The Konkan Chronicles –Part I

Everytime I visit the Konkan coast with its beautiful white beaches, numerous rivers flowing into the blue, blue Arabian Sea, deep green coconut trees swaying gently along these waters, I know I have returned home!

The precise definition of Konkan varies, but most include Maharashtra's districts of Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, the state of Goa, and the Kanara districts (North and South) of Karnataka.The sapta-Konkan as depicted in Skanda-purana stretches from southern Gujarat in the north to Kerala in the south.

I was born in Mangalore-the heart of the Konkan coast-many, many earth revolutions ago. My first conscious memory of the Konkan is visiting my friend’s palatial house in Vasco-da-gama, Goa. When you are eighteen years old, visiting a new place on your own without your family along is pretty exciting in itself. But Goa is magical at any age. It’s a laidback, chilled out place even in the hottest of summers. Memories of long drives to reach far-off beaches. Coconut and cashew trees lining the roads interrupted by tiny shrines dedicated to the Bom Jesus or Madonna. Singing along with Bon Jovi, feeling the rain on our faces and the sea lapping at our feet. Trying all sorts of seafood that I didn’t know existed. Shacks by the beach lit up by numerous little festive lights.Lively local bands singing popular Goan numbers. But you still hear the sound of the waves in the background. The paradox of energy and calm.

My second trip to the Konkan was a geological excursion. Beginning with Malvan where breakfast was Misal-pav and jilebi, lunch provided on their verandahs by the local residents.The Sindhudurg fort where I slipped and grazed my shin. We did pick up a lot of rock samples, looked at a lot of geological formations and partied every night. We winded down to the iron ore mines in Goa through Sawantwadi-some more rock formations , Chapora-the fort with a view to some wind erosion formations, Vagator- rock formations caused by a combination of wind and sea erosion. I wish I could remember the names of the rocks and the formations & structures that our professors painstakingly tried to drill into our thick-heads. Probably time to google for them. Look out for the next edition of the Konkan Chronicles!