Clear water,
dolphins swimming, bacon and eggs for breakfast, around Rs. 2000 for 2 days 1
night for the 5 of us, afternoon siesta on a hammock by the beach side….(Sigh!!) Oh and
it doesn’t end there…bonfire by the moonlight, singing all night, meeting
people from all over the world…who knew this place existed near Mangalore !!
The Om Beach or Gokarna…sounds familiar??
Namratha,
Inal, Bijesh, Loreen and I set out on a weekend away from home. The fun part,
as always, no itinerary and with the help of the GPRS we headed towards the
north of Karnataka by a local train. If you are really not the kinds who’d mind
getting into a ‘general compartment’ on a train, you could get there in just
Rs.75 or so. After 2 and half hours of
travel we reached the destination, and hired a minivan to take us to Om beach. 
Gokarna, at
first did not seem convincing as there was not a soul at the railway station; the
village did not have electricity to begin with and the place is densely
populated. On reaching the beach at around 8:30pm we were directed by locals to
climb down a couple of rocks to get to civilization. We managed to use the dim light
from our cell phones to climb down the rocks and just like we hoped, it was a
whole new world out there.
A stretch of
around 8-9 shacks to our left, the gokarna beach to our right and a bright lit moonlight.
One word to describe it all ‘Bellissimo’. We were lucky to spot a place to rest as all
shacks were occupied by tourists. 
Post a great
dinner and some schmooze with a couple of tourists we called it a night. Next
morning I left to trek on a hill, a suggestion made by a British tourist the
previous evening, to spot Dolphins. A sight that was worth a trek to the top.
A boat ride
is something you would not want to miss, while at Gokarna. It ferries you
straight to another secluded island and you can spend some time there, pick up
a couple of handmade ornaments or buy hammocks, 
which we did for Rs. 150, and
also get a better view of the OM beach or spot more Dolphins( if you get lucky).
Om beach is named so because it is shaped like
the auspicious ॐ [Om] symbol. Om beach is the only naturally Om
shaped beach. You
also have the option to hire speed boats at the shore.A place you must visit if you happen to be in this part of the world.
Written and edited by
Laveena Dsouza
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