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Published: January 6th 2008
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Beach near Kundapura
A lone traveller's delight... This is the second in the series of the annual "hippie trip" that I have. This year the origin poinnt was different. While last year around I started from Pune, this time I am relocated to kochi .
The modus operandi remained the same...1.Reach the railway station 2. Check for the trains leaving the state. 3.Take the bgeneral/b ticket to any point preferably the termination point of the train.
At the onset let me reiterate that I am not masochist by nature, the objective of travelling in general bogie of Indian railways at peak season is only to check every year whether I am still fit and reselient enough to make a full day journey in the general bogie. Traveling in it is an activity that deserves a special mention of its own. I am making a new blog about my travel in general bogie which I promise you will be much more interesting and adventurous. So look out for it.
Ok, I started from Kochi on the first available train that was going to Mumbai (Netravati exp). i took a ticket to Mumbai but I got down at kankinadi, a suburb of mangalore at around 1 am;not
Walk to the beach
Way to the Murudeshwar beach because it was planned but more because of the factthat my bladder was refusing to cooperate anymore after 10 hours of controlling my natural urges(...why?...because people were sitting in the loo of the general bogie...you don't expect me to pee on them..do you?)
I spent the night at the only vacant wooden bench that I could find at the platform( gypsy trip…shoestring budget..remember). Let me warn you that the only way to survive a night at the railway platform bench in India is to carry ample supply of Odomos mosquito repellent cream. Anyways,by morning, I had more or less made up my mind about exploring the Konkan belt. Konkan belt is the strech between Mumbai and Mangalore and boasts of one of the most scenic train ride in this section. The train ride was very much in my radar but to start with I preferred to hit the road. As usual I took the first state bus that caught my eye. The bus took me to a sleepy little village called Kundapura. I had a mighty feast there of sambar vada, appams and idlies topped up with some very tasty tea all for 23 bucks! The waiter was
Crowded beach
Being weekend,Locals from nearby area flocked on this beach that day ecstatic after I tipped him 7 bucks and told me all possible ways of moving on from this place. He also informed me about the various temples that I wasn’t really interested in and some virgin beaches that I was most interested in. After thanking my make-shift travel guide cum waiter I proceeded to hike and hop in autos to reach to this fantastic forgotten beach around 8-10 kms from the city. After dozing off under the shade of trees I caught the first available bus continuing in my journey to unknown.
A co-passenger in the bus seemed mighty interested to know that I had boarded the bus without having any clearcut ideas of my destination and he very enthusiastically went on to explain me that in order to make some sense of my already half wasted journey, I should pay a visit to Murudeshwar. I did not want to offend him by refusing so I nonchalantly dozed off but this elderly self proclaimed authority of the tourist spots woke me up after an hour or so and informed me that my destination was 5 minutes away. I was so dazed that I got off if only to make sure
Temple
This tenple is several centuries old and has a very interesting mythological background that he doesn’t go overboard with this and end up taking me to his home or something!
Murudeshwar as the locals told me had a beach which was around 2.5 kms from the highway. To my amazement Murudeshwar was not another sleepy li’l village that I had imagined.Being weekend It was overflowing with local holiday seekers. There is a 3 or 4 centuries old Shiva temple there and the place also boasts of the highest (150 ft I was told) Shiva idol in the world. Surprise surprise! The temple is surrounded on 3 sides by the sea and near the temple there was also a neat little hotel almost inside the sea. So much for a trip to nowhere. After having a bite I found out an accommodation that was willing to have me at 300 bucks provided that if required I bought the soap from the hotel and did not bring in girls.
I have always had some soap and I have never had girls in the hotel so we were both happy.
After spending the day idling off on the beach and in the cool temple foyer with my PG Wodehouse I went back to
Hotel room
The hotel room looked more like a ventilated prisoner's cell but you can't ask for more @ 300 bucks catch up with some sleep in the hotel. The locals ld me that the nearest station was only 3 kms away and a few phone calls me told me that I had an option of moving towards mangalore or madgaon-Goa both around 3 hours from Murudeshwar. Not really an option because logically all hippie trips must end at Goa and especially if its on the New Year’s midnight.
The train was at 3 am so I hiked back in the night at 2 (my first night hike) braving the stray dogs and reach the station. After waiting for around 45 min I was on the train to Goa and boy what a journey it turned out to be. Suffices to say that when I got down, I messaged a few friends that I live to see another day.( More about it in my blog on the journey in general compartment of Indian railways.) I happened to have a friend’s friend at Goa so after a few calls I was with him in his cosy apartment. His wife was at her parent’s place so letting in Mr.Dirty_unshaven_smelly_not slept for 2 nights at a strech Saurabha Ranjan was not an issue.
Statue@night
The 150 ft high Shiva idol is majestic After some rest we spent the rest of the day at the Colva beach where I ogled to my satisfaction (give me a break, I was in Cochin for 5 months continuously!!!) and also met 2 pyt’s from Newzealand. The sisters were both Marathon runners and I was thankful that I did not have to chase them. I spent some very interesting time with them and basically had a great start to the new year.
My luck carried to the first day of the year and I found that they were also also going to Cochin in the same train that I was waiting for at madgaon railway station ( Ya I was such a wreck by this time that I had booked a reserved ticket to Cochin). Time flew and the next thing I knew was that my journey had come to an end…it was 2.45 am in the morning …my beautiful co-passengers were gone and I was getting prepared to face the biggest challenge of the journey…coaxing a half asleep mallu autowallah to drop me at my place!!!!!
I have lived to tell the tale…do leave back a comment…this is Saurabha Ranjan signing off from Mallu-land.
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shahab
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amazing narration man....you really have a lot of enthu dude