Eclectic Read: Karnataka

24th February, 2016

Snehin, my CS host in Bangalore dropped me off at the bus station for my night bus to Gokarna which was scheduled to leave at 10 pm. To make my accommodation less of a problem, Snehin gave me the contact number of his friend Sagar who works at Zostel in Gokarna.

25th February, 2016

Early morning arrival in Gokarna and I was irritated at the situation of not being able to call anyone despite the full signal displayed on my phone. The call was to be made to Sagar to ask about the auto-rik charges from the bus station to Zostel. Caveat - The auto-rik drivers literally charge double or triple of what is to be charged. If you're a Kannad, then you're saved. From some other state, saved to some extent. From some other country without any knowledge of the tariff, beneficial for the drivers.

I know I was overcharged for my ride as I didn't know the amount to be paid.
Once in Zostel, I got a bed in a six bed female dormitory. First day was all about city walk to the temple city and Gokarna Beach, which was right in front of the hostel (Well, once you walk down a hill, you're very much there).

26th February, 2016

The next morning, I met Samarth and Aditya who were travelling from Kanyakumari to Kashmir to make a Vlog. Samarth is from Delhi and Aditya is from Bangalore. Gokarna was one of their stops.
We went to the Gokarna Beach in the evening to take a dip. The sea seemed to have receded a lot since morning. Minutes later, in order to show some guts I didn't really inculcate in myself and knowing that I can swim to some extent, I walked to the deeper end of the sea.
Few seconds into the deep and my blood ran cold when I couldn't thrust myself forward towards the shore. Trust me, my heart skipped beats at the discovery while I started getting the uber-salty water into my nose and mouth (Right now, I am reminiscing this incident and writing it here, I am finding it quite hilarious). Samarth and Aditya didn't know how to swim. Thanks to Aditya's height that he dared to walk towards me, extended his arm and rescued me. During this little dramatic event, no one was actually at the beach to witness this and I am glad about it.
Aditya got the rescue part on his phone for the Vlog where he didn't forget to mention that a non-swimmer saves a swimmer. (Damn, I need to stop accepting that I swim. Somehow, 'the water pulled' was my defensive line). After a good shower and getting rid of the sand, we had a nice walk to the Kudle Beach for dinner. The day ended well with conversations with other people in the hostel.

27th February, 2016

The next morning, I was surprised to see five other girls in my room, asleep. A group of students from Narsee Monjee, Mumbai came to Gokarna for their trip.

28th February, 2016

They were leaving for Goa in the noontime. My plan was to leave in the evening but I changed my plan (flexibility!) and got a ride with them to the Gokarna station. I took a train ticket to Goa.

It was a good coincidence to see the guy at the station whom I had met at the Kudle Beach during dinner with Aditya and Samarth. I met three more guys from Israel, Germany and Sweden who made great companions while waiting for the train and while in the train.

Below are the pictures of