gokarna

last time i was here in the winter of ‘96/’97, i was shacked up in a grass-hut at one of the ‘guest-house/restaurants’ on om-beach. the music came from the israeli techno scene and i was smoking up to 20 chillums a day. i had spent xmas there and experimented with lcd on new’s year eve and day. many many stories of that time.

by chance, the place i have ended up in the present time is on gokarna main beach. i also spent some days here 15 years ago, when i had met again two danish travellers johanne and stine. they were the reason i had stayed so long in gokarna/om beach... we had agreed this rendezvous when i had last seen them in the mountains in nagar, kullu valley. another long story from the past.

i wandered around the town yesterday and today, trying to remember the layout of the place, piece together the places and the well-worn paths i had taken that time. i knew that they was a ‘back’ way to kudle and om beaches, and today i found it again as i wandered around aimlessly. i will save that nostalgic path for another day. the massive wagon that gets pulled through the streets of the town on shivaratri feast day now has its own purpose-built garage. there’s even a smaller ufo-topped version parked up nearby. the two main temples i will also leave for another day. many hindu pilgrims and worshippers here... gokarna is also the site of one of the seven ‘shiva lingams’ scattered across india.

each morning, i stop off at the coconut stall run by the krishna farmhouse owner. we communicate as best we can in his poor english and my poor punjabi, but i like his friendly authentic manner. he picks a good coconut for me by tapping on it... for drinking the juice and eating the soft delicious flesh inside. i overheard a conversation at one restaurant the first night about the pleasure to be had by mixing coconut flesh with chocolate. images of bounty bars instantly made my mouth water, and yesterday i found a place to buy a bar of dark chocolate. i will experiment with my ‘home-made bounty’ tomorrow.

i found also the holy water lake for the ritual ablutions, with a small temple in the middle. a sign warns people not to swim as the ‘lake’ is very deep and many die each year. ‘don’t be the next one’, it warns.

i made my way from gokarna beach to the path leading to another washing place and up the steps to the rama temple and the fresh water spring. another set of steps leads to a smaller temple on the plateau at the top of the hill. today, i found a natural seat formed in the rocks forming the hillside there to watch another spectacular sunset.

tonight (10th december) was also full-moon night, and also the night of a moon eclipse (from here, about 75% partial eclipse). i climbed to the highest point of the hillock and could make out the coastline and rocks leading to the other beaches, although the beaches themselves were hidden from this vantage point.