Karwar - the sleepy town by the Arabian Sea

While growing up in my teens, I used to read Enid Blyton books about sleepy little towns by the Scottish coast. Since then I have always dreamt about going to such a place. Unfortunately lady luck never favoured me. My first tryst with the sea(happened to be in early spring season in Santa Cruz, CA) was not a happy one. Next was in Goa. But Goa being Goa, sleepy is not a adjective to be used with a place high on partying.

So this fall, when the idea came to visit to karwar, I thought I was on the verge of living my dream.

A little trivia on Karwar:

Karwar is the administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, India. It is a seaside town situated on the banks of the Kali river which is on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent. The town lies about 15 kilometres south of the Karnataka-Goa border and 519 km north-west of Bangalore.

Rabindra Nath Tagore once famously said about Karwar:

"The sea beach of Karwar is certainly a fit place in which to realise that the beauty of Nature is not a mirage of the imagination, but reflects the joy of the Infinite and thus draws us to lose ourselves in it. Where the universe is expressing itself in the magic of its laws it may not be strange if we miss its infinitude; but where the heart gets into immediate touch with immensity in the beauty of the meanest of things, is any room left for argument?"

Back to the trip:

On the 8th of november, we 3 roomies boarded a KSRTC Rajhamsa bus to Karwar. The journey as a whole was uneventful except for the experienced driver testing out the speed-limits on the potholed road...his swerves on the ghats section at dead of the night were a hair raising experience for me. Finally by 7.30 in the morning , we were in the Karwar bus-stand.

The bus-stand was next to the centre of the town (if I can call it that) and only a couple of hundred metres away from the Karwar beach(also known as Tagore beach, made famous by Rabindranath Tagore, who got inspired for his first play while seeing the beach). We first went to the beach and found a hotel near by. After freshening up and having our break-fast of idli-dosa in a road-side shop, we hired a cab for a tour of around karwar.

Our first destination was Devbagh beach , with its desolate surroundings and fishermen's boats cum nets. In the noon sun, the beach was damn hot. Certainly not a pleasant weather to sit down and watch the sea. Next we planned to goto til-matti, a supposedly desolate place used as a picnic spot by locals. The place can be reached only by climbing a hill. The beach is supposed to consist of black-soil. Considering the heat , we thought it to be a wiser decision to give it a skip :-) . So we turned back, and went to the bridge which goes over the river Kali. This bridge stands at the confluence of the river Kali and the Arabian Sea. Sadashivgad fort, a fort of historical importance, is located here.This was a lot pleasant experience and we end up frollicking for quite a while under the sun. Not to mention, we managed to get the soles of our feet cut by corals and ended up swearing on everything during the initial pain.

Soon we made our way back to Karwar and to the place where can have a view of India's largest naval base. But this being a security risk area, we could barely manage to wait for more than 5 minutes or so, and soon were going downhill, back to Karwar. Lunch time, we hogged on the local Karwar cuisine consisting of what else, but fish curry.

Post-Lunch, we managed to get ourselves the tetanus injections from a no-smiley doctor and went straight to hotel for a snooze so that we could catch the Karwar sunset. 5' o clock , and time to get up and make our way to the Karwar(Tagore) beach. In the evening time, the beach looked quite pleasant (the sun having lost much of its intensity). The sunset was a joy to watch. Had some chaat and juice by the beach. Evening/night time was spent in sitting by the beach , having a turf war with the crabs swept to shore by the sea. On being surrounded on two sides by the crabs, we had to fight back with our WMD(Weapons of Mass destruction) i.e carpet bombing with sand. The unsuspecting crabs had to beat retreat with our Shock-and-Awe policy.

9.00 PM, and time for dinner, we again went back to the town which was by now booming with the burst of bombs and crackers(did somebody say diwali is the festival of lights and not sounds?). The town itself comprised of mostly the market centre and houses encircling it. On the outskirts were villages. Karwar port was just outside the town.

After dinner, went to the hotel and again came for a night stroll on the beach. Around 12, we made our way back to the hotel and soon tiredness got the better of us and lights were off.

Around 9 in the morning we got up and after having our bath and breakfast, we made our way towards the bus stand to the party capital of the east "Goa" and bade adieu to Karwar.

Places of attraction:

1. Tagore Beach(forms the main beach of the town)
2. Naval museum(on Tagore beach)
3. Devbagh beach
4. Tilmatti Beach
5. Sadashivgad fort
6. The Bridge on the river Kali
7. Boat rides (starts from below the bridge)

Anshi National Park is a little distance away from Karwar. A must-see for flora and fauna addicts. For Trek enthusiasts , there are a few good routes here of easy-moderate grade.

Language compatibility for a backpacker:

No problem, Konkani is widely spoken. People understand Hindi/English.

Not to be missed:

The local fish dishes especially Bangada fry(Macarel fried in masala and something called Semolina).

How to get there(from Bangalore):

1. Bus (519 Kms from Bangalore, KSRTC Volvos, VRL sleeper buses etc.)
2. Train (Konkan railway from Mangalore, with a stoppage in Karwar).
3. Flight (nearest aiport is Dabolim, Vasco)

Miscellanous:

Beaches still seem to be devoid of noisy Indian families and booze-guzzling litterers.
Thumps up to Karwar.