This time on my trip to India my girl-friend's parents suggested we go take a trip to Dapoli for a couple of days. Taking two days out of my already crammed schedule was tough. But we took the trip anyways.
Kaka is a very enthusiastic driver. He loves to drive his car on long trips. I just had to sit beside him and seep in the views. We took the 'varandhaa ghat' way to finally join the Mumbai-Goa highway. The road was at its worst. Some patches were really bad.
We stopped at a temple to take some pictures and the local priest rushed to us. There were a few other gentlemen there. They seemed excited to see us. One of them was particulary friendly. He wanted a ride to the nearby village. He wanted to visit his daughter there. He was very smart and he regaled us with his views on politics and the inevitable evils of the 'generation-gap'. Interestingly his name was Shivaji Malusare--he introduced himself when we dropped him at his destination--and he also told us that he was a direct descendant of Tanaji Malusare.
Once we reached the Mumbai-Goa highway, the road condition was much better. Two lane highway it is and that too quite busy I should say, but the ride was comfortable and kaka is a good driver. After a while we left the main highway and took a local highway to go to Dapoli. We were passing through towns with some charming areas and some shanty ones. We even asked for directions a couple of times. That's the advantage of driving in India. You can stop and ask for directions. Actually you kind of have to; for lack of proper maps and markings.
We reached Dapoli around 2:30 p.m. in the afternoon. The resort was named 'Sagar Savali', loosely translated as 'The shadow of the ocean'. We were greeted by the person who manages this place. It has only 6 to 7 rooms in the conical shaped tower and then four cottages next to it. It is a few yards from the arabian sea and the beach is kind of secluded. The two days I was there, I didn't see too many people there. The exapnse of the beach is amazing, almost a mile or so to walk.We had a short snack at the hotel and went to our rooms to take a quick nap. We had started early from Pune and the drive was kind of tiring. Kaka must have been tired. He drove alone all the way. After a quick nap, we got up and had some tea and immediately hit the beach. The first thing I noticed about this place, was the lack of any pollution. While in Pune I was definitely bothered by the amount of pollution on the streets. I had a scratchy throat in all my stay in India, except for those two days in Dapoli.
I have always been strangely attracted to the ocean. There is something profound and infinite about it. As soon as I stepped on the beach, I felt the vastness of the Arabian sea. It was low tide and I usually dont like the ocean at low tide, but this beach was something else. The sky was clear; there were a few boats a few 100 yards in the sea, probably returning from the day's work. Fishing undoubtedly must be the source of livelihood for many people here. I knew I was in for a beautiful sunset. Years ago, I was in Kanyakumari -- the southern-most tip of the Indian peninsula -- and our train had reached there around sunset and we all rushed to the beach to watch the sunset, only to find out the setting sun hiding behind uninvited clouds.
But that day was mine. There were no evil clouds around. Moreover, since it was February, there were less chances of sudden gathering of moisture on the horizon to eclipse the sun. I watched with humility and amazement as the mighty sun started descending on the horizon. The sun had a definite date with the ocean, it seemed. The waves were periodically hitting my feet; it was hypnotic. I walked across the waves looking at the sun. I walked and walked and while I walked I got a distinct feeling that I was not moving at all. That reminded me of Roger Water's immortal words..."And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking;
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older,
shorter of breath and one day closer to death"
It was nice getting away from my get away. There were other highlights to this trip. the second day we did a short hike to visit a very old Vishnu temple. The temple was very pleasant, like all temples are. The hike was through beetle-nut and jack fruit farms. The Konkan soil is abundantly rich and very conducive to grow various different types of fruit; mangoes, jackfruit, beetle nut, indian version of gooseberry (awla) and many others.At 'Saagar Savali' the food was fresh and tasty; especially the fish. We made sure we paid compliments to the cook; after all the almighty went only as far as making the fish, it was left to the cook to make it taste heavenly.
