To retain an old me - Gokarna

My day had started by searching for a rental bike. There was these terms called uptown and downtown. My hostel was on the uptown and all market area was on the downtown. I grab this chance and chose to walk to the downtown side in search of a rental bike. It was a good 2 km walk to the main market and i got my bike, yellow funky Dio.

Om beach - Only 1 km from the main market Om beach i found the most holistic beach may be because there is a temple, Mahabaleshwar, on the shore of this beach. Localities here have tiny shops on the beach where you can enjoy street shopping and have nariyal pani. There is good security from the local police and they are there to help you in whatsoever situation. I know this as i had faced an issue with an uncleaned public toilet. They actually provided me with the address of good one. Sigh! Beside that, i found this beach with lot of holy people who was doing puja and rituals on the sea shore. Most of men were wearing dhotis and women were in saree.

Mahabaleshwar temple - Fun part, I never saw so many shirtless men at one place. While waiting for my turn to see the Shiv Pind, I observed few men bodies. What? they were shirtless, its not my fault. I saw fat ones, skinny, short, tall, big-headed, almost every type. Men and women in one queue to pay a service to god and of course to pray. While i was in the queue i had this moment with a woman where i felt that she got insecurity of me having next to her husband as my hand unknowingly touched her husband's shirtless back. She immediately shifted herself next to her husband and i laughed silently to myself. What an insecure world! In middle of my all this course, one blackboard took my attention quickly. "Lower caste not allowed to enter the temple." I read it twice and asked myself amusingly "really? at this age of time?" I wondered how temple authority will authenticate people for their caste. Will people need to carry their caste certificate to enter a holy place? As i didn't have any answer to my questions i simply moved on in the queue.

Moreover, i got to see an amazingly built temple which is a 4th-century CE Hindu temple. Its beautiful carving of stones one which i remember i must have watched in my childhood Doordarshan shows.

Kudle Beach - What a quirky way to reach this beach! I enjoyed my drive while reaching to my destination. It started again from the main market and i ended up going to another uptown hill from where i can have glimpse of Om beach. It was a good ride of 5km from the market when i reach the point from where i can walk to the Kudle beach. It was a sunset time. I grabbed a glass of juice and enjoyed the beautiful view of sunset while being on the beach shack. Here, unlike Om beach, i found happening vibes. Young crowd, foreigners, cool shacks, and water sports.

I hereby ended my day 1 in Gokarna. I had amazing night at the hostel. I got to talk with few people who had stayed in my dormitory. I had a look on books collected by the hostel host, mostly was by author Paulo Coelho. One book catch my eyes was the Like a flowing river by the same author. I grabbed it and started reading when the host has offered me cup of coffee. It felt so good. That actually made my stay wonderful!

So here I go. I catch a direct bus from Pune to Gokarna. Bus has boarded around 9 in the night and reached to Gokarna next day early in the morning. Bus has dropped me at the petrol pump near to the Gokarna village, and not directly to the village since the petrol pump locates on the highway and bus was going to Manglore, Karnataka. Well, the village was only 5 km away from the petrol pump and many auto rickshaws were awaiting for customers. I picked up the one and we started the ride towards Gokarna when the driver started chatting with me. On my amusement, unlike many other tourist places, he didn't look surprise to see me traveling alone as if it is a norm there. I felt good with his welcoming behavior. Soon we reached to the hostel which i booked just two day prior to my trip from Booking.com. It is a backpacker hostel with those backpacking travelers vibes. I welcomed by a host Vijay who inquired about my booking and gave me the female dormitory. Its a really good idea to have a dedicated dormitory for girls which i had rarely seen in other backpacker hostels. I loved how the old house has been converted into a beautiful hostel. The roof of hostel was made of Kavelu, roof tiles which are designed mainly to keep out rain, and are traditionally made from locally available materials such as terracotta or slate. At the very entrance of the hostel there is a cafe which has open and closing times with exquisite menu. In the middle of hostel they have set up a common area where you can chit chat with other host-elite, read books, play indoor games, and enjoy comfy sitting arrangements. Beside lovely dormitories i exposed to the back veranda of this house turned hostel where i instantly got rural vibes. It was like i visited my childhood village where there is huge place to play.