The arrival time was 18:38 hrs. but like any other Indian train, we were running late. It was around 19:30 hrs. when our co-passengers started telling us that the next halt would be Gokarna. The train stopped for the nth time in its short journey, and we got down at a poorly-lit, small platform where a single, inconspicuous sign read 'Gokarna Road'.
Perplexed, whether we have gotten down a bit too early in our over-enthusiasm backed by our co-passengers, we looked for any other soul on the platform for confirmation. To our utter surprise, we found out that it was the one and only station in Gokarna town.
Our excitement to visit Gokarna was laced with apprehensions. We had been thinking it to be something on the pattern of Goa! The base of our expectation was the stories that we had heard that it was a destination popular among the backpackers.
Outside the station were parked about half a dozen three-wheeled auto rickshaws in the wilderness.
There was no sign of life, such as tea shops or coolies or the chaos of other passengers, which could manifest that it was a railway station. It appeared like a scene straight from some horror movie with only one family (us, in this case) in the name of passengers, stepping out of a train in the dark.
We wanted to reach the city and civilisation as quickly as possible. Luckily we had tele-booked a couple of places with exotic names like Dolphin View or Strawberry Farm. The auto rickshaw driver appeared clueless when we started mentioning these names.
Eventually, he brought us to Sree Shakti Hotel - in the heart of the town. Painted in fluorescent green and orange the hotel rooms were basic but neat, clean and comfortable and the owner was an extremely friendly lady.
After throwing our bags in the room, we headed straight to the beach.
What we saw filled us with disappointment. My heart sank as the next day was the Christmas eve and we had plans to celebrate Christmas at this new exotic location named Gokarna. It was anything but exotic!
Although 500 meters away from our hotel, the beach was swelling with devotees who had come to visit the famous temples Mahabaleshwar and Mahaganpati, in Gokarna. The white sand had become multicoloured with a variety of litter, the devotees had carelessly thrown all over.
There were queues of jeeps, cars, mini buses at the road adjacent to the beach, which were bringing pilgrims from faraway places. The shrill shrieks of people of all ages were competing with the high tide and bright lights at the beach had filled the night sky. It was like some mela (fair) was going on.
Tired with our long journey (we had travelled from Madikeri (Coorg) to Mangalore by an overnight bus and then spent a couple of hours at the Diesel Cafe of the Hotel Prestige for our breakfast before reaching the railway station to get the 14:35 train to Gokarna), disappointed engulfed us. The first impression of Gokarna was enough to dampen our high spirits. We went back to our room calling it a day.
Fortunately, the morning for us broke with fresh energy and a different scenario. After a bit of reading about the place, the first thing we did was to hire a scooter (a two-wheeler) and explore the godforsaken town.
What we discovered of Gokarna made us extend our stay from 5 days to 8 days!
Located at the south coast of India, Gokarna is small, but not at all a sleepy town. The life starts as early as 5 in the morning, with devotees lining up for a darshan of Mahabaleshar (Shiva) and MahaGanpati (having the statue of Ganesha in a standing form).
The Car Street (the main road leading to the temples) remains busy the whole day with Pandits, dressed in saffron cloth wrapped around their waist. They magically balance a Puja Thalis (plates with flowers and other stuff for worshipping Gods) in one hand and a water jug in the other, while walking up and down the street - mostly barefoot, performing their business.
The whole street sells only vegetarian food and in the name of liquor there is only tea, coffee and cold drinks.
As the day progressed the noises subsided making us curious to know what went wrong.
What we found out was that all establishments (even temples) close after lunch for a siesta (afternoon nap) and the town wears a deserted look. Intelligent enough, as who would like to work in 30℃?
The activities start again by 16:00 hrs. Shops and other establishments wash their front area and make rangolis (design to welcome the guests) and arrange the products they are selling.
The evenings become more interesting when the Gods are out on a palanquin (handheld carrier). The procession goes up and down the street with 4-6 people playing the percussion instruments and some Pandits reciting some mantras. The entourage stops only at places where people are ready waiting with their Puja Thalis.
Every room or house in the vicinity belongs to these Pandits, who keep performing different kinds of special puja for the specific needs of the devotees.
The place buzzing with activities makes it quite an intriguing town and also gives it a unique character.
The place where we were staying became a smoking adda (a place where people congregate) in the evening, for many backpackers. The reason was that the place was clean and had enough space for tourists to sit in the open and sip their tea and catch up with other fellow travellers.
The Car Street in Gokarna was the best place to stay as it had all facilities. The other 'exotic' places where we had done the booking turned out to be in the secluded areas around the beach. Ans most of them were shacks with shared bathrooms. Locating those accommodations would have been a real task on the night we had arrived.
We made full use of the scooter and drove to other beaches named, Om, Kudle, Half Moon, Small Hell, God's Own, Belekan, Nirvana, Shiva beach and many more - the heaven for tourists, especially backpackers.
Incidentally, Kudle beach happens to be the birthplace of Hanuman (the Indian monkey God) where, apart from two signs which say so, there is no trace of any temple or any religious activity.
These neat and clean beaches serve a whole sky to tourists for their enjoyments - playing in water outside water, swimming, walking, jogging, yoga on the beach - one can follow one's imagination for relaxation and enjoyment. There are cafes and restaurants all around, which also offer rooms for stay.
Slowly we discovered that the whole town can be covered by hiking and walking from one beach to the other and from one cafe to the next one.
The restaurants serve everything - from fish, pork and chicken to beer, whiskey and rum. The plus point is that there are no taxes since all activities on any of the Gokarna beaches are illegal, yet there are no disputes and no chaos. It seemed like religious people and people involved in tourism trade have come to a pact - not to interfere with each other and let both of them earn their living through their own means.
In our eight days of stay, I did not see even a single policemen minding either the traffic of millions of devotees who visit the place or the thousands of tourists who frequent the destination.
It seemed like things moved in Gokarna with some divine intervention.
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