Gokarna ( meaning: Cow’s Ear ), a small temple town situated in the southwestern part of India at the Arabian sea. Although it's a spiritual place for locals, and inhabitants of the southern part of India, who perform their rituals here. But slowly, it became the favorite destination for people who love to spend time away from the city, amidst nature, at the seashore.
At youth, especially when you’re born in a terrain which is surrounded by forest, and hilly terrain you tend to develop affection towards nature and wildlife, and seashore becomes exotic too!
Being an introvert, though I love to socialize at times, I like to spend time alone, and travel in search of serenity. We have been to Goa, Kerala, Vizag and Pondicherry, they all are famous for their coastline, and beaches especially Goa. But they are crowded, always crowded - especially in the era of the Internet, where everything is available online, there is nothing like off-season!
Though online Travel Companies, Makemytrip, Goibibo were available, back in 2011 still Gokarna was not explored, and was not on top travel destinations. We have heard about Gokarna from friends and wanted to visit the place ( word of mouth!)
For the first time, we booked our bus ticket, and boarded a bus from Bangalore at night, and about at 7 AM in the morning we were at Gokarna. Gokarna is very close to my heart now, the village reminds me of “Malgudi Days”, a famous TV Comic/ Book by R. K. Narayan ( though, “Malgudi Days' ' were shot at Agumbe, a Village in Shimoga District of Karnataka, also famous for King Cobra). It's a village, transitioning into a town, where you can find all the required amenities, but the attraction is traditional homes, short of ancient architecture where you can virtually feel a ‘Time Travel’, you are back in time for 100 years!
Gokarna has three main beaches -
Om Beach ( It’s in the shape of Devanagari symbol “ ॐ”, pronounced as OM or AUM)
It's on the side of the hill, you need to climb a little. Open to the public, mainly occupied by locals and seniors - you can find some good restaurants over here.
Gokarna Beach
It's in town, you can reach here by walk, even you can drive your car here. Mainly for rituals, and occupied by locals
Now, Kudle beach
Heaven for wanderers, travelers, and for people who want to stay aloof.
Kudle beach was our destination. On three sides, it is surrounded by small hills, which you can easily trek or book an Auto to reach here. You can also drive a car, and walk a little to reach the beach. Autos are available from the Gokarna bus stand with a nominal fare.
It was a sunny afternoon in the month of May - June ( Imagine the weather, it was hot, humid, and sticky). We trekked a little and managed to reach Kudle beach where we found Uma Maheshwari Cottage and found some relief. We stopped a little, changed our clothes, and Bang!!! We headed for the beach, as soon as we got into the water, our body felt rejuvenated, water was cold, and it was pleasant to stay here!
Uma Maheshwari Cottage, Pic by Coolsage!!
The day passed, we had our lunch, and in the evening we marched towards the Gokarna Town, we wanted to see the main deity ‘Mahabaleshwar Temple of Gokarna ’’, (there is a legend about this story which you can read in the wiki, I will not talk about it here). When we visited this temple for the first time, one of my friends, ‘PK’ was jobless, and was desperately looking for Job, he was onto the feet of the Priest, and asked him to bribe god for the job (haha!!) - Guess what it worked, after returning to Bangalore in a few days, he got a Job ( Faith is more powerful than worship - it inspires you to work, and put efforts that’s what actually helped my friend PK ).
An evening at Kudle Beach, Pic by Coolsage!
It was night, we were returning towards the beach - it was lovely moonlight, we were gazing at the stars and also listening to the music of water ‘from the shore’. It's a safe town even for girls, they were roaming freely, at night that’s how the town is maintained.
Rock at Kudle Beach, Pic by Coolsage!!
At night, we went towards the other side of Kudle beach and sat on the small rocks, which is on the way to ‘OM’ Beach, it was the full moon. We could see crabs coming out from the waters, and the water waves were forming symbols similar to ‘Smiley’ - it’s unbelievable, but you have to trust me! peace of mind, cool sea breeze, we felt the serenity!! Well, it was quite late at night, and we rushed towards the room ( if you ever get a chance, sit at the seashore, do nothing, close your eyes and observe the sound. You would feel that nature, the water wants to talk to you, they want to take away all your worries, grief, and sorrow. They would want to rejuvenate your mind, body, and soul and give you a new ray of hope, and a new life. That’s how nature is, it always embraces us!)
The Halo Above, Pic by Coolsage!!
The Next Day, we sat at the hill of Kudle beach, near the sunset point - we wanted to get a glimpse of the sun before we go to Bangalore ( it used to be open for all, thanks to the online travel companies, Gokarna is very much commercialized like Goa, and now you can find plenty of cottages and properties. The sunset point was private property, now it's surrounded by walls!)
Sunset point at Gokarna, Pic by Coolsage!
The first trip to Gokarna was amazing, I liked it a lot, and I found it better than Goa because it was isolated, and Kudle beach was less crowded, moreover, you would find like-minded people from different parts of the world.
Kudle beach was popular not just among Indians, but among foreigners as well. You can find foreigners from the Middle East, and European countries, doing jogging, yoga in the morning at the onset of sunrise. Only Happy People, greeting each other!
That’s the reason, you can find multilingual people, restaurant owners/workers who have native command over European languages.
Seaview from the hotel, at Kudle Beach, pic by Coolsage!!
Cottages at Gokarna are relatively cheap, I would suggest you stay in a cottage. But if you’re someone very sensitive, and can’t stay in a humid climate, look for an AC room. There is a fine hotel as well, i.e. Gokarna International, at Kudle Beach.
I visited Gokarna for the first time in 2011, and since then I try to visit the place every year, especially during November - December, because of the pleasant weather, and also you would see people from various parts of the world celebrating their vacations, also Christmas and New Year.
So the best time to visit Gokarna is, October till January, though you can visit throughout the years!
You can Visit Gokarna, by Train, Bus, and Also by Car. Roads are good, it's about 550 KM from Bangalore, it's a beautiful route with a scenic drive. The train route is beautiful but, the train halts at about 10 KM away from Gokarna Town, still manageable.
The route to Gokarna from Bangalore!! Thanks to Google Map!
Apart from Kudle Beach, there are a couple of isolated beaches named, Half Moon beach, and Full Moon beach. You can reach there by Trek or by steamer
At Gokarna, you can also enjoy some water sports, such as Banana RIde in Gokarna, Boat Ride, Motor Boat, etc.
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This is just an excerpt from the first trip, there are many stories, which I would like to talk about later. Till then explore your life, look for a destination, and experience The Halo Above!
Image Shot by a friend, back in 2014!!
Coolsage