Om beach, Gokarna

It was 2 am, a crescent moon was giving the perfect glow that the sea needed as we lay on the beach with a million stars twinkling above us. Chandu, an expert astronomer was guiding us through the Orion and Taurus constellations. I have never seen a clearer sky. Tanay got up to guard the wind to light up a joint. We were already hallucinating with clouds looking like  Hanumanji flying and the boulders around us looking like some fairytale beasts.  We passed the joint around and finished the last bottle of beer. Somewhere around 100 mts from where we sat a group of foreigners were singing and playing guitar around a bonfire. The tune sounded like a song by Floyd, “Wish you were here”.  It’s been 5 years and I can still remember the smell in the air.

Om beach, a place in the western ghats not known by many. The best way to reach is by trekking from Gokarna town. It’s an easy but exciting 4 hours trek where you walk  through jungles and cross small streams with a beautiful view of the Arabian sea on one side. With the first glimple of Om beach you will understand why its called so.

India Karnataka Om Beach (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After reaching we searched for a decent place to stay, Namaste Cafe had no rooms to spare. We were already high on 5 joints and were dying of hunger. We ordered some fish n chips and beer. The interior was very interesting with painted mud walls and ashtrays made of bamboo. The whole structure looked like a temporary shelter with no modern technologies used for anything. The 2 best things that I like about Om beach is, it has limited supply of electricity and no mobile network. A perfect vacation from civilization. No laws, no rules, practically you can do anything anywhere so long as you don’t bother someone else, in which case you’ll be thrown out. As we sat inside the cafe,  I saw the people from places all over the world. Some of them playing with their children, some reading books in the sunlight and some writing diaries and  some rolling joints or making a chillum. The place had an unnaturaly peaceful environment. No one had any idea which day or date it is or the time. No connection to the outer world. Its like living in a secluded island with a handful of people from different countries with same purpose.

Om Ganesh Cafe was around 10 minutes walk from were we stayed and the cafe looked like the place you always wanted to stay. A colourful and comfortable place. The interior was simple and everything informal. A tall dark guy wearing lungi (a wrap-around for guys covering from waist to feet) and a white vest with a big bright red flower tucket behind his left ear was the cook . He sat on top of our table with a huge smile and asked for our order. Everything was right out of a fairytale. The food was tasty, cheap and served in good quantity. The ambience was perfect with indian classical fusion music and beautiful colourful curtains flying around and everything around us was organic.  A beautiful clean beach, with hills in the backdrop and a few happy and trippy people around. A perfect place to get high.

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All we did those 3 days was eat, drink, smoke and stare at the untouched beauty of nature at its best. The experiences were crazy and strange. The silence so deep that you will hear the sound of your own heartbeat. The night was a playground for moonlight, darkness and stars. We were like alice in worderland. It was a journey that can never be forgotten, and it was nature that blew me again.

For those who might be interested in visiting the place, here’s the necessary info, courtesy Wikipedia :

Gokarna is about 453 km from Bangalore, 238 km north of Mangalore and about 59 km from Karwar. It is between the Gangavali and Agnashini rivers and situated along the Karwar coast by the Arabian Sea. It is 200 km north from the college towns of Suratkal and Manipal. Gokarna can be reached by buses and maxicabs from Kumta (36 km), Ankola (26 km) and Karwar (59 km) on National Highway 17( NH-17 ). Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) also runs long-journey buses from many cities like Panaji, Bangalore and Mangalore. Private buses (Vijayanand Roadlines – VRL, Sugama, Sea Bird, etc.) operate night journeys from the capital city of Bangalore to Gokarna daily. It can be reached by train Konkan Railway on the Mumbai to Mangalore route. The railway station ( called Gokarna Road ) is 6 km away from the town. The nearest airports are Dabolim at Goa and Mangalore International Airport at Bajpe.

Related articles

• Om Beach Odyssey – Om Beach, India (travelpod.com)
• Adventure, wildlife and fun! (thehindu.com)
• Gokarna (bellwort.wordpress.com)