The longest 30 hours of my life and the Sea beyond..

Prologue/Disclaimer:

All the incidents depicted in the following piece are purely non-fictional, and so there’ll obviously be all kinds of places mentioned which are real and exist on the face of this planet. After writing the entire piece, on reading it, I realized that the piece is neither humorous, nor witty, and is in fact not more than a documentary, even though it’s a tad on the personal side. I have just described this amazing trip that I had this New Year, hour by hour. Why? I had no clue initially; I d while writing, I had gone on and on and on about seemingly mundane events which didn’t really have anything exclusiveness about them so as to make them special, in the everyday context of life. But at that time, when they were actually happening, they had the magical effect of seeming unique, memorable and insane at the same time. So basically this blog is all about nothing, but very meaningful to people who’d experienced. Had this been a book, seeing the endless descriptions that I’ve gone and on would have earned me critical acclaim, but for the regrettable fact that I’ve forgotten to include any heart wrenching tragedies of real life..(I’ve recently read ‘The Inheritance of Loss ‘, and all that the book has taught me is to never read booker prize winning novels..)

Anyways.. I’ll stop prattling…

2^nd January 2007 01:00 a.m: As we climbed the final flight of steps to our flat, myself and my roomie couldn’t help but panting, what with the big bag in our hands and the exhaustion of the last 3 days. The trip had finally come to an end, and we were back to our normal life again. While settling down, our aching limbs reminded us of the reason why we were so battered and tired – it was not the journey back (at least not the main reason) but the stop in between at Jog falls.

1^st January 2007 12:30p.m: The car had finally stopped at a small shop which served tea, biscuits, omelettes etc. Having started our journey at 9 am without having any proper food etc, everyone in the car was glad of the stop and walked around to stretch themselves. We were traveling in two cars - twelve people; four in a Tata Indica and eight in a Tata Sumo. The Sumo, where I was sitting was pretty cramped and so we really needed to get off. Plus, the journey until there had been totally hilly, and I, with my nausea, was wondering till when this terrain would continue. When we had been coming to this place, it had been pretty late at night, so the cars were being driven slowly, and I had had no idea that the roads were running around the hills. But now, I was heartily sick of all the hills. Anyway, after a breakfast of buns, omelettes, tea, soft drinks, and other assorted stuff, we were back on the road. A milestone indicated that we were just 2 kilometres away from Jog falls – the highest waterfalls in India.

Within minutes we were there. The view was majestic - 3-4 major drops of water from a height of approx 800 metres (I’m bad with distances, so I might be giving the wrong ones here). One could grasp the vertical length only after figuring out that the tiny drops of colour that could be seen far below among the rocks were actually people who had climbed down. Most of us wanted to go down too- I was no so sure. First of all it looked far- real far, and secondly I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to make the climb upwards. After a lot of useless discussions , I was coaxed into going down .Until the time we were halfway down, the lower I went, the more unsure I became as to whether I wanted to continue. The lazy character in me tried to pop-up a lot of times, but my friends pushed it right back each time.

As we climbed down, the view got bigger, the sounds became louder, and the walk became tougher. The steps that were initially created by stones were fine; gradual and sloping. It was while following others who were taking vertical shortcuts instead of taking the slightly longer gradual paths, that I was terrified – of falling, slipping, both, whatever. Then I decided not to take the shortcuts and went my own long way backed with a friend who was equally wary of falling or tripping. The trip down was covered in approx 35 minutes, with some time of rest and photo sessions. I managed to make it down there with a whole lot of help from my friends at slightly tricky places. At one place, there were a few rocks with water flowing in between which was very suitable for sitting with the water lapping at your feet. I, and a few other tired souls decided to call the trek to a halt and stopped there - some of my extra adventurous friends went further ahead. As we sat there, the view was awesome; white water flowing on and on…stopping nowhere. And in the process spraying drops in all directions. We were also sprinkled intermittently, depending on the wind direction. After the cooling off, we headed back, all the time dreading the long climb up.

And our fears weren’t unfounded. What a climb! Six of us started together…and even before reaching a quarter of the height, we were all gasping for breath, our faces looking monkey-ish because of the combined effect of the sun and the climbing. Hahaha! One of my pals was so tired that he was climbing on all fours…like a cat…thank god he didn’t slip. At regular intervals, there were small stalls with lime juice, water and soft drinks. Some of us stopped, some of us didn’t. I didn’t coz I knew that if I sat down I’d not be able to get up until after quite some time. We trudged on…. and on....and on…. amazingly our driver who had been far below when we started soon caught up with us. We were all panting, while he was smiling as if it was so easy. Anyway, soon people fell behind; we broke up into groups of 2. Some of us stopped, others (I) prodded on. The driver was also carrying on without stopping. Unlike our tired red faces, he had a wholesome grin of pure joy permanently stuck on his face. He didn’t know a scrap of Hindi except a few spare words, and I knew zilch of his mother tongue, Kannada. As we went on about our monumental task, I tried asking him in several signs and languages whether he had come here before. I have no idea whether he understood correctly, but he did utter the words '4^th time'. Maybe that explained his grin; he knew how it was and had already been there done that.

When we were some 150 metres away from Ground 0, people behind kept calling ‘aur kitna upar hai?’, [how much farther up is it?]. Each time, I’d look back and say ‘bas thoda sa hi hai…. jaldi jaldi aa jao’.[ Just a little more…come on quickly], I was lying, but I didn’t see the point of saddening their already exhausted faces by saying that there was still a loooong way to go. In fact when the driver and I had reached nearly, he was encouraging me in the same way. I nodded, too tired to say anything. The feeling that I got once I had finished the climb is indescribable, relief mixed with a tinge of kiddish pride that I was able to make it before the others, infinite deadness in the body mixed with the mental high of being able to climb all that. Anyway, I looked down and waited for a few more tortured souls to reach the heaven called level ground. After a quick lunch, we headed back to our long journey back to Bangalore, most of us sleepy, a combined effect of the physical exertion during our trekking endeavour, but mostly because of the madness and insomnia the night before.

31^st January 8:30 p.m:- As we climbed down the steps leading to the Om Beach, the entire view of the small beach struck us - totally unexpected and amazingly beautiful. Along the length of the beach, several groups of people had made their personal spaces, marking their boundaries with some kind of lights (what they were could not be made out from that distance). So from the distance, the beach looked studded with specks of golden glitter, with a larger gem within the encircled ornaments; the bonfire. This spectacle, along with the restless waves, the half-moonlit (or was it quarter?) sky and the million stars was absolutely fantastic. As we walked along the beach, we crossed several groups sitting around their bonfires – some singing, some chatting; one had a person strumming the guitar, some simply enjoying the experience. Despite the groups, the beach wasn’t as crowded as would have been expected on New Year’s Eve. Perhaps the obscurity of the place had helped keep its charm. People were there, but there was no halla-gulla, no chaos of crowds. As we neared our group, we were in for a surprise; inspite of the unavailability of stuff, they had created a very cozy ambience. A bonfire in the middle, with sand removed and piled up all around to create a circular elevated sitting space, bedspreads (some raided from the hotel) spread out along the circumference. And the best part was, from some where they’d managed to get candles, and then what they’d done was, cut up some plastic bottles, filled them with sand, and then put the candles into the sand. All around, many such ‘lamps’ were placed, and one was hung from a slanting pole (a long stick in this case), as if to indicate our territory - Gorgeous.

After dinner, we sat around, played Dumb Charades with all kinds of pathetically vulgar Hindi movie names (“Basanti ki Shaadi lekin gabber ka Suhaag Raat”, “Ghar mein ho Saali to Har din Diwali”), and the funniest part was that the 2 people who had actually seen these movie posters, were in rival teams. So when one gave such a movie, the other team couldn’t even deny/reject the name as the second person could vouch for it, however reluctantly. We started lighting fireworks every half an hour before midnight, so every half an hour, we’d all shout out the time, light a cracker and be happy. Soon people nearby us also started cheering.

Till about 11:55, we continued some play (it changed to truth or dare later) and then we were all simply counting down, according to our watches. Some other people had a new year a few minutes earlier than our estimation… the skies lighted up with fireworks… everyone cheered…soon we were also all wishing, hugging, cheering; what a start to the new year - the atmosphere was electric, yet peaceful. As a few of us went on the phone to wish our other near and dear ones a new year, what our friends did was, challenged a neighbour group with some kind of comment, and the result was that this group joined ours, and soon a full fledged Antakshari was on going. (It was more like general chorus singing of popular melodies actually, and not really a competition). A firangi came and sat down next to us for no reason, grinning; people walking around, heard the loud voices (noises?) and came to see what was going on. It was a party. This went on will about 2 a.m; all were in their very own utopia, some enjoying the sea, some the sky, some the fire, some even went and took a dip in the cold ocean.

Then, we could hear the strains of a siren somewhere far in the distance; no one paid any heed to it. However, that sound neared; we were still not bothered. And then suddenly, we saw some policemen chasing people out of the beach, saying ‘Go home, it’s late’ etc. etc. On looking clearly, we realized they wanted everyone out of the beach, ASAP. While we girls were a little apprehensive, somehow the police make people feel that way,( maybe it was the exaggerated vision of being herded into a police station) and wanted to leave. They guys started getting irritated by the police and their restraints and besides complaining, started doing weird stuff (as if in protest) - jumping across the fire, shouting, laughing loudly, but not making any move to leave. With some difficulty, we pulled a few of our friends and started towards the top, where the cars were parked.

Finally after we’d started walking the long distance to the top, the rest of our group also followed ( I guess the policemen had had their way). Some of us were reflecting, some laughing, wondering what the coming year would hold, when, on the very first day of the year, we were herded out of a public place by the police.

As we reached the hotel, a few of us (3 girls) started worrying about the return journey the next morning – we didn’t want to start too late as then we’d reach very late, so we told everyone to get up early in the morning so that we could leave by 8 at least. All eh guys were very skeptical – one saying, ‘main to utth jaunga…baaki sab nahi uthne wale. Hum 11 se pehle nikal hi nahi sakte’ [ill get up, the others aren’t going to get up. We won’t be able to leave before 11]. Then one of us said that we’ll wake everyone up; he dint think we’d be able to wake any of the guys, most of which were deep sleepers (read : sleepers who wouldn’t get up even if the sky was falling on their heads). Then, for a reason I can’t recall, started the arduous coaxing of one such guy to take a bath before sleeping itself (3:30 am), so that he wouldn’t take time in the morning. For half an hour he argued, we argued, and finally we had to step back. He announced us crazy and went to sleep. 6 am in the morning, one of us girls got up, used the bathroom, woke me, and went to the other room to wake the guys. That was one hilarious occasion; she kept on persistently banging on the door for about five minutes, until one very annoyed and sleepy guy opened the door. She went in, sat on the bed, threatening to sit there until he went to the bathroom. Half subconscious, he gave in, also promising to wake the others one by one after him. That way, finally we managed to leave Gokarna at 9:15 am, just about 1.25 hrs later than we’d planned. Thus started the first day of the year – a far cry from the last day of last year when everyone was doing nothing and yet enjoying, idling away the hours in the beaches of Gokarna.

31^st Dec’06 9 a.m: I woke up – a bright new day – our 2^nd day in Gokarna. As we were a group of twelve people, of which many had slept very late the night before, I knew that if we all decided to leave the place together, it wouldn’t be before 11-12 pm. So, a few of us who had woken, were fresh and didn’t want to spend their time wasting in the hotel room (which wasn’t even 1 % as good as the huts we had the day before) decided to walk to the nearby beach – Gokarna beach. Supposedly it wasn’t as good as Om beach where we’d gone the day before, but what the heck, it was nearer, so off we started, in search of breakfast on the way. As we walked across the town (I think village would be a better word), we crossed rows of shops where there hung colourful bags, some t-shirts, skirts, etc. etc. And the other most noticeable thing was the number of foreigners walking around – the first thing that we had noticed after coming to Gokarna the previous day. One could even say that the number of foreigner tourists were more than Indian. Some stayed in the huts on the beaches, others in hotels maybe, some seemed to be living like hippies.

We reached the beach and as usual, I walked into the water immediately, not drenching totally, just the feet. It was a much longer stretch of beach as opposed to Om, which was small, just the shape of OM, while it (Gokarna) was straight stretch of sand, no rocks. The sky was blue, the sky was shining, playing with the sunlight, the water was clear – it was a good day. After walking around, we had our breakfast in the same restaurant where we’d dined the previous night. We had to leave in a hurry as the rest of the people had by now woken up and were waiting for us at the hotel. Anyway, we went back and then left with the others, back to the other beach –Om.

That beach is about 6 kms away from Gokarna, and the road leading to it is narrow, meandering over mini mountains, offering a panoramic view of some of the less accessible beaches in between OM and Gokarna. They looked so isolated, maybe they were, or maybe they looked so because we were looking from so far. Anyway the beach looked no different than it had a day before – i.e. fantastically blue and glittering, with rocks providing another perspective to the beach view. After the breakfast (at a time nearing 12), and some more playing in the water, we headed to another beach – Paradise beach, via boat. Besides the 12 of us, some 3-4 people were also in the same boat, and I suppose they were very amused by the screams of some of our less courageous few (me included). Some were saying their prayers (“bacha lena bhagwaan”), some were just tossing from this side to the other (with the movement of the boat) and screaming (“abhi girenge”, “gaye aaj to gaye”, “Mummyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy”).

Anyway, once we were a little away from the shore, the boat was steady and we looked around to enjoy the view. The sun was high and hot, but the rays were creating their magic on the water below; miles and miles of golden sheen, moving around with the waves; on one side was the open Arabian Sea, on the other, slightly far away, was the rocky coastline. After about 20 minutes of treacherous sea travel, we reached Paradise beach, which was nothing but an even smaller beach, with even lesser people. There, because the beach was curved concavely, even where the waves just broke, the depth was more, hence none of us ventured too far. Some of us sat on some rocks at the shore, where the water was just lapping at our feet. Gradually, as the tide rose, the water level increased, and sitting at the same place, we were slowly drenched.

Lunch was the basic objective for most of us there, and a big lunch had been ordered. The five of us who had supposedly had breakfast at first decided to waive it. However, when the aroma of the food touched our nostrils, we tasted from here, tasted from there, and finally had as much as the others (if not more). After about 2 hours (3:30 or so), the boat came back and called us. Some of us went that way, while some adventurous few decided to trek back; about 4-5 kms, I think (again, I’m bad with distances) ) of rocky hills one after the another with no proper paths. On our way back, we were pretty sure that they’d quit and take a boat. We were mistaken – they did trek and in good time too. Supposedly the paths were ‘really dangerous’ and there was virtually no path, and they had taken great risks while trekking. Ahem…. Who knows?

The rest of us, after some jumping around in the slightly chilly sea, decided to head back to the hotel to change and come back for the evening ocean bash. As we took one of the cars and headed back, it was a little difficult to absorb the fact that we’d reached this heavenly place just one day before (well 2 a.m in the night counts as that day right?).

30^th December, 2 am: The surroundings were tranquil – not a sound, excepting some insects and the sound of the breeze perhaps, and our voices – which had just about ruined the stillness of the place. We were tired as hell and yet didn’t feel like resting.

Glancing all around us, we couldn’t believe the luck that we had had this far. Twelve people reaching a tourist place in the middle of the holiday season, at 1:30 am ,with no reservations, and only the assurance of a slightly overconfident (Vixxxxxx) pal who’d been to the place before, we’d actually found a place to stay. In fact, giving credit, our pal here had managed to find a set of very beautiful 3 one room cottages, set on the slope of a hill, with no civilization within hearing distance. Agreed, that it was just for the night and we’d have to check out by 5 pm the next day (that day), the rooms were for 6 people while we were 12, the hotel management were not providing anything except some bed sheets; so what – who provides rooms at such a small place at 1:30am in the morning? Plus the rent was 300 bucks per room and most people didn’t plan to sleep anyway. Most of them planned to head for the beach; I was not one of those voluntarily sleep-deprived, and decided to sit there and enjoy the view. Four of us decided to stay back while the rest went to the beach in 2 shifts in the Indica. As the drivers were resting, one of our group drove the Indica, dropping some passengers and returning for a second trip. While they were leaving, we four put out chairs in the balcony of one of the cottages, wrapped ourselves in assorted bed sheets, shawls etc. and sat back, feeling the cool air and talking softly among ourselves. Not that anybody could hear us, but somehow one didn’t quite feel like shattering the stillness of the surroundings.

Far away, we could see some silvery glitter and assumed that was the sea. Below our cottages, the hill descended into a small valley full of vegetation (what kind, we could not quite make out in the darkness). Soon, the brightness decreased; the moon was setting. It was an unearthly view – from stark white to off-white, to cream, to yellow, to dull orange, to dull red, and then finally darkness.

We were starving, and since there was nothing to eat except some soggy pieces of bread, a few tomatoes, a cucumber, and salt, the four (actually just 3, dear NG did not move from the bed) of us sliced and diced, and ate some very basic form of sandwiches with such a relish; its amazing how people stop being choosy when there are no options. At about 4am, after playing around with a laptop, we decided to call it quits and went off to our rooms.

I was supposed to be sleeping on the floor, as one of the girls could not sleep on the floor. My roomie was already fast asleep on the floor, wrapped in a hotel-provided bed spread. However, after 5 minutes, after having a few encounters with unknown insects, I shifted to the bed, deciding that when the other girls returned from the beach, I’d shift back. Turns out that was a smart thing I did because the others who had gone to the beach didn’t return until morning.
From what we heard the next morning, the other guys too had had a great time down at the beach - lighting a bonfire, et al.

Anyway, next morning, after the usual delays, we headed for the beach, where we had a gala time. The first view of the sea was mesmerizing to me (as usual); it had been almost a year since I’d visited a sea beach (last was Golden beach, Chennai). After taking in all the scenic view that the place provided, the rocks, the shape of the beach (OM), we had a rather heavy breakfast at a beach café – all kinds of breakfasts were ordered, mashed potatoes, omelettes – everyone was starving which was natural considering the last proper meal we had had was lunch the previous day. After the very sumptuous meal, we went into the water. Soon, we were playing all kinds of silly games like Catch the Ball, and the most common game of all (Antakshari).

Ten of us had come to the beach, as two others were so heavily in sleep that they hadn’t woken up and were still dozing in the cottages. On calling repeatedly, either the network was down or they weren’t picking up. So, some of us went back to wake them from dreamland and bring them to the beach. That done, when we returned some others then went back to check out and search for some other accommodation. These few people went, found a hotel, took a bath and unintentionally slept off. The rest of us, after bathing all day, and seeing a magnificent sunset, headed back. Everyone was dead tired – water does that to you, and somehow we all managed to get back, shower and were ready (starving!) for dinner.

The guy who had been to the place before, made us walk a LOT and finally we reached this restaurant which was actually a room in someone’s house. It was an ingenuous establishment really. The main restaurant was in the rooftop of the house where a few benches, mattresses, tables and chairs had been spread to form sitting space. Some hanging colourful cloth lamps made the place look very exotic… bright coloured dim lights. On the way to the roof top, one had to cross the kitchen of the house/restaurant as well as the washing area, which indicated that it was a normal home, turned into a cash earner. Twelve of us went into the rooftop area and totally destroyed the silent sophisticated dining ambience that the foreigners/owner had created there. Shouting, moving chairs, asking for water etc. etc. etc. No wonder one Firangi lady was smiling all the time, and very cheerfully passed the menu to us when we were clamoring for more menus.

After dinner, where some trifling arguments and exchange of words took place for no relevant reason whatsoever (something to do with drinking water I think), we headed to the adjoining beach – Gokarna. As the time was about 11pm, hardly any people were there. We sat there, enjoying the magic of the white waves, unfurling into the dark waters at the shore. After some time, some of us headed back to the hotel, while others remained at the beach. These others reportedly were chased out of the beach by some night policemen who asked them ‘apna ghar nahi hai kya?’. Well some of these guys were so inebriated that they didn’t remember much the next morning. One guy remembered talking to his reflection in the mirror of the bathroom wall (back at the hotel) for about 5 minutes, thinking it was another guy and decided to sleep, attempting rather embarrassing unmentionable things to the person sleeping innocently next to him; I suppose he imagined the guy to be his dream babe. Hahaha… Anyway everybody slept like a log that night, compensating for the sleepless night the day before and the endless road trip before that. In fact, for most of us, the insomnia dated a night earlier than that.

28^th Dec 6pm: I was in a rather bad mood when I returned home from office. Every second person in office had some plan for New Year, and here was I, with no plan except…, no, no exception, no plan at all. As I reached home, my roomie was also in a similar morose mood. Anyhow, we cheered up at the prospect of meeting some college buddies who’d come to Bangalore all the way from Pune. They, along with some other college friends were all going to spend New Year at this place called Gokarna, some 500 kms from Bangalore. Trip had been completely planned from before, except the place. We two had not joined in because of some dependency of our 3^rd roomie. Just that day, finally the dependency was cleared, but that didn’t matter at this late hour; everything had been planned and nothing could be done. We were destined to spend the New Year at home.

Anyway when we met our friends, they had a 3^rd friend, with them, who incidentally also wanted to go for the trip, but like us realized that it was too late. When we heard that a 3^rd person was also there, we decided to try to tag along. Initially we’d thought they were leaving the next night, but later got to know that they were leaving early in the morning, barely 12 hours later. My roomie had a very important deliverable the next day at office, I had not informed anyone at office, and yet, we started with out nagging voices ‘humein bhi jaana hai, please kuch arrange karte hai na’ [we also want to go, please lets arrange something]. Then started the long decision on whether it was possible or not; a series of calculations to see how much cash difference would arise due to the hiring of a 2^nd vehicle, would each member of the trip agree, how everything would be managed. The accommodation arrangements in Gokarna were not a problem – because of the simple reason that there were no arrangements.

After a lot of calls (we’re the people raising the revenue of all the telecom giants), a car got arranged, from the same place where the first car was arranged. Interestingly, for the 2^nd car, the person on the phone gave all the details i.e. car number plate, driver phone number, driver name, ETA, etc. Once we got all that, our friends were in a frenzy for the guy hadn’t given them any details even though they had gone and booked the car personally, even giving an advance. Finally everything was arranged telephonically by 10:30pm after which we went home while the guys went to the transport office to confirm their own booking.

Once home, we called out parents wt the news of the sudden change of plans. Surprisingly, they were not at all surprised, inspite of the lateness of the plan. Then started the long night of packing (which hardly took half an hour), the anticipation of the trip, and nervousness as to whether the car would actually arrive the next morning. This went on till about 1:30 am, after which for some reason I took a bath, and finally went to sleep.

I have a strange problem; whenever I have to get up early (anytime before 8), I stay restless throughout the night, waking up and seeing the time very other hour so. The same thing happened that night, and so when I woke up at 5:45 (the car was slated to arrive at 6:30), I was already feeling tired. Come 6:30 – no car, 7:00 – still no sign of the car; on calling the driver, the number was unreachable, on calling the guys, their car had also not come, 7:30 – still no sign; we started wondering whether after all the planning we’d actually have to go to office, 8:00 – the guys called up to say that the cars would be late and we should have some breakfast, 8:45 – we decided to give it another 15 minutes before we’d call up the guys to tell them to go and not wait for the 2^nd car (we were trying to sacrifice you see), 8:55: I had just picked up my phone to call them when the call came asking us to come down with our bag(s). We were ecstatic! The trip was finally happening..! We were finally going!

Then started the loooong trip; Four of us in the Indica, eight others cramped in the Sumo. It took us just about 2 hours to get out of Bangalore, the traffic at its peak hour. I tried to sleep, but this one guy (who had also joined at the last minute) kept on talking. He’s a very talkative person (we realized too late).Then we lost the other car; a lot of inter-car phone calls later, we re-united, with a stop in between where some sunglasses and bandanas were bought. With my perennial habit of drinking more water, we had to make a LOT of stops on the way. Besides that too, we made several stops, to change passengers, to get food from the other car, to get cassettes from the car (2 lousy cassettes of Ghazals and instrumental). Come lunch, and another long stop at a roadside restaurant, where the only available food was Daal and Naan. We ate like we’d never eaten before – naans disappearing faster than one could say ‘naan’.

Post lunch, we started getting a little worried; we’d barely covered any distance, just about a quarter. As the journey continued, we tried stopping less, but with 12 people in 2 cars, that’s a difficult task. Once I was awakened from my sweet sleep, for a photo session in the middle of nowhere. As noon turned to evening, the energy levels went down and everyone just wanted to reach. But, we were a long, long, long way off. We were also debating as to whether we should stop at Jog Falls or not (as it fell on our way and we were sure that we’d not be able to make on our way back). While this decision was still pending, evening set in and we crossed some of the most quiet and picturesque forests… one single road leading on and on with nothing but trees on both sides – no sign of civilization except one or 2 cars going in the opposite direction after long intervals. It was so tranquil that we just went on in silence, even the music was not so loud…After some time on one side, we could see the sun, glowing a fierce orange slowly giving into dusk.

At one stop, when it was about 7:30 pm and we were more than 4 hours away, it was finally decided that we’d not stop at the falls. As we went along, the terrain changed to a hilly region; roads became narrower, up and down, curves to the right, curves to the left, u-turns to a lower level, the darkness crept in, and with no lights on the roads, it was indeed a sobering part of the journey; everybody was tired, and yet nobody was able to sleep. As we went along the roads, we saw nothing except the light caused by the headlights ahead, nothing on the left or on the right except the dark looming shades of grey, and the occasional milestones. It was getting increasingly eerie. I, at least was glad that we were traveling in two cars, and had the comfort of knowing that we were 14 of us together in the middle of nowhere. All kinds of stories about people who were stranded in the forest because of car breakdowns started coming to me. The trees, which had been such majestic and beautiful during the day, had mutated into huge shapeless things, with arms and legs flailing all about; the only non-scary visual was that of the sky; the stars above were clear , as if reassuring me that all was well.

Sometimes, the other car would go ahead, and we’d be rushing ahead to catch up, as if it was the only support we had. Anyway, after some time we reached some human civilization – a few lights here and there, a kind of check post. Two roads were leading from there – I have no idea what consultation went on, and finally we took left. As we went on an on, the path seemed to lead into nowhere…a dark road with small houses on one side and trees/bushes/darkness on the other side. After travelling for about 10-15 minutes down that road, doubt started creeping in, and on seeing a truck coming from the opposite direction, we sighed in relief and instructed the driver to ask our whereabouts. Turns out we were on the wrong road…we had had to turn right at the other check post. Worse, the road was so narrow that there was hardly any space to turn; with impressive skill, the drivers maneuvered the cars back towards the way we came from.

After that incident, we went pretty cautiously, taking care at any road with multiple options. The drivers were also very tired and sleepy; our driver (the guy who had climbed up and down Jog falls so happily) was trying very hard to concentrate on the road and not fall asleep. At one point of time, he suddenly put on LOUD Kannada music – and we didn’t ask him to lower the volume because we knew that the music was a deterrent to his falling asleep.

Suddenly, the Sumo stopped in front of us. Two of the guys came out and coaxed us to agree to go to Jog Falls; ‘it’s a moonlit night, mast mausam ho raha hai, chalte hai na’. I knew they would eventually convince us, as already the 8 people must have been convinced. So wasting no time we gave in. As we entered the road leading to the falls, again there was nothing much around us (it was a 2km diversion from our road).When we reached there, besides us, and some shops which were open (for whom I have no idea) there were no other people around – goes to show the sanity level of our group. We could see zilch but for a dark opaque piece of land in front of us, the open moonlight sky overhead, and a narrow whitish thread of water slithering down the steep descent far across . The one thing that was crystal clear was the sound; gushing water, falling on and on and on, with no respite. Some over-enthusiastic members of our trip had the adventurous idea of going down a little farther to get a better view. How some of the saner tired people convinced them that now was not the time is a mystery (I tried a little and then gave up as there was a high risk of my BP going over the top); it was an award wining achievement.

Finally, after that, besides the one stop for dinner (which very few people had), and waiting for either of the cars to follow behind (some very smart people in the other cab would instruct us to follow them, and then would speed up and leave us behind and then, to top it all, ask us the reason why we were not following them) and the occasional directional confusion, we were finally there – Gokarna. As we crossed a kind of a check-in gate, (it was about 12am I think), there was some kind of village function going on, all the village folks seemed to be there, some loud music was playing, (bhajans I think). We stopped there and some guys went along with the one guy who’d been here before, to a hotel which was further away. After about 15 minutes, they came back with another person (the hotel person we guessed) who led us to the 3 cottages set on the hill slope.

As we went into the cottages with our bags n stuff, I thought to myself, ‘we’re really here, for real – the trip’s just started’.

And what a trip!

Epilogue: Some incidents have been omitted because of the secretive nature of the dealings. (The people who had sat in the Indica on our way there would know some….); Also,
The girl at Paradise beach and the controversial photo
The romantic couple walking hand in hand at the beach – the start of a beautiful relationship
The incident that happened that night at the hotel (Ksheer….the victim)
The castle of sand (?) at that night at Gokarna beach..

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