Mulki Trip

Day 1 (13th April) - Took an overnight train from Farakka (13154 Gaur express) to Sealdah on 12th night. Went to HCC guesthouse. Ate like a pig (6 toast + 3 eggs + 1 aloo parantha). Took flight from Kolkata to Mangalore via Mumbai and reached at 6:20 pm at Mangalore. Took a taxi booked by Mantra club and reached Ashram at 7:15 pm.

Met Dhruva (trainer and swami) , Ravi (graphic designer and bike rider), Yoga mai. (Self explanatory name) , Drona (12 yr old student from Bangalore), Aneesha (14 - 15 year old wizard of nano technology revolutionising hydrophobic materials). Had simple dinner of chapati and aloo cabbage beans mix veg washed down with roohafza/ similar chilled juice. Enjoyed the post dinner banter over discussing movies and the Superman vs Batman with Drona and Ravi while Dhruva teased yoga mai enough for her to leave dinner table. She gave us some banana pie cookies though earlier. Met Shaila post dinner (mother of Aneesha) who is a trained coach for swimming. Chatted up and then went to sleep.

Day 2 (14 th April) - Kept waking up in night at 4 am, 5 am..Finally got up at 5:30-6. Walked a little and saw Satya doing pooja etc. Got fresh and headed for prayer cum Gita reading at 6:30 till 7:15. Had few fruits before heading out for surfing. Reached across backwaters and was told that waves are little stronger. Got prelim instructions of standing up from Dhruva and then off to water. He kept pushing me and I kept falling off. Ocean has this high power of throwing u back and one wave will strike and other one before u can recover. Seemed like the whole ocean was inside me and oozing out when I stepped out. Felt like I was the ocean and ocean was me.

Got bumped through board in head, got scraped in knee underneath sand of ocean. Ocean overwhelmed me and I realized and it was just life. Got back and took shower then rushed for brunch. Had simple Rice pulao (shimla mirch/ green bell peppers only) alongwith some Mexican red curry washed down with muskmelon juice and topped with Yoga mai's Carrot pie (most awesome warm pies). Then slept like a log for 3-4 hours. Got up and chatted with Drona and got to know that his father has own firm called Reliance Packaging. Then read Kafka on the Shore and got to drink White Apple (Pear) juice (should ask recipe). Around 5:30 pm went out to do Kayaking. The kayaks made by Feel free were quite balanced and unlike Dandeli/ Tarkarli I didn't fell. Initially it felt a lot to kayak but soon got hang of it and was so enjoyable. Captured the sunset.

Dinner was brown rice, sambhar, salad (green leaves, green apple), cutlet and chatni. Topped with Gulabjamun made by Kiran’s mom who had arrived with his elder brother Kishore (Videographer and managing import and distribution of surfboards) and Ram (photographer; 1st surfing photographer in India, also covers cricket etc.).

Post dinner went for a small walk with new guys from Bangalore (Pradeep working with Morgan Stanley and Santosh in HP). Came back and chatted with Dhruva where he recounted how he joined the Ashram at age of 12-14 or so and how locals were wary of foreigners starting Ashram and thinking if they were smuggling stuff. Slowly they have gained acceptance but now locals think what do they do to attract high profile visitors like police commissioners and foreign as well as local tourists. Went off to sleep reading Kafka on the shore.

Day 3: (15th April) - Got up at 6 am and hurried up for morning meditation/ Gita reading session. Post that had some fruits and off we went to surf albeit at a new location wherein surf was advised to be a little better for beginners. Today Shyama and Daruka were our trainers. After reteaching basics of standing up and safety instructions we went up in water. Mother ocean ( as Shyama puts it was kind today to let me surf some of the waves). I have a theory that these people want us to struggle on the first day so that we respect the so sport. Fell off many times but unlike yesterday didn't got any bumps or bruises. One time the waves were so high it threw me and Shyama off and I was under water for 5-6 seconds with no leg on ground. My left hand muscles were paining like hell so took some rest, drank water. Collected some sea shells. Was amazed to see the speed of the movement of white spider. In full speed he can defeat Usain Bolt even with those tiny legs. A hovercraft came of coast guard and left in sometime. It was huge, had big fans at the back and could move fast. Best way to teach kids is to show them stuff is what i thought at that moment.

We came back by 11:20 in an overcrowded boat and boy I was famished. Had a quick bath and went for lunch. Lunch was lemon rice, beans, papaya and mosambi juice. I took some curd to go with rice. Yoga mai had again baked wonder with Corn cakes.

Post lunch had my 2-3 hour sleep after reading Murakami. Woke up and saw few other people streaming in for the stay. Couple from abroad and other one from Delhi ( Amrit Sharma; entrepreneur of Kohinoor.com and Twitter handle of Delhi vs Beijing)

Went up for SUP (stand up paddling) but was fearful enough to not stand but paddle sitting. Rowed hard to island opposite the river which was back breaking as sat on thighs for whole time. Clicked some pics while on other shore as Pradeep and Santosh were too excited. Paddled back in the folded legs position. Tried standing up once back near the Ashram but that fear of falling kept holding me back. I was reminded of definition of vertigo by Milan Kundera in his book The Unbearable lightness of being. Got freshened up after coming back and waited for Dinner. Dinner was chapati’s, Paneer gravy (green gravy), vada and rice (with green bell peppers). Slept by 10 pm

Day 4 (16th April) - woke up at 5:30 am and got ready slowly. There was no morning meditation so lazed around. Had some fruits and loaded the boards in the boat. This day started with the first adventure of the day. Our boat capsized near the other shore (30-40 ft away) as the  confluence of river (Shambhavi river and Nandini river) meeting the Arabian Sea has some strong waves. 6-7 of us ( me, Pradeep, Shyam, Daruka, Drona, Stuti, Matthew and her Gf) were asked to jump in river by Shyam while he and Daruka ensured that the boat didn't go fully into water else it would have been very very difficult to get it out. We all paddled our way to the shore where the water was removed from the boat.  Thankfully the water had not entered motor much so it restarted and Daruka went for second trip as if nothing happened. We went to Swami's as yesterday (learnt that they have named shores of beach depending upon the surgery who found the shore and ride the first wave there) unlike Baba on first day. However, Mother ocean wanted to show a different side of hers. The current of the ocean was so strong that it was pulling me in as well as the waves were so strong they were throwing me apart with my board. Hardly caught 2-3 waves and fell off 7-10 times. Learnt the lesson as to what is a current of the ocean. Wish the school teaches us in such practical manner so that u can never forget the concept or at the least understand it in the first place. Clicked some random pics. Came back (luckily) in the first boat back as there were too many people.

While having lunch of idle, chutmey, sambhar, lemon rice and chocolate cookies (yes, Yoga mai had baked before she left for Goa last night), we realised that others have not returned as the motor had broken down. While Kiran was planning to take on other spare boat, he realised that there was no petrol and he had to rush for petrol. Meanwhile, somebody called Aneesha and asked her to send car to pick few people up. Aneesha mom (Shaila) came and I also offered to drive other car of Ashram add they were many people stranded. It was a long ride of 15 kms one way with 2-3 kms of end route with sea on one side. Both cars picked up total 7-8 ppl and we returned while Ashram guys came back after correcting the boat or paddling or through jet ski.

Missed mentioning being surrounded in nature let's you observe so many wonderful creations of it. Saw Eagle with white head and copper brown flaps flying majestically over us. The flying fish which we thought as an imaginary creation in Life of Pi is actually a reality with fish popping up and down. Saw many Kingfisher birds too.

After bringing people back I rested for a while though unlike other days couldn't catch sleep. Read my novel which was hurtling towards end and in classical Murakami fashion getting much more weirder.

Around 5 pm went out to Kayak with Matthew (from Brazil) and his Gf (from Canada and a scuba coach but unable to catch her name). We went around the island and was comforting having them around. Was amazed to learn that Matthew was a tuk tuk driver in Ireland where they both met and he left his job to travel with her. They had already covered 10 cities in Sri Lanka. Going that long in kayak was tiring but was exhilarating. Came back and freshened up and went to Mulki town for a shave and checking if can get some stuff for Aasya and Seema. But it was too small a town to get any decent stuff and not any local artistry stuff too. Came back walking (2 kms) and had dinner (chapati, baingan subzi, rice, sambhar, shimla  mirch pakodas, orange juice and ice cream). Chatted up for a while with people at dinner table and then disbursed at 10 pm. Wrote this post same and went to sleep.

Day 5 (17th April) - woke up at 5:30 am. Attended the Gita reading session from 6:30am to 7 am. Had fruits and off we went to surf. Today it was turn of Baba’s beach to surf (same place I went first day). Quite a few people had joined in (students on vacation, nearby foreigners who work in NGOs who can come down on Sunday). Tried surfing on my own and fit thrown around many times including two head bumps and pain in left shoulder. However, was able to ride two small waves on my own. Soon my left hand started paining and sat out most of the session although did go in water many times without the board. Coming back decided to paddle my way from one shore to other and it was super experience just lying there and paddling away watching fish plopping up in front of my eyes. From middle was towed by the motor boat. Then came back got fresh and had lunch of Rice, Paneer gravy subzi, cucumber raita, grape juice and cookies some of which were left over. Got my bags packed.

Feeling of leash tied to your legs cannot be easily shaken off. Could realise a little more as to people who have been slaves their entire life don't know what to do. The leash seems to be there on your legs for a long time. It's an eerie feeling.