Needless to say it was amidst much chin-rubbing, skeptical looks and raised eyebrows that I boarded the train from Chennai to Bangalore. Once in Bangalore I waited for the chartered bus. Ofcourse it was running late! What did you expect? Once it arrived, I looked at the sea of faces (pun unintentional) inside the bus and thought “Just another normal trip”. Up the scenic route from Mudigere, dotted with green hills, serene backwaters and gently swaying palms, we phutted-phutted in a rickety ol’ bus hired just for this purpose towards Murdueshwar.
It was the anonymity of the place that worked for it. Imagine this – a pristine beach, pre-twilight hour, rain-laden clouds, wave-hugged sea – beautiful. As you close your eyes, breathe-in the air, smile and turn around, another awesome sight greets you. There’s a huge Shiva idol looking down at you. Not far off is a 16-storey imitation of the Madurai Meenakshi temple. (Impressive! But perhaps we should concentrate on maintaining our legacies first, spend money wisely on infrastructure second, instead of this unnecessary extravagance?)
I’m dragged away to the hotel to get on with the orientation classes. After the instructor cluck-clucks about our late arrival we get down to business! In the next few minutes, we learn the nuances of underwater protocol. Its evident that the men love their jobs (regardless of the obvious t-shirt that said ‘love diving’). After some excruciating minutes of scuba diving in the swimming pool of the hotel, I emerge a lot more shaken than expected, with chlorined water in my eyes, ear and nose!! Tired and worn out, I’m all skeptical about the “real thing” the next day. Who said this was fun?
The next morning, we did the unthinkable by waking up at 5 and head out to the sea. By the time we jump into boats at Murudeshwar to head out 10 nautical miles to Nethrani, it is 8am. We approach the Nethrani Island from the back and anchor a few meters away in the sea. I have never seen water that blue. There it was – a vast expanse of calm, clear in the most prettiest of blue. After little cajoling and much threatening from MK (who organized the trip), I jump into the water screaming, expecting to drown, only to break into the surface. The life jacket worked! After a lot of bobbing about, a bit of mock-swimming and some floating on the back.. I’m beginning to love the sea. The gods are kind. The sun is a mild gentleman that day. I put on my snorkeling kit and turn on my stomach.
And that’s when it happened. The initiation into the other world! A whole new world! Calm, slow, serene. You watch in breathless awe as colourful fish glide past by, unaware of two strange eyes watching them. I become aware of my frayed nerves, calming down and settle into a peaceful levitation. I float consumed by an unexplained serenity at this alien world, so different from ours.
When I finally pull up my head over the water, 20 minutes have gone by! MK looks amused at my dumbfoundedness. “Ok, let’s go back. You didn’t want to do this!” he says pulling my life jacket in an attempt to drag me back to the boat. “Go away”, I scream, flapping my legs in a vain attempt to swim! After about 4 hours of snorekelling (no kidding), I was finally ready for some scuba diving. With a 15kg cylinder strapped to by back, a heavy-weight belt, weighing half-me, around my waist and funny blue-finned feet, I prepared to jump into the water. One giant leap’! Straight into the water filled womb of Mother earth. As you descend, the first thing you feel is the chillness of the water enveloping you. The noise of the outside world shuts out and there is an eerie quietness. As your eyes get accustomed to the darkness, you become aware of the vastness of the sea, the weightlessness of the body and the strangeness of being. Only the water bubbles from breathing apparatus remind you that you are alive. The rest of the descent to the sea-bed with only a rope to guide you, a faint light to light up your path and a worried instructor is nothing but a dream. Great Barrier Reef – I’m coming one day! Factbook: Ok.. So.. there wasn’t much to see in terms of marine life. Just a few colourful fishes. There are all sorts of write-ups on the internet about the diversity of underwater life at Netrani. None of that I saw. But for a newbie like me it’s a good starting point. And that is what it will be for most people. The place isn’t commercialized, not much crowd and no time pressure at all. I’d like to slowly progress or shall we say upgrade(!) to GBF!
Trip date: March 20, 2008
Photo courtesy: Fellow trippers!
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