The Ohm beach is part of the beach area of the western coast of India. It’s named so [at least according to me] because of the shape of the Sanskrit Ohm. I had been there over the last weekend inspite of some trouble with my darling of a tummy. According to the doctor, I had food infection thanks to the watermelon and vanilla ice-cream combo that I had at a resort. [It was a treat by my team-mates]. Anyhoo, since D-small really wanted me to go there, I decided to! END RESULT: Thank God, I visited that place.

Ohm beach is one of those places, which really hasn’t been explored. Either that or I went in off season. It wasn’t as commercialized as the beaches in Goa or Kerala! It was as if only a few people had ever discovered this place. Anyhoo, we had taken this awesome sleeper bus [altho we weren’t allocated sleeping berths] by Vijayanand Road Lines, apparently a very famous travel service in the North of Karnataka, and one of the most prosperous in India. It apparently has well over three thousand buses in its fleet. The bus was absolutely comfortable. Sleep was no problem whatsoever.

The bus was to take us to Karwar. However, we disembarked in a place called Ankola, which is in direction, further from Gokarna, where Ohm beach is situated. After getting down at Ankola, we boarded a local bus that took us from Ankola to Gokarna bus stand. The trip was nothing great. The only thing to notice are the salt fields as you reach towards Gokarna.

The river Sharavati [if I remember rite], that is en route from Ankola to Gokarna

Gokarna bus stand is one of those typical small town bus stands. There was a single restaurant. There was a general store, from where I bought my 3rd tooth brush, tooth paste and a soap over the past month. [Note to self: Next time you go on a trip, better take one of the 3 tooth brushes with you. Better yet, put one in your bag today] We brushed our teeth there. Then we waited until D-small arrived from Honnaver. The bus stand also gave us a brief look into the small town happenings. People there were dressed weird.

Ladies were dressed in a single saree that was worn in a really weird way. One guy – noted by A was wearing only a shirt. According to A, he wore only a konan, which is a very rudimentary form of underwear! None of us decided to further pursue the clothing form. We had breakfast from the lone restaurant. A suggestion – try out the bun there. It’s a sweet form of poori that is a Kannadiga specialty. It tastes really nice, especially if you have just undergone a tiring bus journey.

The Gokarna bus stand [me and Arjun were playing catch with stones]

According to the locals, with whom M conversed in Kannada, it was 3 kms trek through the Western Ghats. However, if you take the road, it’s about 7-8 kms . Anyway, we decided to take the road as people really did not feel like walking thanks to the amount of luggage they were carrying. Anyway, the autos cost us INR 100.00 till the top of the cliff, from where you have to walk it up to the beach. The road is pretty much stark through until you get the first glimpse of the sea. The view is so captivating that you just keep quiet for sometime. That’s when you realise that you _have_ to capture it in celluloid and make poking gestures at the auto driver to stop the auto and rush out to take the snaps.

Suggestion: Drive it up to Ohm beach. The view is breathtaking and it’s an awesome road to travel, esp on your bikes. Beware in the night, there are no street lights. Go with complete protection, as there is practically NO speed limit!

The auto left us at the end of the trail in the Ghats – basically a cliff overlooking the sea, from where you have steps leading you down to the beach. For the first time, we got a glimpse of the Ohm beach. It was also evident as to how it was named, and rightly so. It was a sight to see!

Check out the first pic – the Ohm is pretty evident. There are rock structures all around the place that really add to the pristine ruggedness of the place! From here, we moved on to the beach below to try and find a guesthouse nearby. There was a beautiful cottage resort on the way, all laden with a swimming pool. However, the auto driver warned us that it would cost us about 4.5grand a day for that place and asked us to check at the beach itself for a house that would cost us about INR 100.00 a day. Immediately we started out on the prowl of this place. There is a path very close to the end of Ghat that takes you into a beach resort. It’s a very calm and quiet place and really is worth the money you pay there!

You have rooms ranging right from INR 100.00 to INR 350.00. And beleive me, they are a treat.

The cottages are really nice. The room 103 [having an open bathroom, which is really cool btw] cost us INR 250.00. And the bamboo house [spelt bambu house] cost us INR 300.00 for a day. Personally I think it was the deal of the century. The food in this place is also pretty good. You have all the various cuisines. A lotta foreigners are your co-renters of the place.

From there on, we moved on to the beach. I didn’t get into the beach owing to my contact lens. Was busy taking snaps. But, as I was told, the beach was very clean and nice. The water was just right. Not too cold, not too warm. Personally, I hate salt water [yet another reason as to why I didn’t get into the beach]. But the rest of the gang really enjoyed the beach. I was busy walking around the place, trying to figure what we could do there after these guys were done with their “beaching” – Arjun there’s another word 😉

Meanwhile, clicked some snaps of the beachside.

The beach indeed is beautiful. There is a cliff right beside the beach as well. Mentally I had made a note to trek it through the evening. Anyway, after about 3-4 hours of beaching, these guys decided to head back into the cottage and clean up for lunch. Lunch comprised of a variety of sizzlers and desi food by the beachside. It was a beautiful view. [Note to self: Put up the lunch snap]

Lunch was over by about half past four. We proceeded to the cliff trek from there. It was a nice place. The trek was through some jagged rocks – completely harmless and a beautiful sight to see.

The cliff is in the background

The trek was really nice.

We finally found a nice place to sit and wait for the sunset.

The sunset

We walked back all the way to the resort and rested on some rocks after the sunset. Just sitting talking. The place was really comfortable. What I really loved about the place was the serenity, the tranquility. It was so far away from the Bangalore city [which I absolutely adore]. Still, i felt almost home. Nothing to do but lie and rest and enjoy the place. It was really beautiful. We just lay there, everyone, yapping away. Still, each one of us lost in their thoughts. Lost in their private place so far away from the hustle-bustle of the city.

I thought that the inner core gang should take a trip to this place. I am sure each one of them would have really enjoyed the place :-D!

Anyway, after having decided that we’ll stay there and watch the moon set, things took a turn, when people became hungry. So, we trudged back to the resort. Dinner was a really delicious Vegetable Mushroom burger for me. For the first time, I saw Arijit saying “No” to food. Fellow was stuffed. ;-)!

I tried to keep everyone awake. Me-  the guy who usually sleeps the first during any trip!! After half past one, I had to give up on the losers! I then went and talked to the watchman with whom I shared a smoke. Then I went out to the beach and walked around till about half past 3 in the morning. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any camera with me. We were supposed to go to a place called Yana from Ohm beach, a place where you can trek to see some beautiful rock structures.

The beach in the night was b e a utiful. The place was silent, except for surprisingly silent waves! They just came on and on. They came crashing into the shores. They moved back and the next set came and crashed.. With the low tide, there was more beach for me to walk around!

Anyway, at about half past 3, I moved back into the cottage to catch a few winks to get ready for the trip next day to Yana!!