Random Trip-Modus Operandi

Inspired by KCK, I'd like to go on my random trip to somewhere. Why a random trip? I am tired of expecting things a certain way, and then forcing myself to like it. Instead, once in a while, I'd like to go with an empty mind and be the water that forms in a cup, be the boat that drifts according to the waves in an ocean. Such trips makes me aware to a lot of things that I otherwise miss while travelling. When you have nothing to lose, you only start gaining. Random trips are pretty similar to fasting, which cleans the entire process of thinking and judgements gained over time.

I have no agenda to do, no worries that I need a proper hotel to stay, no worries on whether I will get reservation, no worries on purse being looted, no worries on quality of food. Just out to enjoy travel, the way I can actually enjoy it, in its purest form. I've done 3-4 such trips by accident, and I've enjoyed it despite Murphy's law going against me.

Trip Zero- Bangalore-Gokarna-via Bus in Oct 2007(Lovely Monsoon Trip)

Was feeling dull, during my internship,so
Trip One-Chennai to Goa Unreserved-Nov 2007-Alone
Trip One.1- Chennai to Mahabalipuram-Some forest near Pondy-Dec 2007-Bus Trip(With Ankur and Arun)
Trip Two-Chennai to Goa Unreserved- Feb 2008- With Friends from B school
Trip Three- Chennai-Portblair-via Air and ship April 2008
Trip Four- Bombay-Goa Unreserved-Train with Kishore, Aug 2008
Trip Five- Bombay-Daman- Unreserved-Train to Patna-with Logendra-Dec 2008
Trip Six- Bombay to Cancona(Goa) Unreserved-with Nischal, Jan 2009
Trip Seven- Bombay -Daman- Unreserved Train-with Vinay- Feb 2009
Trip Eight- Bombay (VT-Karjat, 12 38 Last Local), with Vinay-Feb 2009
Trip Seven- Bombay-Sawantwadi-Vengurla(Maharashtra)-Arambol(Goa)-Kerim(Goa)- March 2009
Trip Eight- Bombay-Kerim(Goa), Unreserved Train(Alone)-April 2009

All the previous three trips(oops I have done 8 now, Updated: 10) have happened over a trip to the western coast. This one shall not be that long, but it should be something that I relax, forget about work, family,home for a while.

Rough Plan

• Head over to Chennai Central
• Speak to some lady to buy a ticket in any direction, wherever 150 rupees would take me. If I give it to a guy, he would think I am a mad man, and call the police in his culmination of machismo bravado!
• Not look at the ticket, Not look at the digital signage about train departures,and walk along to the platform(which I would need to think how am I manage this one)

I cant plan beyond this. May have 200-300 rupees as my cash back up. No Purse/credit cards or watches. Will have the mobile for company though. It may be a great/dumb experience, but the key is to soak into the experience. Time for 'Fasting'.

Weekend Trip-Part-2- Sawantwadi to Vengurla

We went to the Sawantwadi bus stand to find a sleepy little minitown that was in no hurry to head to the coast. The coastal buses here go to either Vengurla, Kudal or Terekhol. We decided on Vengurla and sat in the bus to find a certain calm that was not present in the big cities.

The bus never had a fixed time of leaving, nor did the conductor seemed to have any fixed target on number of commuters. It was a happy little world that fortunately had no one with a dagger saying DEADLINES! People could stop the bus by just plonking their foot 2 steps on the road and that would be a bus stop. We were asking around a farmer on some observations we had on the fields as to why Hay was kept in stacks all over the fields. We heard from him that, it was food for his horses and animals, who were working on the fields. Nothing super duper, just that corporate life dulls your common sense!


We spotted this cute little wannabe Mexican kid, on the road to Vengurla

One needs to climb a small ascent to get to a ruined stone fort. Shot this from there. Alluring views of the azure waters and the palm/coconut trees.

How much must that be? 20 metres long and walkable in 20 seconds? NO... It was far longer than we expected and the water was close to 6-7 feet deep, during the high tide. Vinay decided to get inside and try out how quickly we could cross, as we had a laptop bag to ferry across. When he came back bleeding from the swim, we realised that the water was deep and had gorges and rocks inside, so we hired a small boat for 50 rs to help us cross to UTOPIA.

While on the boat, during the 10 minute ride, we played the oarsman, learning how to use the oars in the lake, with the fisherman also giving an insight into his life. The fisherman,during the monsoon, also doubles up as a mechanic to supplement the income, which goes on a downward spiral with rough seas and weather conditions. during such impulse trips, converations with the local people reveals a lot about the place, people, their customs, their lives, their motivations and then finally you are able to connect the dots between geography and history that lies dormant in your brain.

Weekend Trip To Goa- Republic Day Long Weekend! Part 1

At Canacona Station.

We got off the unreserved compartment. We(Myself and Nischal Ram, a friend from B school) took the train from Panvel, and jumped into the unreserved compartment in train 6335, which was coming from Gandhidham and heading to Nagercoil. Most of the unreserved compartment passengers were workers going home to the konkan regions of ratnagiri and sawantwadi. A few of them were also 'Mallu' students who were content getting their inchspace to stand. Since we were able to bully around our way inside, we got 2 places to sit, but in the same position for a few hours. After 3 am, the seats that we occupied had a little more space to test the elasticity of our muscles. Our train reached Madgaon at 6 40 am, and reached Canacona at about 8 am. I remember passing through a tunnel enroute which was easily the longest tunnel that I have been in. Must have been a full 3-4 minutes inside that tunnel between Madgaon and Canacona(South Goa)

Watching the waves rise up and down at Palolem. Now that was our morning activity till we finished our breakfast in 2 hours. The water was pleasantly clean from the garbage one gets along Anjuna, Baga and Calangute. It a greensih tinge, but nowhere near the beauty of Havelock Island(Andamans).

The chairs we sat in, as we just saw the waves coming and going.

The colours of Palolem all around us. Goa was a beautiful sight in the morning. Decorated with bright colours, the contrast of blue skies against green coconut tree leaves, brown bamboo and of course a lot of phoren skin in various shades of white,cream and dark brown.

Part 2 comes in a while. Till then soak in the current post

Quick Christmas Getaway to Daman- Part 2

If your Visiting Daman- the only point which you would have to walk, if you are a tourist would be this stretch between the 2 parts of Daman. The most hep part of Daman is the place where Devka beach is. The other part is a lazy Jampore beach.

We reached Vapi at 1 : 50 am, thrown out by a mob of irate travellers who wanted to get their inchspace of the unreserved compartment to Gorakhpur. I was happy to be out in one piece.

We took a taxi, an Ambasador vehicle at 2 am, after a warm cup of tea. The taxi had 10 people inside and we had 3 in front and 7 behind absolutely cramped. The taxi goes past the Daman-Gujarat Border and drops you at Daman Market. If you need to go to Devka beach, then it takes another 90 rs, and 6 kms to reach there. We took a hotel called Dariya Darshan, and decided to indulge in some luxury by taking the costliest room, as it promised ' sea view'. After we paid the money, a casual conversation at 2 30 am revealed that the sea view would be hampered by 90%, as a new building had come between the sea and the Dariya darshan hotel. We were too tired to argue, and we hit the sack.

The next morning, we got up and discovered that the promised Devka beach had its sea 2 kilometres from the hotel, as the sea face was full of rocks, akin to the Bandstand at Bandra.

At that side of the place, they do have a man made lake and an amusement park, but if you are a traveller in search for more realistic things, you would do well to avoid the devka beach side of Daman.

I probably guessed, on our way to the other side of Daman, this would be a picture worth shooting at sunset.

Jampore beach is the best part of Daman. It actually has a beach, which has this earthly element called Sand, that was missing in Devka. Jampore has small stalls around the beach, and waters that dont have too many strong waves. The downside to it is, the lack of accomadation options around the beach. The only proper restaurant is China Town which is barely comestible. There is intense competition in this restaurant for its 2 toilets that people flock to relieve themselves.

At 3 we decided, that the siesta in Daman needed to come to an end, and we boarded an express train from Vapi, buying reserved tickets to catch up on lost sleep, as the train steered its way into Manic Mumbai( Dadar!)

Quick Christmas Getaway to Daman- Part 1

At 8 pm, on December 24th,I was typing away at my office, when suddenly I thought of Daman, a couple of hours later Logi and I were at Dadar, trying to figure out where to go. Vapi in Gujarat, was the nearest rail-head to Daman. The followed a mad rush to Bandra terminus, enroute we discovered that Bandra West was like Beverly Hills, while Bandra East was akin to Bangladesh. We got into the unreserved compartment of the Awadh express which started at 22 40 hrs. We took the upper berth space on the wooden space to seat ourselves. Logi, by his look wasnt quite used to such travelling.

No place to keep my shoes in an overcrowded unreserved compartment, so to have my shoes safe, I had to keep my shoes on the top of the fan, in my line of sight.

So much like Swades! Yeh Jo des hain tera!

In an auto, the next morning. Autos monopolise the mini union territory of Daman. They expect to fit in 6 people inside the auto, and if you are stuck next to a fat Punjabi aunty or a farty Gujju behn, you have no choice to squeeze your frame into the jigsaw puzzle of whatever space is left.

Andamans Travel- Part 3

This was at Ross Island, a British army/naval base which was abandoned. Now a tourist attraction and a lovely place for some peaceful jay walking. You have one canteen here, but incase you are here on the weekend, god save your tummy, these andamanese prefer their siesta at home than conducting business selling eatables. If you walk left towards the entrance, you would find one small tea shop, which when persuaded would make some omlettes and pakoras at premium pricing.

The spotted deer at Ross Island right next to the place where I had tea.

Phoenix Jetty.... when the sky starts to cry. We just made it in time to Portblair when the heavens opened up. It gave us enough time to put our bags in a safe place and enjoy the rains.

When we were caught in the rains, we had a nice conversation with the locaks and also had some Jhal Mudi( Bong for Bhelpuri). It was a lovely sight seeing the islands dissapear undler the influence of the rain and the mist that had descended that evening, even as Kolkata Night Riders were razed to the ground by the Chennai Super Kings.

Tranquil Aqua Marine Bluish-green Waters of the Andamans

I am enjoying peace at North Bay in the Middle Andaman Islands. I landed today expecting tropical heat conditions, but suprisingly the captain of the flight, warned us on wet weather and thundershowers. Andamans seems slower and sleepy than Goa. The kind of people who I have seen so far touring are the PSU sector folks, who are enjoying their LTC vacation with their families. So far from 8 am to 4 pm , we have scheduled a visit to Ross Island and North Bay(Coral reefs, promised, but havent spotted anything so far). I would be spending the rest of the 2 days in Havelock islands. Will give an update on the same, when I find a plug to charge my laptop. The Aqua marine Bluish green water, seems to add to the lovely experience. I hear Havelock island is far better than this beach. This beach that I am resting at seems to be a roky beach, with the tinges of Bluish Green.

The Goaphotoblog Part 9

Me posing after arrival on Clear sand Arambol Beach. One part of the beach had white sand, while the other part was well watered by the tides and looked like a flat batting wicket.

Its a pity, whenever I come to Goa, I come with a near full bag, or a near empty purse, so I generally never buy any souveneir like a Goa shirt, or a Hare Rama Orange loin cloth, or those typical Goa wear clothes. Its a good place to bargain, and having a Hard core Baniya like Vipul Singhal, I guess I wasted an oppurtunity.

Vipul and Varun posing in the route between Arambol Main beach and the Sweet water lake beach. Its a lovely walk as the sun sets in this part. The road to sweet water lake beach is now better, as some rocks have been cleared and that means a person need not run back to Arambol main beach before sunset. Its great to get a place to stay in this route. Most of the huts are owned by a certain Ganesh, but suprisingly all the rooms seem booked.

Memories of 21 Coconuts inn... Great CANDLE LIT DINNER at night.

The GoaPhotoBlog Part 8

When we arrived at Arambol, it was a lovely sight seeing a clean beach and all one wanted to do was just go deep inside the water and let the waves push your body while you stay relaxed inside the water.

A portion of the beach was pretty flat and wet due to the low tides and so I shot this picture of a few kids playing football.

Vipul seems to be sighting something exciting even in the face of sunlight, beaming right in front of him.

There are some great rock formations on Arambol Beach, and its a lovely place to sit there and spend the time listening to music and watch the sunset.

The Goa PhotoBlog-Part 6

Outside the room we stayed in Anjuna. Beach front- On the rocky cliff cottage for 500 bucks a night was a steal. Goa has these colourful houses that add to the vibrant life in the state.

Great roads to bike on and go jay walking...with coconut trees flanking by

Thats the SIOLIM church, where we stopped by to ask for directions

Thats Petrol and not Beer! 55 rs a litre, illegal petrol used for the rainy day when our bikes run out of petrol !

Images from my trips to Goa from Chennai(Updated)

Getting to Goa from Chennai



Generally the best way to reach Goa from Chennai is to take the Friday afternoon Chennai-Vasco express, and if you havent booked tickets, and are a a big group of 3+ people, then travelling by the unreserved is actually fun, if not all that comfortable. The journey from Chennai to Yeshwanthapur will pass off without much competition for the seats, but beyond that, lots of Kannadigas use this train as a passenger train to get off at their villages along the Bangalore Hubli route. Generally this leg of the journey in November is very very chill, and you need to be adequately armed with blankets and reserve your seats on the upper metal plank, lest you are found searching for a seat. The chillness continues till the train reaches Castle Rock and Londa on the Goa-Karnataka border. If you intend to roam the South Goa beaches, then Madgaon is the best place to call it quits for the journey, as Colva beach is located 6 kilometres from Madgaon. If you have North Goa in mind, then get down at Vasco station, and take a bus to Panjim, from which you can travel to the North Goa beaches by hiring buses/private transportMadgaon has very little accomadation in the sreet parallel to the railway station. Pretty shady places, and very basic rooms available for 350+ Rs for a 2 people.


The other route from Chennai is to take the mail to Bangalore so as to reach there by 5 am,
and charge your batteries for an hour at the waiting rooms, while you refresh and take the 6 am Hubli-Bangalore Jan Shatabdi express, which reaches Hubli at 1 20 pm. From Hubli, taking a bus is an option, which is largely cumbersome as the journey route is full of bad roads and chaotic traffic thanks to unruly bus and lorry drivers. Its a 6-7 hour journey to Panjim across the hills.

Our trip was by the above route and travelling by Indian railways, is always such a pleasure as early vivid memories of travel start from Indian Railways. What i find missing these days in the trains now, is the train with engine logo that used to be earlier engraved on the beds in the sleeper coaches.








Standing and posing in front of the mirror has become a defacto start to the camera in the train. This picture has Varun, me and Vipul posing, as we slightly came out of our compartment to talk, as the whole compartment was dozing heavily at 2 am. Well you dont expect anything else from a bunch of B school grads who are used to stay up late nights.

As I had earlier mentioned that the bus route from Hubli to Panjim is bad, and it really shakes you up by the time you reach Panjim. Try scanning the railway time table really well, for getting a connecting train at Hubli to reach Madgoan or any small station in Goa. The railway authorities are not too helpful in this regard and will shoo you away if you ask too many doubts that they cant answer. A better option with deep pockets would be to take the 13 30 flight from Bangalore to Dabolim(Goa), without touching Hubli, which would mean you reach Goa at 2 40 pm. Else you can also try to reach Mangalore from Bangalore and take a train from there to Madgoan. I have tried all three routes.



If you have time on your hand, I suggest take the most sluggish mode of transport to soak in to the journey. The journey is through a lot of forests and hills and has some great views in the evening after sun set.




Once you reach Panjim, if you would like to be on your own, try hiring a bike/car, and reach for the road besides the bus stand that has the huge hoarding of Paulo travels. There are a few smaller travel agents who also sell bikes on rent.


The next travel agent to get, would be to walk from the bus stand, over a small bridge and try getting to the Panjim Post office, right next to a petrol Bunk, where you find bike services. Try renting a vehicle for under 250 in Non Peak Season. In peak season a bike is rented at more than 500 rs. You get high end bikes as well as normal ones like passion plus, and Honda Activa. Honda Activa is a higly preffered means of commuting by people visiting Goa as apart from being a no-gear bike, it has space for keeping your spare clothes/ bag.

NORTH GOAN BEACHES- Getting there from Panjim

Generally from Panjim, the North Goan beaches are closeby, so enjoy the ride by driving north. The Beaches to see, in serial order are Condolim,Sinquerim,Calangute,Baga,Anjuna,Vagator,Morjim,Aswem,Mandrem,Arambol
and Kerim beach. Vagator and Morjim(the Turtle farm beach) are seperated by a gulf and the Chapora river.

We got to Panjim at around 9 ish after a arduous journey along the rickety route from Hubli. Panjim sleeps pretty early, and after 9 pm, no buses ply in Goa. So we reached Panjim and decided to explore for some bike shops by the wayside. An elderly uncle volunteered across to the post office in Panjim, which was a pleasant 10 minute walk from the bus stand. We got an Activa and a Passion plus for 225 rs a day after paying a caution deposit of 500 per vehicle. I got to play the lead driver, as I had previous driving knowledge around Goa and its inner roads that lead to the beaches. I lost no time, in assuaging my leadership skills, by deciding to play captain by playing pillion to Varun, while we asked Vipul to follow us.

The pleasure of driving on these lovely roads can be really enticing, but let me warn you, that it is pretty chill at night, and you would be better off making yourself warm by covering yourself with a shawl wrapped around you as you drive. The drive from Panjim had a spooky feel to it, and Varun and Vipul must have felt, I was leading them to into this abyss and chasm, that had no end to the drive. As soon as we turned right and entered Calangute, the spirit was rejuvenated with the colour and vivacity of the place. Brightly coloured shops and well lit roads seemed to bring more life into the tour that looked a little bland after the rickety and soporific bus journey.

We turned towards the left that leads to Anjuna Beach,and it was back to driving in small dim lit roads with banyan trees in plenty on both sides. All we could see around were shady huts which were proclaiming themselves as Ayurvedic centres with a retro look, and shacks that had firangs roaming about. Then as our bikes went further and we stopped for directions, we heard a rumbling noise of the ocean front, and the gurgling of the ocean waves, was pretty much a reminder of life at B school, a constant gurgling of emotions every day with various subjects and assignment deadlines, but hey, we are here to forget all about that mad chaotic life that we are used to. We parked our bikes near a shack and decided to explore a place for a quiet dinner. It was already 11 45 pm, and the shacks seemed to be packed to capacity with foreigners occupying the seats. It was too crowded for our comforts, and we decided to explore the next available shack, and it was pretty lonely, but well lit up against the background of the waves crashing below it. The shack was 20 mts above sea level on a cliff, so the waves hit the bottom rocks and occaisonaly the water managed to climb up and freshen the people above.

The candle lit dinner was good, in the sense that it made us relax staring at the deep depths of the ocean waves, which were relentlessy adding the bass to the instrumental music playing in the background. We in the meantime, also managed to find a decent room for 500 rs, which would house all three of us. Decent bathrooms(with hotwater), cupboards and a big bed with pillows, nothing more you need in terms of basic neccesities and we rested for a while before deciding to explore the place around us at around 1 30 am.

To be Continued.............

Back to Childhood Days!

The picture of one's head against the door of a train, with winds gushing through one's hair even as the train decides to do a hair pin curve where one half of the train is curving and the other half is curling and catching up, you realise that these were the same emotions which meant joy, 10-15 years back, and to be more specific, you need to be in the 2nd class compartment to lean over, with the glorious smell of the Indian railways, yes.... its charecteristic smell of urine and the iron of the compartment that knock over your sensibilities as you try to get some fresh air through your lungs. Lonely travel brings a lot of thoughts
that your mind conjures up and 2 such recent journeys are being documented here.

In October and November, I decided to do some lonely train journeys as I was feeling bored. In October, I had a long weekend at my internship in Bangalore, and the dussehra weekend, was going to be dull If I was at the temporary accomdation that I was staying, so I decided to hit the Majestic bus stand, a sudden thought at 7 pm, when I left the office, and managed to reach the place (Majestic Bus Stand) by about 9 and discovered that the only probable places that one could go were Mangalore/Gokarna/Shimoga for Jog Falls/ Goa. Now, Mangalore seemed a students delight as a term called "inflation" had not made its way there to have very costly hotel and eating options. But Mangalore was heavily booked, so was Shimoga and Goa. Gokarna had one ticket and since Dusehra was on, a premium was charged to the tune of about 100 rs making the final ticket as 450 odd.

Gokarna it was...and I set on a journey, a holiday all alone, by myself... on a rainy chill night, but since I had a rather plush windcheater of my previous company, the chill winds were not a factor, but the bump on highway roads were, as I was sitting in the middle of the last bench of that bus.



Gokarna is like a place thats unaffected by technology and modernity. It has a lulling and a very slow pace towards life and thats the first thing that struck me about this place. More than that is the greenery around. For the first time in my holidays I gave up trekking and beach walking, as my bag tore, so I had to check into a hotel and decided to just walk aimlessly and explore the town.



This is when I am reminded of Chldhood, where I used to walk with my grandfather on the streets of Nanganallur, where seeing a road, a person, a bus..or any damn thing was enthusiastic, as I was learning new things each time I went on a walk.The same enthusiasm came to the fore. It was ages since I decided to explore a place at an easy pace. I went about photographing literally everything that came my way.


Here goes some of my exhibits


The Hotels in Gokarna are plain simple and you are transported to this lost world
where prices of eatables are a little above manufacturing cost and you have a very simple
ambience. Look at the chairs, everything has this plain jane shape and looks so uncomplicated.

Wherever I go, I seem to have this soft corner for "GHEE MASALA DOSA", and this time its no exception.

It had rained the previous evening, and it takes some Sun
to dry the streets. A peaceful walk, in the afternoon, explorning the extra rural side of Gokarna


Thats the bus, you would never want to get in. Extremely rickety and gives your shoulder and backbones a massage the wrong way, to make it as stiff as possible. This is the last option to Bangalore, if you cant get the luxury buses. This bus leaves at about 5 30 pm, on Sundays to Bangalore. Travelling 14 hours in this bus requires some courage, and since I am a student and cash strapped, I chose this :-(. The bus had a leaking hole right above the place where I sat, and all the water found its way to my seat and shoulder.I couldnt move an inch as this bus had hardly any leg space, and already had a vendors vegetable bag in between my legs apart from my huge blue bag. Next to me was a corpulent Bank officer, who was sharing his stories of life at Shimoga and Gokarna. It was great getting his perspective of life, and all his mythological stories about Gokarna, but he gave me a mythology dose, all through the night till 3 am, until he got off.

From the modernity of an INFOSYS campus, it takes 12 hours to be transported back to time, in Gokarna. Look at the pyol of the house, looks like R K NARAYAN had taken inspiration from this place :-), but actually its is widely rumoured that Malgudi came from Malleshwaram+ Basavangudi. I last saw such houses in Chennai, at Dakshinachitra, when I went earlier in the year with Prasanna and Kishore.


When it's a misty morning and you are on a walk across a bridge, it makes for a lovely sight. This place must be some small tributary of the Arabian sea.

Outer Gokarna reminds me of the villages in Kerala, all green with overcast skies.

Driving on empty roads with lovely weather and trees by the wayside is a lovely way to unwind.

Some times food can be a huge problem on the western coast, as you have to make to do with what is available in smaller bus stands like these. Grossly unhygenic, but thats also a part of travel


This photo was taken at PAI Restaurant at Gokarna. This along with Gokarna International are the best places to eat good quality local food at Gokarna.



Now that's a Garage... They dont have 4 wheelers here. This is just enough to dump a couple of cycles and lock it for the night.

The Brick sizes are very big on the western coast, atleast in Gokarna and Goa. I dont know the reason behind such huge boulders, but since I saw them and it looked unique, its claim to fame since then on has been that its been featured on Katchucrap!

Looks like Gokarna has its own version of Hermione and Harry Potter

Cricket on the Pyol! I was reminded of the days in the early 90's where all i needed was a tennis/rubber ball, to insantly start a game of cricket. The strategy part involved trying to score heavily by not playing power strokes and adopting to the area of the place that was available. Most of the places would be relatives houses, Marriage halls, Terraces and open verandahs! Aaah those were the days!

Thats the way back to the Hotel!........

For a more detailed journal on the beaches in Gokarna, I suggest you click this travellogue, written by me, a year and a half back