted to an extent which cannot be described in words. Now we needed one thing very badly. A cold water bath. As per our itinerary we were supposed to head towards Jogs falls. It was already 5 pm then. It would take around 2 and half hours to get there and getting into water would be difficult. On enquiring further, we got to know that there was another falls called Vibhuti Falls around 2 kms from there. Unanimously, we all decided to hit that place.
Vibhuti Falls:
Dhana and Kumar went up till the falls to check out the place. They came back and told that the place is not that good. There was no sign of any other person at that place. Out of the blue we remembered that we had tents which have not been used yet. Well thats it....
We decided to camp. So first we had to get freshen up no matter how bad the place was. We all went uphill and found that it was'nt that bad atleast it met our basic requirements. The falls being in midst of forest, the water was really cold. And we all enjoyed the time there. On our way back we gathered as many dry woods as possible for camp fire.
We had 3 big packets of Maggi. But we did not have a vessel to cook it...!!! We divided into 3 teams. One team would go to the nearby village and try to get a vessel. Second team would light the camp fire and take care of the cooking. Third team would set up the tents.
Things happened so smoothly thereof. The camp fire was lit. The vessel had been arranged and the tents were set up. The maggi turned out to be the best maggi we ever had.
After dinner we wondered what time it was. It was 8.30pm. By seeing the place we deduced that not many people visited that place and no one would have camped there over night. So this made things more exciting for us as well as a bit dangerous. It was an unknown place. So we again divided into three groups to for watching out at an interval through out the night. First, Subhash and Deepam went to sleep by 9 pm. Dhana and Nikunj were off by 10 pm. I and srini were awake till 12 and then woke up Subhash and Deepam. Subhash and Deepam watched out till 2 am and woke up the team 3. Dhana and Nikunj woke me and Srini at 4 AM. We stayed for an hour and woke Subhash and Deepam by 5 pm telling it was 5.30 am.
07 April 2008
By day break we all were awake and finished off with our morning chores... When nature calls... Go to the nature.. We were not in a mood to take bath so early so we packed all the stuff and were set out for Jog Falls by 7.30 AM. On the way we returned the vessel to the family and thanked them and were on our way to Jog Falls........
We reached Jog falls at around 10.30 AM. There wasn't as much water as we had seen in movies and pics. We bent down from the rocks there to see the depth of the falls to appreciate the place :) As usual, we could not resist the water there and stepped into the water. After probably half an hour or so we came out of the water and were ready for our journey back home.
On our journey back home, we watched two kannada movies... Mungaaru Male and Kalasipalya... No comments on the later. Mungaaru Male was rather good expect for a few over senti scenes and killing of a little Rabbit for no reason.
We reached back to bangalore by 10 PM.
I got down at Marathalli and was walking towards my house. Each and every moment of the trip was still fresh in mind. The initial drive in the rain, the discussion over beers, the beaches, the tranquility stuff, the falls and ofcourse, the movies.
One trip is over and now looking forward to the next....
