Go Gokak

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People who love to travel, keep their eyes and ears open for every opportunity. His/her friends know it all. So when my friend bought a brand new car and planned to travel to his hometown for his baby’s naming ceremony, I got an invitation to travel with him.

I started early from office so that we could reach his home. Along the way, we picked up his cousin and hit the toll road of national highway. We were travelling from Bangalore to Gokak via Dharwad which was about 500 kms. The roads were good and we hit 100km/hr. on an average. There were not many private vehicles. My friend was keen to reach early before it gets dark. Starting at 2pm IST (Indian Standard Time) from Bangalore, it was simply impossible to do so.

We spoke about family, office and work. The green scenery of paddy, sugar cane and corn was pleasing to the eye. The weather was turning hot as we moved north. I attacked the muffins, the corn chips and water. We tasted some delicious homemade laddoos.

Gokak is small town built by the river Ghataprabha on the leeward side of the Western Ghats. It has one of first cotton mills set up by British. It uses hydro-electric power generated by the magnificent Gokak falls (Niagara of India). As the south west monsoons had failed this year, there was hardly any water. The rocks showed their bareness and sorrow. There was an ancient temple built by the Chalukya’s dynasty at least 500 years ago close to Gokak falls. Next to the falls, there is Gokak Cotton Mill estate with its own bungalows, staff quarters, social club, school, swimming pool, badminton court etc. It appeared to have been constructed by the British to take care of its employees. There is a hanging bridge over the water falls which allows workers from other villages to cross and come to work in the mill. Later we visited another temple at a slightly higher elevation. It was inhabited mostly by monkeys and a few priests. We visited the local town temple. After a lovely dinner at Gokak resort, we rested.

On the way to Dharwad, we bought some fresh regional sweets called Kunda (famous in Belgaum) and Kadardant (popular sweet of Gokak). Dharwad is a university town with many horticulture universities. It is also called the pension town of Karnataka. Many academicians, intellectuals, artists and scholars including Gyanpeeth awardees settle in this place. At the naming ceremony of my friend’s daughter, only female family members (no males!) lovingly decorated the baby’s cradle with flowers and balloons. The baby was gently rocked in cradle and the names of goddesses were whispered in her ears by her aunts. The women sang lullabies and the baby, Aarohi slept off peacefully. We had a sumptuous lunch and hit the road to return to Bangalore.

In this trip, I learnt that people fight over petty things and associate bad luck with certain plants and animals. Perhaps, they are insecure, afraid and find blaming a plant a solution to problems. Also, with Re1/kilo rice that is being distributed by the government, people perhaps are not motivated to work and have a lot of idle time to cultivate fancy superstitions. I realized the bad effect of not having a purpose in life; to do something meaningful with time. The full moon in the sky seemed to wink at me in silent agreement. I was home.

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Photos

Gokak Water Falls
It is dry and barren because of drought in North Karnataka (Adverse impact of global warming)

Baby naming ceremony
Baby is not visible in the midst of flowers, balloons and aunts!