As the Madras-Vasco Express that runs through Bangalore stops at the Castle Rock railway station late in the morning, you can get ready for some exciting and fun-filled mountain journey. After this station, you enter a fascinating dream called Goa, which you will know as the train starts its ascent through chains and chains of green-laden hills and dark roaring tunnels.
Vagator beach in Goa
Little did I know of this lovely Indian state till Srikanth, a friend of mine, came back from Goa to tempt us all with vivid descriptions and animated accounts of his three days in Goa. After listening to his account, we were all longing to hit the beaches as soon as possible. It catapulted the imaginations of us all beyond bounds, and soon I was on board the Madras-Vasco Express with 5 of my friends to an unforgettable journey to the destination – Goa.
In the train
By the time the train reached the Vasco-da-gama station, it was late afternoon. It would be a good idea to rent bikes to get around Goa, since the beaches and places to visit are spread quite apart. However, Vasco is a business city rather than a touristy one, and so it would be rather easy to take the Kadamba shuttle service from Vasco to Panjim. The Kadamba bus stand is just at a stone-throw distance opposite to the Vasco railway station. Just avoid the taxi touts and head straight to the bus stand to catch the shuttle. It is a 30 km journey which can take about 45 minutes. We got the last of the seats in the shuttle, and left Vasco to reach our first destination – Panjim.
Vinoth and Balayya
Panjim is written as ‘Panaji’ in English for reasons unknown to me; however the locals call it Panjim, (or exactly ‘Ponjie’). Panjim is a quiet and leisurely town, which is also the capital of Goa. The Kadamba bus stand is towards the northern part of the city, and has local buses that can take you to a lot of villages around the place. Also remember that this Kadamba bus stand is the place where you will have to come back to catch the shuttle service back to Vasco on your return journey. We had already booked our rooms in Alfa Guest House in Calangute beach, and decided to take bikes from here. We just had to ask around, and soon got three motor bikes, which we planned to use for the next three days in Goa. (It was the end of January when we went and we paid Rs.200 per day for each bike for three days).
The next half-an-hour of our journey was on the motor bikes. We rode through wide roads, narrow roads, climbed up, rode down, honked, overtook vehicles and enjoyed our ride, when we finally reached Calangute. It was a Saturday afternoon, and already we could make out that it was a world in itself. Indians and others, young and old, male and female, a lot of people were happily, either briskly or lazily, walking up and down the road leading to Calangute beach. It was a care-free life, away from offices, meetings, deadlines, appraisals and bonuses. A life full of excitement, or a life embroidered in peace – you get to meet both of these worlds in Goa. No wonder Calangute beach is called the queen of the beaches in Goa. We just spent some time in the room refreshing ourselves after the long journey, and soon hit the beach.
The dance party
It is a pleasure to walk on the Calangute-Baga stretch of beaches. Though crowded, these beaches have a lot to life in them. There are these umpteen numbers of touts who want you to take up one of the innumerable water-sport activities in the beach. There is parasailing, banana rides, water-scooters, dolphin-watching rides, and the list goes on. Every 10 feet, you get greeted by someone asking you to take one of these rides. We were tired and wanted to put off all that stuff for the next day. Being young and single bachelor men we were, we just liked the large crowd of the fairer sex in Calangute, both Indian and other, clad in beachwear and basking in the sun. We took eyefuls and kept strolling along the beach. Soon we found a place to get into water. We did just that, and enjoyed the cool waters of the beach, which was the reason we had come over five hundred kilometers from Bangalore to this wonderland.
Me, Rahul and Sim
A good thing about the beaches in Goa is that there are lifeguards stationed in every beach in the state. A bad thing for us is that their services end at around 6.30 pm, and they ask the tourists to leave the waters and come ashore. It was already near sunset that we entered the waters, and we thought it is wise to listen to them and came out after sunset. We decided to spend more time in the waters the next day. We just continued our bird-watching routine, and reached our guest house, and got ready for the night.
The night is the best time of the day to be on the Calangute/Baga stretch of beaches. There is a party mood lingering on the beach, and a long chain of beach shacks, each playing inviting music and live bands, make the mood even more enthusiastic and charged. There are tables put facing the beach and it is simply great to have a seaside candlelight dinner with your sweetheart, provided you have one. The unfortunate bunch of men we were, we had to be contented with each others’ company, not to mention the company of chilled beer.
Ravikiran
We chose a shack called Lucky Star which had a lot of people already (a lot of people means, the food and music is good J). A live band made sure all of the guests were on their feet, and a group of gorgeous females around made sure the night was good. Add it to the mouth watering, delicious food – chicken lollypops, kebabs, fish and rice… it was an unforgettable night. We also smoked an apple flavored hookah, which was the first time I did that, and it was a cute experience. We had gala time until around midnight, and reluctantly walked away from the beach to our rooms.
The first day in Goa ended in a rocking night and a dreamy sleep. The waters of the sea kept washing our thoughts through the night, and that we were already tired gave us a good night’s sleep.
To be continued…
For the continuation of this story, click here…
I had been interested in photography ever since my school days, though I could never afford myself a camera. Thanks to my dad, I got to handle some simple old cameras, which helped me learn the basics of photography and framing. Though I was too clumsy when in school, soon I learned to make nice photos, and could take shots better than my friends in college.
My dad was a photo enthusiast too. He was a talented artist also. I got inspired by his photographs, and that is what essentially dragged me into photography. My dad got himself an old Yashica film SLR camera with advanced settings when I was in school (I seriously don’t remember the name of the camera. He got a used one for Rs.8000, an was proud of his prized possession). He never allowed me to use the camera. I used to covet his possession, and got to lay hands on it on a special day at school when I could take it to a school function. I took some nice pictures with lot of enthusiasm, hoping to see colorful images in print. But when I returned the camera to my dad, he found out that I had somehow mishandled the camera, and there was a battery leak, which led the camera into serious malfunctions. Also the pictures I shot never came out. Since then, I had to abandon my interests, and be happy posing for photographs, but not take them, until after college, when I started working and could afford a camera.
When I worked for Digibee in Chennai, I got myself a Nikon Coolpix L3 and shot day and night. I got a name as a decent photographer (using a point and shoot) among my friends. (Some sample here). It was all in framing the photograph, and the angles you use, since the point and shoot will take care of everything else. You had very little to control. However there was a problem in low light shooting with the Nikon. The images used to be dangerously blurred, and using flash was a disaster in it.
In September 2007, I moved to Bangalore to join ARM, when I sold my Nikon to get myself a new Canon Powershot A430, which was still a point and shoot (I still did not know much about the SLRs. Also, SLRs were beyond my reach). I started using the new Canon everywhere in Bangalore, which was much better than the old Nikon, and I could take better shots with this.
It was then that I got a chance to see some of Arun Anna’s shots in Flickr. They looked very impressive. I was inquisitive and found out that he shoots using his Canon Powershot S3, which is a advanced point and shoot. When I talked to him, I got more interested in pursuing photography. Now, I could also afford an SLR, so, I started searching over to get myself an advanced point and shoot, or an SLR. One fine day, I decided to go and buy an SLR, no matter what.
That is how I landed on the Nikon D80, which I purchased in June 2008. Since then, I have shot a lot of photographs using my terrific equipment. Though I got only the 18-135mm kit lens along with the camera, it has been of immense help in getting myself acquainted with the tricks of exposure and framing till now.
Going forward, I look to get more involved in street photography, and if possible, some wildlife expeditions with good lenses. But for now, I am still a learner in the big world of photography. Take a look at some of my shots here.
It was me behind the driver’s wheel, and three of my friends – Karthik, Vinoth and Rahul, in my Santro, we started the one-day trip to visit Somnathpura, Talakad and Shivanasamudram. The planner in me had made all plans previously. We would head straight to Somnathpura, from there, would take the road to Talakad and finally reach Shivanasamudram so that we have all time left to enjoy in the falls.
We left our house in Koramangala at 6.30 in the morning,
and in an hour, we were on the Mysore road leading to Somnathpura. We were hungry by the time we reached Maddur, and had our breakfast in a small roadside hotel.
Just after Maddur, we took the left which goes to Malavalli. The road is good till Malavalli, and from Malavalli, we took a right to Bannur. The road to Bannur was virtually non-existant, and more so as we neared our destination. An SUV would have been ideal under these road conditions, however, my Santro was good enough for me to negotiate the stones and pits that call themselves roads.
In fact, from Malavalli you could head to Shivanasamudram if you plan to go there straight.
But our plan was to finish the far-away places first (also considering the roads).
We reached Somnathpura at around 10 am. From the outside it looks like a well maintained garden. But behind the compound walls is a magnificient temple that strikes you with the intricateness that is the cherised wealth of Karnataka. A Hoyasala temple, this is constructed on a raised platform, and the temple is actually star shaped.There are rows of sharp carvings made on the temple walls. Keeping up with the history of the Hoyasalas, the temple is made of Soapstone, and the typical intricate Hoyasala
carvings found in places such as Belur, Halebeedu and Amrithapura can be found here too. Each suclpture narrates a story and architecture enthusiasts would want to take all their time in exploring just the outer wall of the temple.
One sad part is that the faces of the figurines in the temple walls have been disfigured by the Muslim invaders, and part by the British, that most of the sculptures have a broken or part-broken head.
The interiors of the temple, again, has the typical smoothly carved pillars with detailed work on the ceilings. In fact, going by the looks of it, this temple is architecturally superior to the Belur and Halebeedu temples. It has three gopurams standing on a star shaped pedestal, which
in itself is a postcard picture moment. But I have no clue why the temple and the road to the temple have been neglected by the Government. The temple is just 25 kms from the sandal city of Mysore. The nearest town is T.Narsipur. Somnathpura would be a non-to-be-missed site in the Mysore-Srirangapatna circuit if it is promoted by the Government. Visit my album on Somnathpura
The road alongside the temple leads straight to our next destination – Talakad. Much has been told about this buried-in-the-sand temple around the web. You can find them here, and here.
The main Mahavishnu temple was a sight to watch, and the ASI is actually numbering the rocks there so that the remaining parts of the temple could be restored.
One interesting part of our visit to Talakad was this old lady called Mariamma. When we
landed in Talakad, a lot of guides swarmed around us telling us about this place. But was made it clear that we need no guide, because I had read enough about this place
already on the web. So, we first headed straight to the Cauvery which flows nearby, and took a small ride in the coracle.
These are similar to the ‘parisals’ found in Hogenakkal. After we finished our stint with the river, and had a sumptuous meal in a roadside stall, did we meet this interesting person, Mariamma.
As we headed back towards the forest to see the temples, this lady started accompanying us telling us the route. My friend started telling her we don’t need a guide, and I thought it is ok to have one. The way through the trees were confusing, and a guide would ease our search, I thought. So, we took Mariamma as our guide.
She has a punchline. “My name is Mariamma. What is your name?”, which she kept saying whenever she got a chance. Also she said, “Nanage ella gothhu”, meaning I know everything. She actually took my friends digital camera and took our shots. She gave names to the four of us. One was Salman Khan, one, Darshan, one was Upendra and the other, ‘Mungaru picture Ganesa’. We enjoyed her ramblings. She kept calling us Ganesaa, Uppi… follow me!, and it was real fun listening to her.
She said all trees around were cashewnut trees, and they would yield the fruit in November. Also, she was quite pious, and kept telling to fold our hands and chant the name of Shiva. “Shiva antha kai mugkoli…”.
I found Mariamma so interesting a personality, that I beleived somebody should definitely have come across her. I googled on the phrase “My name is Mariamma”, 
and to my surprise, got an account about her on the web, here.
We saw all the temples of Talakad. The main Mahavishnu temple is the most impressive, and the tales about Talakad are equally interesting too. We left Talakad around 2.30pm, and started for our next destination, Shivanasamudram. Visit my album on Talakad here.
Shivanasamudram, also called “Bluff” by the locals, has two falls, Gaganachukki and Bharachukki. I had learnt that Gaganachukki gives a good view, whereas, Bharachukki is where we could take a bath.
So, we tripped and bounced on so-called roads and reached Shivanasamudram, where we decided to go to Bharachukki first.
Bharachukki was a breath-taking beauty. Streams of water flowed exquisitely into the valley below and it was a sight to watch. We had to take a flight of steps to reach the foot of the falls. A bunch of people were trying to cross the stream there to reach under the falls, whereas another set were taking the parisal ride, which was here too. We soon crossed the stream and were right under the falls.
I had not known that there is such a beautiful falls near Bangalore and made a mental note to return whenever time gives way. We took bath in the lovely falls for more that two hours. We were so thrilled by the gush of water, that we decided to spend as much time as available at Bharachukki itself, and just give Gaganachukki a view. But by the time we finished
all the bathing and merry-making, it was around 6, and it was starting to get dark. Visit my album on Bharachukki here.
We headed straight to Malavalli from there, took the road to Maddur, and to Bangalore along the Mysore road, carrying along with us truckloads of pleasant memories about the temples, falls, and of course, the ever enthusiastic, Mariamma.
