And the travels shall begin... @cluelessbackpacker - Tumblr Blog

The wonderful conversations with absolute strangers:

-- Sam from Bir, full of life and excitement at 80, building a new Trike business in Bangalore and a Glider Chicks women-only bike riding company in Bir!

-- Mudra running a beach cafe after having quit a toxic corporate job - happily shared a couple of shots and indulged in inane but friendly conversation

-- Nikita, all of 23, building a hostel in Gokarna and running a tiny made to order cafe after multiple volunteering stints and a CA degree!

-- A Marathi purohit who hitched a ride with me and spoke about pooja gig jobs and Madhuri Dixit's lineage

-- A Tamil family of four whose kids were obsessed with Kombucha

-- A bunch of Kolhapuri MBBS students put on extra loud Marathi music and danced like no one was watching, all this on a boat ride to the Mangroves significantly disrupting the ecosystem but enjoying thoroughly nonetheless . They kindly took me on in their boat because I didn't want to hire an entire boat just for myself.

-- The mangalore biking gang that offered me free ride to Kandla wooden bridge and showed me the walkie talkie gear they use for coms during bike rides.

Unparalleled pristine beauty in Honnavara. Hitched a boat ride with a gang of Kolhapuri MBBS students to save some quid, the 90min boat ride is incredible. Hitchhiked on a super bike with a Mangaluru biker gang to the beautiful wooden bridge into the heart of mangroves. And ending this trip with a lazy recline in the clean, blue flag certified Eco beach.

Crisp and cool Kombuchas, yummy thali in a super cool surrounding at Halfway Home + tiny trek down to Kudle Beach + and Amazing cruise experience that included jumping the ocean and dolphin views along with an inexplicably joyous experience riding in the ocean. An afternoon exceedingly well spent.

Away from the party crowd in heart of Gokarna, the piety and the importance of the place as a religious center is abundantly visible in throngs of devotees (mostly Marathi and Telugu). Probably not as well known, this is the site of only Atmalinga in India ( there is a Ravana and Ganesha story to this).

The Mahabaleshwar temple is flanked by Parvati and Ganesha temples, and all of these have throngs of women (many of them tribal) selling flowers for super cheap. I dipped my hand in the oily pit in Mahabaleshwar temple and smeared my forehead, hopefully there is a divine blessing to set right my life.

Adjacent to the Parvati temple is a site of importance for post funeral rites - bones left after cremation are dropped in a small Kalyani.

Streets are filled with usual pooja stuff, but also peppered with huge sacks of dry fruit which are a visual treat.

Pristine Middle beach in Gokarna - almost naked firangs lost in their world, loads of stray dogs, locals taking brisk walks armed with sticks (to shoo the dogs), a now ubiquitous (and grossly out of place) camel seen in every Indian beach, amazing sunset views and a lovely beach side cafe (Vibes and Tides) run by Mudra (full of stories about quitting a corporate job to run the place).

The overrated (largely due to a scene in Kannada movie ನಮ್ಮೂರ ಮಂದಾರ ಹೂವೆ) Yana Caves. My reaction might have been different if not for the 2hr long back breaking ride though bad roads to get here. The free, cold drink (ಪಾನಕ) offered by the temple was a welcome relief after the difficult ride.

Agrasen kin Baoli

Unusual temple architecture in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Jain Temple @ Lodurwa.

Random clicks in Sri Lanka

#sri lanka #galle

Buddha Buddha everywhere!

#anuradhapura #gangaramaya #polonnaruwa #sri lanka #gal vihara

Sri Lanka - An unintended, unexpected piligrimage

The Buddhist heritage and influence in Sri Lanka hits you the moment you step of the airport - from the street-side Dagobas, Buddha statues and the Bodhi Trees to the saffron-clad Buddhist monks and the evening prayer chants in town centers.

For a country that is barely 30kms from our south coast, I realised that my knowledge of the culture and people was zilch. Little did I know that this country houses the most important Buddhist relics anywhere in the world and that Lord Buddha had visited Sri Lanka thrice in his life!

The trip has been nothing short of a pilgrimage for me:

I stood 20m from the tooth relic - a casket containing Lord Buddha's tooth that was taken from his funeral pyre by a monk (rogue!) and carried to Sri Lanka