gokarna II

many nice days in gokarna... walking around town, playing beach-cricket with the kids around sunset, enjoying the delicious masala dosas and shira at pai hotel, long internet sessions at my usual place... they were kind enough to stay open sometimes up to 11pm which is late in gokarna! i was the only one on the streets at this hour walking back to krishna farm house.

and then one day, i recognized a couple i had met at the gomera rainbow gathering in march. it was yanti and maike from germany. i saw them again at the musical instrument shop near pai hotel and greeted them there. the guys at the shop were also greeting me from time to time, and having a soft spot for instrument makers, i would stop by and hear their tales of poor sales due to lack of tourists. i said i would try to help as much as i could by recommending them to other travellers. then, when i left them on one occasion, i turned back and asked if they had any shakers. i had been looking for one and now was my chance to get one and help out these guys. and of course, they found me one cube shaped one made of rose-wood and coconut. it looked very nice. ok, i said, just give a price and i will pay it. no haggling. of course, they still asked me to give a price, but i repeated what i said. ok, he said, 400. 400. i thought a bit as i mechanically converted it to a currency i knew. it was a lot for a little shaker. but i had given them my word. ok, i said, when the shock subsided. i paid for it the next day, still a bit aggrieved that they hadn’t really given me a good price. “thank you for the good luck you brought”, he said as i left. so i was happy that his luck had turned, and happy again when i finally realised that the price of something doesn’t equate with the value of something. this guy was not just another anonymous salesman... he was a musician and instrument-maker with a young family to clothe and feed, far from his home-town of varanasi. that shaker has already proved itself to be priceless.

there was a jam session at zen cafe one night... julia had told me about it one evening and so we went along. yanti and maike also joined later. i got to do some more drumming, but the atmosphere was spoiled by some drunk foreigners. i decided to leave early and luckily krishna farm house was not far away. one day, julia tells me that yanti and maike were leaving for paradise beach by boat, and looking for people to join them to share the cost. i was also of thinking of going to paradise beach: i had met the ‘swami’, aka the panama maharaja, near the rama temple one time, and he asked me to help with the gathering as i had some experience of rainbow. it was he who was organising the rainbow gathering on the beach in order to clean up the place after the destruction of all the illegal guest-house/restaurants that had cropped up there over the years. of course i told him that i would help. i had thought of walking there again, but if yanti and maike were taking the boat, i would of course help to share the costs. as i left the spring to walk back to the main road, i passed mabla house and saw yanti and maike sitting there with some other guys. i asked if they were still going, and if they still needed more people to join. yes to both. so we agreed to meet at 9am the next morning.

i had asked the swami what the gathering was missing most, and he said a big pot. so that day, i went to look for one. eventually, i found one at the panda-wallah opposite pai hotel. the largest pot they had with handles. the panda-wallah went up to the ‘attic’ where the old stock was kept and pulled down one large pot. i thought about it a long time before i paid for it and also a big lid to go with it. altogether, it was the price of just over one and a half shakers. and again, it proved to be priceless!

the morning came and i said goodbye to the family. ravi was kind enough to give me a lift on his motorbike to near mabla house, with me hanging on precariously with my two packs, a big pot and lid. of course, no one at mabla house was ready at 8.30. the boatmen were there ready to transport us. eventually, one by one they came to join me on the beach, and at 10.30, i was haggling for a good price for the trip. already pissed off cos they made me wait 2 hours, i lost my temper with one of the guys who had the temerity to tell me to be “shanti shanti, this is india...” bla bla bla... be shanti shanti with your time, brother, not mine!! so already the omens were not good for this trip.