Krishnapatnam Beach, Andhra Pradesh

Krishnapatnam is a small village 25kms south east of Nellore. It lends its name to the huge port nearby. Of the three beaches near Nellore, the one in Krishnapatnam is the best. It is situated on a curve along the coast till it reaches the port embankments. The actual beach area is still some distance away from the port but huge ships can be seen from here entering the embankments.

A couple of weeks back myself along with a couple colleagues from work visited the beach. It was a saturday and we reached around 4pm. There was a small crowd there. Enough to feel secure and also have some privacy. Much better than the crowds at Mypadu Beach, the most popular beach near Nellore. We walked ahead away from the crowd and selected a nice, quite deserted stretch of the beach. After some idle sitting and talking we changed into our water wear and dashed into the waves. 

The best thing about this place is that the depth of the sea increases gradually and not suddenly like in Mypadu. One can go a fair distance into the sea to enjoy the waves. In fact we ventured so far that the waves were forming behind us and we had a relatively quiet sea to play around with. We spent an hour in the water jumping, falling, and just letting the sea crash on us and throw us around. Soon we got tired and ventured out of the water and sat on the beach enjoying the solitude. We had bought some knickknacks to eat which we fished out from our bags and devoured hungrily.

After that refreshing snack we made our way to the nearby Lighthouse. A lot of people do not know that lighthouses are open to public for 2 hrs everyday. The usual timings are from 1500 Hrs to 1700 Hrs. It was 1730 by the time we reached the base of the lighthouse but the caretaker there graciously let us in. We climbed to the top and spent some time there. It has some excellent views of the sea but the other side is marred with the coal carrying conveyors of the power plant nearby. I struck up a conversation with the caretaker. He told us that this particular lighthouse is one of the least visited lighthouses among all the lighthouse situated on the Andhra coast owning to the ignorance of the people and the lack of easy access. True, access is a huge problem. The path from the krishnapatnam village to the beach is a 'kacha' one.

We left the place around 6pm and reached home comfortably at around 7pm.

Quick Facts

From Nellore, take the road going to Krishnapatnam Port. After crossing a Muthukur town, near a town called Gopalapuram, take a left. From there its straight to the Krishnapatnam Village. From there there is a right turn which leads to the beach. Ask around at the village since its a muddy road and you might wander off in the wrong direction. There are huge belt conveyors and other structures of the power plant nearby. Let that not confuse you. The beach is right there just ahead of the light house.

Digha,West Bengal

        Once in a while there comes a trip where most of the things go wrong.For me a trip to Digha Beach in West Bengal was one such.Now I wouldn't like to make this post all about what things went wrong.Let me just recount the trip as it happened.

        I wont bore the reader with the details of the trains I took to reach Digha, suffice to say that I took a few.I reached Digha at around 10am. Digha is a very popular beach resort for the kolkattans and the people living nearby.It was evident with the huge crowds at the station.I had to push past families with children and grandpas in toe,groups of teenagers with headphones the size of a mango,women with huge shades that almost covered their faces.It looked like everyone was in groups.I was the only one who was alone there.Nevertheless I made my way over to the groups of Hotels nearby and entered one.I asked for a room.They asked how many people.I said One.They said No room.
This story repeated for a number of hotels.Finally one guy told me the reason.All the hoteliers in Digha had been instructed by the Police not to give rooms to solo travelers.This was because a few years ago a number of people had committed suicide in Digha.I was dejected.No, not by those suicides but by the fact that I was not getting a room.I went to a nearby kirana store,Had a cool drink and pondered over my options.I decided that somehow I had to get a room.I couldn't roam around with my rucksack.Just then I saw a rickshawala.I went over to him and asked if he could arrange a room for a single traveller.He said yes, he knew of one hotel which accommodates single travellers as they had 'special' permission from the police,whatever that meant.

So I boarded his rickety old rickshaw and off we went gliding along the crowded narrow roads of digha.It was a hot and humid day and it wasn't helping me.He took me to a hotel somewhere deep inside a narrow street and fortunately it was decent and not some ramshackle hovel that I was expecting.The hotel demanded a hefty sum for my stay and on top of that he told me to call my dad in front of him and tell him of my whereabouts.This was a precaution they took for every single traveller.I had to patiently explain my dad about the whole situation.That was embarrassing.The rickshawala too demanded a huge sum but a bit of a bargaining bought down the sum a little bit though the final amount I paid was still a lot.

All this drama took up a lot of time and by the time I got out of the hotel room to go to the beach it was around 1 pm.I decided not to have a dip in the ocean and decided instead to treat myself to a good lunch.I went to the beach strolled around a bit and then went to a restaurant.I had good seafood here and tried the famous Hilsa. I didn't like it with all its fine bones that makes it difficult to pick them out.

After that hearty meal my spirits rose a bit.I walked back to the beach and went far away from the crowds.I found a secluded portion to the right of where everyone was and sat down for a while.The waves rolled in and out.The sun overhead was very bright and soon my tshirt was drenched.I sat here under the shade of a tree for an hour and left around 4pm.I had a train to catch at 5pm which was to take me to Kharagpur from where I was to catch another to Raigarh to be in time to catch the bus to Tamnar at 7 30am.I had to go to office at 9am.So I departed at 5pm from Digha.Barring a few hiccups at Khargpur station where I got nothing decent to eat for dinner I reached Tamnar without any major problems.

Trip to Konark and Puri,Orissa. Day Two.

We got up early the next day and went to the beach which was close to where we were staying.It was 5am in the morning and even at that time there were many people on the beach.It was evident that the sunrise here was famous and worth your time.We spotted the light of a lighthouse in the distance and Ashwin suggested that we go there.We agreed and started walking towards it.On the way we came across anxiously waiting families not wanting to miss the event,sand artists starting there work and mounds of garbage thrown there right on the beach.

Carefully avoiding all these we soon reached nearby the lighthouse where we were disappointed to realize that it was not on the beach as we anticipated but across the road among some buildings.we decided to remain on the beach though Ashwin later went and saw that it was closed.We made a note to visit it in the evening when it would be open.By the time we reached here it was time for the sunrise.I could see streaks of light slowly illuminating the sky and we waited with our cameras ready but to our dismay there were clouds in the distance and the sun rise was covered by them.After sometime everyone left to visit the Lord Jagannath Temple and I remained back at the beach.I walked around clicking pics and observing the people.I spotted a tea shop  with some chairs around and went there and ordered a tea.The tea tasted bitter but the atmosphere was great.The wind caressing my hair and cheeks,the mild warmth of the sun,and bitter yet refreshing taste of the tea made the moment unforgettable.

                       It was 9am when i made my way back to the hotel and by that time abhishek,ravi,ashwin and satya also came back.We had breakfast at a nearby hotel.while we were eating we saw a procession of people holding a string of beads called a harimala in one hand and a small bag containing what I dont know in the other.Most of the people were foreigners.There were kids too in them.The procession was huge and all of them were chanting and this scene reminded me of the fact that Puri is one of India's biggest spiritual centers and is among the seven holiest places in India.After the breakfast we went back to the hotel to take a short nap.At around 11am we got up and changed into our beach wear.Wearing no footwear we walked around the streets.This was the best moment of this trip for me.Nobody gave us a second look as there were many people doing this.Many people were walking towards the beach and on the busy road i could see many cars arriving with more tourists.As it was sunday the crowd on the beach was huge.I spotted a foreign couple taking a surfboard with them.Soon we reached the beach and moved towards a place where there were relatively less people.We ran towards the water and started jumping and screaming as soon as we touched it.We moved in and the waves started beating down upon us and it was exhilarating. This was my third beach visit after Vishakapatnam and Machilipatnam.Even then the fun was no different.Ashwin didn't join us preferring to stay in the hotel than come and get wet in the water.He became the butt of our jokes for the rest of the trip for this decision.
                        After reluctantly getting out of the waters it was time for lunch.We went to a Bengali Restaurant (Looked as if more than half the population of puri is bengali) called 'Dadi Boudi'.We had some authentic bengali food consisting of different types of fish and prawns.After lunch ravi and abhishek went back to the hotel to get some more sleep while satya,ashwin and myself decided to go to the Lighthouse.We walked there and found that there was still an hour to go before it opens.We spotted a tent and three chairs below it on the beach nearby and made our way there to spend the waiting time.

We interrupted the discussion going on between the two guys who were sitting there and asked about the fare.One of them said its Rs30 per chair per hour.We bargained and in the end got Rs10 for each for the hour.We sat down under the shade.We talked among ourselves while looking over at the sea and it felt good.Soon the time was up and we went to the Lighthouse.It opened just as we went and apart from ourselves there was a middle aged man with his daughter with him.We took the tickets and ascended the spiral staircase and reached the top.We had a look at the modern light Emitting Bulb.We took pics at the top and took in the views it had to offer.After that others joined us and we went shopping in the colourful beach market.I bought a bag for my sister and a Konark wheel which i got for a very low price of Rs20.Others all bought somethings and soon we went back to the hotel as we had a 8pm train to catch.We took parcels of food from a nearby hotel and had our dinner on the train.Thus came to an end my first visit to Orissa.
Note- the Lighthouse is open only in the Evening from 4pm to 5pm.