The Call of the Mountains!

Himalayas – the term I have been hearing since school and with the blog-era, these mystifying mountains always tweaked my curiosity. I read about their alluring and enticing nature and wished to get ‘Himalayed’!

Maybe my expectations were too bookish or maybe I was not the mountain person, as my first nudge with the Himalayas left me depressed and craving for the plains and sun. After much self-persuasion and cutting off any expectations, I initiated the desire to get ‘Himalayed’ all over again.

The concept of happiness was puzzling me time and again. I was rebelling against the societal norm of living and the concept of settling down to a planned, monotonous life when ‘BHUTAN’ happened! My first self-planned long distance budgeted travel. I will be doing Bhutan injustice if I just pen down the places we visited, what we saw, what we did and the rest of the blatant information.

I see Bhutan as being the ‘Land of Happiness’ which, sadly, is on its way of becoming ‘India-ed’. Like my persistent desire of seeing India in its past glorified version, I felt the pull in my heart when all through my travel in Bhutan, I saw the country going down the path of ‘development’. I wished to tell them to not make the same mistake as my country has made but alas, a person knows it’s mistake only after it’s committed.

Surreal landscapes, mystifying mountains, rustic living, self-imposed isolation – I found all this in Bhutan and alongside this I also found – technological penetration, westernisation, loss of cultural heritage, imprinting of ‘job-based’ living, initiation of economical psychology!

I found televisions everywhere, and with these came the Indian movies, sitcoms, Western influence. The youngsters seem to quickly adapt to factory made clothes like jeans, shirts and shed their art of weaving and being sustainable. Same as India, the present parents pamper their kids with packaged food and give in to all their tantrums.

For a country whose economy was agriculture based, its quickly shifting to be based on jobs that provide ‘security’ in life. I have still not made peace with the concept of security from jobs and the loss in the emphasis on agriculture.

After moving to East Bhutan, I found my connection to Himalayas. I was speechless most of the journey by the immense proportion of the mountains, their stability and grandness. The rivers inspired devotion in me and some rare birds blessed us with their appearance on the road. Once again, I started reminiscing about how the world would have been just a few hundred years ago, before the industries, the vehicles and the robotic lifestyle.

For a person, who is insured of food and safety, it may sound wrong on my part to put down ‘development’ and ‘jobs’, but I left Bhutan with these thoughts – I am certainly born in a wrong era, I am more of a yester-century human and though Himalayas are mesmerising, I welcomed the sun and the plains with a huge smile on my face! I certainly belong to the sunny, hot plains of South India! 

THE COUNTRYSIDE

Lush green hills (probably snow capped), flocks of sheep dotting the greenery, a small wooden cabin by the stream side – this is how I pictured my ideal travelling destination to be. Surprised as I was, my own country with its numerous villages, few of which do not find place on the official maps ended being my best travel destinations. 

Uttara Kannada district, in the state of Karnataka is a place where nature is still weaving her magic web. The tiny hamlets around Anshi in this district are the places worthy of a road trip. If you are a tourist expecting luxurious resorts, spas, tidy roads, I would then say this place is a big NO for you. This is for travelers who love getting lost amidst the nature’s bounty, who remain awestruck seeing the perfect balanced way of living with nature.

Anshi is one of the Evergreen forest belts in India and her forests are dense and green throughout the year. River Kali, the lifeline of this region is a beautiful long river who commands a reverence when you approach her dark waters. Hiring a jeep in Dandeli and having a GPS along is all that is needed for the travel around this place. A village in this region may consist of only one big Indian family and thus, do not be surprised if the village name is nothing but the surname of the family. The people around this region are very hospitable and they have welcomed me into their houses offering buttermilk, bananas, jackfruit chips and yet times even lunch with their family! You will have to travel around 7-10kms between each village. But these stretches will be the least boring as this a landscape of dense forests and you can enjoy bird / butterfly watching as you travel. Yellapur is a small town in this area, where accommodation is clean and cheap. There are numerous waterfalls in many of these villages and you will be guided to beautiful places by the local people once you interact with them and let them know your choice of places. This region is home to ethnic groups like Gowlis, Siddhis and Kurubas. Their culture and way of living teaches you about the diversity India really has. For the Gowlis, their cattle are assets they will protect with their life and cattle shed is a part and parcel of their household. Siddhis are settlers who were brought to India ages ago. They are so deeply etched into our society that their Kannada seems to be much more fluent than the Kannada few Bangaloreans tend to speak nowadays.

Having travelled more than 100 villages around this region, one village stays very close to my heart and perhaps, someday in the future I shall visit this picturesque village yet again. Nested amidst thick forests and having no neighboring villages for more than 10kms, this was a tiny hamlet with hardly 3-4 families constituting it. Each house rests in the middle of huge farms and I selected one of these houses to drop by. Having walking 500 meters in the farm and coming across a small cozy house, I knocked on the door several times only to be disappointed. I went around the house searching for people and heard some sounds in the backyard farm, a little distance from the house. I walked towards the source of this sound and met with the family of the house busy working away on their farm. Nature had a big surprise in store for me as the farm’s backyard was nothing but the backwaters of the mighty Kali river! With the sun setting in the background, two buffaloes quenching their thirst, a vast expanse of black waters and hills surrounding this water, this a sight I cannot erase from my memory! Even today as I sit and close my eyes, I remember every detail of this amazing sight nature blessed me with. After spending ample time with the family, I headed back home with a satisfied smile on my face reckoning the fact that it was time to get back home.

For all of you who love to just pack a bag and travel around, this is one such region which is never going to disappoint you. Through this travel of mine I realized how rich our country side is and in reality, how lucky that family was to have Kali backwaters as their backyard. This also made me realize that Indian villages are worth exploring especially if I am going to be blessed with sights like I did.

Sun and the Shadows!!

Even though forests are my favourites, there is nothing more seductive than the seashore in terms of raw beauty.  The white sands, the waves - at times mellow and at times roaring, the dancing crabs, scintillating sun, salt laden winds – seashore has a coy charm of her own!  And our venture to Gokarna was all of this and lots more.

Gokarna – the name always reminded me of temples and holiness, but this time exploration gave me a complete flip and now, Gokarna for me is pristine beaches, mesmerising trek trails and soul-soothing solitude. I do not shy away from sun; rather I love to bask in its warmth!  I was delighted to know that certain beaches in Gokarna are still not accessible by roads and this meant lesser crowds and cleaner beaches.  Narrow, volcanic stone alleys lead you to one such beach.  It is surprising that places we Indians shy away from exploring are already known to people from outside India.  A place is best explored with the help of local folks and thus, we took the help of a friendly fisherman and his boat to know the place better.  A view of blue till the horizon, dotted by coast guard ships, the wind whispering into your hair, the boat being rocked by the waves -  a feeling which needs to be felt rather than read! We found a small beach all for ourselves and this is where we decided to camp for the night.

As we sat perched on a rock staring into oblivion, each was lost in their own.  I felt minuscule in front of the sea, with her engulfing waves and sat wondering what she held in her dark depths.  Suddenly, my worries, thoughts and my life as a whole felt so trivial and the human race so petty!  While we pay to get entertained in the crowded city hangouts, that night the sky put out a stunning show of stars and for free!  For us city-dwellers, sleeping under the open sky, enjoying the show put together by the stars is a luxury and we need to be blessed to experience one.

The day was a true competitor to the night in terms of providing us with the best scenic views!! As we trekked parallel to the shore, the sea kept putting forth enthralling views and at one such point, I wondered why I would ever want to go to Jamaica when I have Gokarna in my very own state.

As forests are always on my getaway places list, Gokarna seems to have broken the genre and made a special place of her own in my list of soul-soothing places!