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Published: December 12th 2008
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I left Lahore sunday morning. The border opened at 9.30am and I wanted to be there when it opened! After fond farewells on the Pakistani side, I headed toward the Indian customs and immigration centre a bit warily, as I now had a cancelled visa, as well as a brand new 6 month job, and if they felt like it, could have given me a hard time. As I was the first through, they weren't quite ready, so chai was sent for me, and I had a very civilised breakfast with 3 customs officers who were very interested to know about what it's like in Pakistan.
After chai I headed for the scrum that was a sea of taxi drivers vying for my business. A price was agreed after some serious haggling, and I set off for Amritsar, city of the Golden Temple as well as a railway station to catch a train to Mumbai. On arrival at the station I was told all trains to Mumbai were fuly booked for 5 days! Not wanting to stay in Amritsar any longer than I had to, I booked on to a train for Delhi, hoping that there would be more chance of
a seat on a train. As the train for Delhi didnt leave til 9.30pm, I had the day to kill, so I went to the Golden Temple, the holiest of holies for Sikhs. ..........
They also provide accomodation and a free meal to anyone and everyone who applies, and it really is a spectacular scene, watching food being prepared in the quantities needed to feed the thousands passing through every day.
By sheer luck I got onto a train that I discovered after I'd been on for a while that not only was it going to Mumbai, but all the way to Gokarna..all I had to do was work out how to get a ticket whilst on the train. Officials are few and far between on trains, they seem to appear out of the woodwork, and if you havent got a valid ticket, youre in for a hefty fine...fortunately when they did show up, I blagged my way, waving a voucher that I'd bought for the first leg of the journey, and they seemed to be impressed. Whilst I was more than willing to buy a ticket, I thought the hassle of explaining wasn't worth it.
The train
didn't actually stop at Gokarna, but 2 stops up the line and it was late by this time, so I stopped the night in Karwar, in a "retiring" room at the station. After 3 days in a train and not a lot of sleep, it was very nice to get a real bed, shower, and some decent food....
I got an early morning bus going to Gokarna, and sat down next to a sanayassin, a 'Baba'; "One who has renounced the world". He was chatty, spoke quite good english, so I started quizzing him about his 'job'. He quickly got onto the topics of money and hashish; he had a bag full of the second and very little of the first, and from the way the conversation was going, I was getting the feeling that I was being 'groomed' to be a 'sponsor', or buy a load of grass!! I wasn't interested in either, so the chat ground to a halt after that, but he suggested I came with him to a very nice little place on the main beach at Gokarna, which was the general direction I was heading anyway. Whilst he seemed pre-occupied with money, I liked
the golden temple
pilgrims wait to go into the temple, which is on an island him and he was honest enough to own up to a few 'weaknesses'. He certainly looked the part, with great, long dreadlocks and beard, and very little else in the way of worldly possesions - apart from a duffle bag full of mariajuana!
He'd been a sanyassin for 30 years, was about 75 years old, and had lived a very ordinary life, job, family and then, when his children had grown up and left, he took to the 'spiritual' path. I understand everybody in India has to make the best of it, and if that's getting gullible westerners to be your meal ticket, so be it. But he seemed to be taking Non-duality to a whole new level! We chatted as we went along with a wide ranging agenda - attachment;enlightment, mobile phone repairs, and he did seem to have an eye for the ladies. When I pointed this out to him, he smiled and said, "I have many friends........" he later showed me a photo album where most of the photos were of him with his arm round a nubile young thing next to him. There wasn't one of a religious ceremony he attended. I kept smiling to
preparing food
there were hundreds of volunteers myself about the incongruity of all this.
We made our way to the beach, and walked along about a mile and came to the appropriately named "Zen Cafe" . I'd told him previously that I needed to sort out my mobile which didn't seem to be charging. He said he knew where to get it fixed, and he had a new charger that he would happily sell me! He took me off to the repair man in town, who did a fantastic job; tested the battery, which was fine, cleaned it out, and the mobile was as good as new! I told 'Baba' that if my charger didn't do the job when I got back, I'd happily buy his. However, when I checked, my charger was working, so I didn't need 'Baba's' after all. I told him so and he became apoplectic with rage saying he"didn't need this tension" and put his hands over his ears! I did'nt have a clue what he was on about! When I tried to talk to him, he kept putting his hands over his ears, screaming he was, "enlightened", and didn't need to hear any "words' or "explanation". He has since that moment
train to Gokarna
very hot, very crowded, and very cheap banished me, and I fear it's forever, to coventry. After putting his food bill on someone else's tab at the guesthouse, he got some more "words" and "explanations" he didn't need to hear..
Aside from that Gokarna is Paradise! Sadly even in Paradise, there's plastic scattered everywhere! The guesthouse I'm staying in is on the beach, so I roll out of bed in the morning, and straight into the lukewarm waters of the Arabian Sea; it's a dirty job..........
Gokarna is a very important pilgrimage place for hindus, and has a certain 'dignity' that Goa and it's environs lack. The town is full of temples, and brahmin priests. It's also almost empty of tourists. Good for me ; bad for the traders. It's been the same story all over so far. After the Marriot Hotel in Pakistan, and now the Taj in Mumbai, flights are being cancelled left right and centre. It's heartbreaking to see the way those obscenities hit the poorest too.
So the days meld into one another; swimming, reading, a walk, a run, and also lovely vegetarian food. There are some lovely and exotic bird here - a pair of white bellied sea eagles are nesting 200
Gokarna
main beach where I stayed yards from my hut, and black orioles and purple sunbirds flit about in the gardens of the guesthouse, as do butterflies which are as big as the sunbirds. I feel a swing in a hammock coming on...........
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Jeremy
non-member comment
hammocks and all that
Great photos, and great read. you seem really cheerful and I hope that is true. we are off to Kolkata in late Jan. courtesy of Jules Verne. not quite the same. I know it may be lowering the high standard but what about a shot of you in that hammock. just to prove a point as we look out on frozen fog. all best J