"It has been days! I am so tired of working day and night. Each day I just sleep, wake up, study, eat and then again sleep. Don't I deserve something relaxing, at least for a while?", I said to myself and picked up my phone to search for places I can visit near Bangalore as a solo wanderer.
I came across a few sightseeing tour agencies like Bayard vacations, Adventure Buddha and Thrillophilia. I could see a number of different options on their websites where I could choose the best option according to my preferred place as well as my budget. The one question that came to my mind while this in-depth search for wisdom was "How many people choose to travel to these places and how many times do they travel in a year?" Well! this question was yet to be answered and I knew the answer could only be found out if I take a chance to do the same...
So, there I go...
I booked just the next day's Gokarna Trek and packed my bags. The one thing that I decided that day was, that I will never look back and waste time thinking that what's gonna happen and how things will go.
I took a good night's sleep, woke up fresh in the morning, and completed all my pending work so that I have nothing to worry about on the trip. At 6 pm sharp I left the home. I was ready and I was sure about making the choice of gifting myself a great relaxation. I had no exceptional expectations because I didn't want to overthink and wanted to witness just the reality.
The traveler arrived at 8pm, just 10 minutes after I reached the bus stop, so I didn't have to wait much.
So, now an adrenaline rush just went through my nerves and made me feel more than ever excited. v "Hi, hi!", I greeted the people on the bus and took a seat. There were 11 of us including me, so the number was neither too big nor too small. Since my pick-up point was the last stop before the journey started, after a few minutes of silence, the travel agent increased the music volume and asked us if we all were feeling comfortable or not.
Just a few minutes had passed by and I started enjoying the wind that was passing by. I could feel the positivity, peace, and carelessness of the people around me so much that I didn't even once think of anything else apart from just what was in front of me. This was one of those few moments in my life when I lived entirely in the present. I was me in my entirety and nothing could have been more beautiful than this!
"Hello, guys! Let's start with a crisp introduction. Each one can tell your name, profession, and hobbies. You may also add on as to which places you have traveled before and any treks that you have done.", the travel agent said.
So here we go........
The one thing you'll be astonished to know is that none of us were from the same professional background and there was a beautiful diversity amongst us. There was a software engineer, a traveler, a cyber security professional, two school-going youngsters, a commerce graduate, an investor, an automobile engineer, and a bioinformatics researcher (me).
Most of us were really eager to know each other and started one-on-one interaction after the introduction.
Soon we were told the places we were going to visit, the list of which is as follows:
1- Belekan Beach
2- Om Beach
3- Paradise Beach
4- Half-moon Beach
5- Kudle Beach
6- Mirjan Fort
7- Sharavati Backwaters
The entire journey was non-stop until we reached Gokarna and then we moved ahead to our destined resort. The rooms were pretty awesome but what we didn't know at that time was that more than the rooms the location was beautiful. Only when I stepped out of the room after refreshing myself, did I start to explore the entire place and surroundings. I found that there is a jungle right ahead of this resort and moved through it strangely but only after a few steps, I could see what I had only dreamt till then- the beach! The major Gokarna beach was right there and I ran towards it with my eyes wide open, my heart full of joy and my mind full of freshness.
Others accompanied me after a few minutes and we started playing with the water. We played, we walked, we took more than ever deep breaths, we smiled endlessly and to our best and we slew and clicked memories.
We were then called for breakfast, after which we were all set for our trek. The trek started from the Belekan Beach and extended all the way up to Kudle Beach. It was peaceful, relaxing, adventurous, soothing but at the same time, a bit tiring though! Haha! But I really enjoyed it a lot. We spent nearly 20 minutes on each beach where we sat and just stared at the waters and the one thing that I realized at that point of time is that you can never get enough of this view because every time you see these waters, they seem to calm you down and relax you to your maximum. They are the most attractive of all things.
They are calm, they are silent,
they are peaceful, they are deliverable,
But remember that they are violent, they are strong,
they are beautiful, but also unforeseeable!
They are waters!
One shouldn't ever underestimate the power of a calm entity, especially water! I realized this every single time I looked at the beach waters and reminded me of how this entire Universe works. Yes! Just like the calm water, your soul is a calm entity but have ever come across its ultimate potential?
Your soul is as fierce as water, and also as powerful as water! It can lead you to whatever fate it wants depending on how you treat it. It can soothe you, calm you or destroy you! It is itself soothing and focussing on it and being peaceful will make it happy but the more you get disconnected from it and leave it behind, the more disturbed your life becomes.
Well! Well! Well! After enjoying the silence of the scenic view, we had our lunch which was the amazing seafood that all of us must explore, especially if we are non-vegetarians. It was then time to board the bus and move to our homestay. We relaxed until the evening and woke up to have dinner.
While having dinner all of us played the game Mafia! Haha! It sounds amazing...isn't it? It was new even to me. It is something like killer and detective with a few amazing twists! But it was too much fun.
After all of this, where few of us went to sleep, few of us including me wanted to witness how beautiful the beach looks at night.
To be true...I wasn't sure if anything would be even visible on the beach side and whether I would be able to enjoy the same silence as I enjoyed in the afternoon or not... But I wanted to witness everything I could that day because moments are precious and once gone do not come back, and also this life...this life's too short to miss out on just any beautiful thing that you can explore!
So, with all these beautiful feelings, four of us just moved towards the beach with our hearts just overwhelmed...and...and...and there we were!
As soon as we crossed the jungle, and reached the beach...what we saw was like a dream...like a dream come true!
There was pin-drop silence, there was the soothing sound of the waves coming and touching the shores and going back to send new waves, there was this sound of the flowing water that didn't disturb the pin-drop silence, and in fact, enhanced the beauty of the silence! There was something in the air which just took away all the thoughts with it to somewhere else and left us mindless, as if we were in some new world or as if making us realize that this is where a man should be.... in silence, in peace...
But this was not all... Then we looked at the night sky...Dark and mesmerizing, carrying the prettiest stars ever.
But it soon made me realize that these things are always available to us...these stars, the sky, the silences but we always keep searching for them somewhere else! Isn't it?
Isn't the sky available to you every time and every day?
Aren't the stars up there visible to us most of the time at night?
Isn't the moon we see the same?
It is! But it depends on how and when we perceive their beauty, and also our own beauty!
The time you realize the beauty of your soul you realize who you are and what this world is all about! We shared a few of our instantaneous feelings and walked along the beach, and all this while the thing we didn't realize was the smile on our faces which was endless.
After spending hours on the beach, we finally left for our hotel where we saw the others playing cards, and so what was there to wait for? We jumped in to join them and no doubt it was a lot of fun!
Soon, we were all down and decided to sleep. But none of us knew that the day wasn't yet over until Mitali and I reached our room and saw a couple in our room...so we were stunned, and we were clueless about what to do as if we didn't want to disturb them but at the same time wanted to tell them how much sleepy we were feeling! Well, we waited in the other room for some time and they themselves got out of the room after some time. They were indeed a cute couple!
Finally, all of us were dead for the day.
The next day, we had our breakfast, packed our bags and knowing that it was the only day on the beach left for this trip, we spent few more hours on the beach...and only then did we realize that we also had to click photos...so we did a crisp and crazy photoshoot and captured some of the craziest memories!
Soon, we left the place and boarded the bus to visit the Mirjan fort. After reaching the fort, we realized how valuable our culture is, be it anywhere in India, because it always gives us a chance to explore more and more. Being an Indian, I really feel proud of its varied culture and its rich heritage.
We then headed to boating at Sharavati Backwaters. Now, you see...this was like one whole another world, and I would have never known this beauty existed if I wouldn't have decided to step out for this sudden trip. All you could see is water all around, and trees all around... be it on your sides, on your back, or on the front...everything was just beautiful to the same level. I tell you...I was feeling like a pirate standing in the front!
Every little thing was just awesome! I enjoyed every single moment without any extra thought! It was justice to my soul!
And all this while, writing about this post has been a whole another journey of experiencing happiness and love towards my soul, so all I wanna say is,
"I had something missing in my heart,
My soul didn't know this until we moved the cart...
until the time we went out in search of exploration for the heart,
But now I know what all of it was!"
Regards,
~Ananya Anurag Anand
(#missionevolvin)
Amazing! Such beautifully written.
ReplyDeleteAmazing!
ReplyDeleteI will visit Gokarna soon.
ReplyDelete