Simply Suhas

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(written with Deepak)
Thank god I listened to the wise man driving a rickshaw i hired initially to go to Tarkarli and went Devbaug Instead...I was in a rush...have this habit of making a plan at the last moment... i seldom like to leave things for chance....i had to plan thoroughly.. which of course takes time..this afternoon was one of those instances...since i had never been to Goa which was hardly 5 hours drive from Malvan...I planned to go there...I went to a bus stand and inquired...bus was to leave at 2.30 pm which meant I had few hours at my disposal...I decided to visit Tarkarli in the meanwhile, get back to Malvan, have Lunch...and head to Goa to capture the sunset from fairies.

Devbaug is a small stretch of land (Spit) surrounded by sea on all sides forming a small neck of a path (merely 50 meter wide) connecting it to the mainland .It must be hard living there although the place is very beautiful.Southern tip was totally untouched save only a couple of fishermen. The moment I reached there, I was on clicking spree. Couple of hours just went flying.I couldn't resist the temptation and put on my shorts and T-shirt i meant to use in Goa.I almost splashed into the water.

low tide.clean blue water..sparkling sand...cool breeze....clear sky.....and blazing sun......paradise.......


This is something I've learned from experience.'A picture, beautiful otherwise lacking a human figure won't register much impact'.This one for example, I composed the frame first then decided to add this man to the frame at the last moment.The other composition was fantastic however I preferred this one.The man in the picture was a fisherman, I wanted to talk to him but he was reluctant to talk.

Others were busy preparing for daily process of 'Rapan'.They sail in to deep sea twice a day, fishing the net with their bare hands in perfect coordination with each other.It looks graceful but I have no doubt that it must be very hard.Nobody wanted to talk so i left them alone and strolled ahead.

Arabian Sea to the left..beautiful crispy sand underneath....greenery to the right......blue sky above...I felt peace for the first time in past few months.

As I went further I saw couple of beautiful boats, newly built and a fishing nets deep brown in color spread on the ground.It was a workshop..a shanty really. Some people were applying Mango skin oil to the fishing nets to make them stronger.

Three huge metal pots were put on burning coal with boiling oil in it.

Those freshly built boats looked so wonderful on sand.

Some people just enjoy to talk, this man was one of them.He made me feel at home in no time, asked me where i was from and what i do , while others kept looking in awe and curiosity.I was feeling a bit awkward but one must accept it being a stranger.The man certainly enjoyed his life and expressed his appreciation for the sea. He kept staring at the sea.


You meet fascinating people and fascinating things on the road.





Things kept getting better and better and I had lost the track of time. It was already 12.30, i had to catch the bus for Malwan at 1pm. I rushed back towards the only road connecting Devbaug to the rest of the world.

It was beautiful place with population not more than 500 people..No fresh water but surprisingly everybody had a mobile phone...few coke bottles were lying around..Houses were amall and gorgeous, surrounded by thick vegetation and coconut trees.



The last image clicked while leaving Devbaugh , I had caught the bus back to Malvan .
I like simple images like this , flat with very few elements .


I reached malvan at 1.45 pm and feasted on medu wada and sambhar.It was 2.10 when I boarded the 'Kadamba' bus. I was tired of carrying a heavy backpack since the morning.i was looking forward to a sunset.It should take not more than five hours to reach Goa...tight catch..lets see if I can make it
Till then this is a small teaser

(written in co-ordination with Deepak)

It wasn't till 7.30 the following morning before I woke up almost forgetting where I was, strong breeze gushing through curtains made me aware of the sea, and i was placed back to my earthly abode; a bunglow converted into lodge located near the heavenly beach of Malwan.



I managed to miss the sunrise...at least to capture it..but I must say I had already witnessed in my dreams. Sorry folks all i have for u is an empty chair and a concrete structure..hardly a sight for a place like this...may be u will enjoy the long shadows.

I'm kidding ....here is something to cheer about. Isn't morning makes everything look so beautiful...even this small Laterite building with its compound walls....look at the glow on the eastern face of the building....I guess everything craves for a little solitude.

This is just before my friends made their way home....He is a caretaker...i couldn't help but notice his gloomy expressions..."may be we are all lost inside our heads...and if one chooses one can wander there forever..Some faces master the art of disguise and some never learn ."


This pathway leads to the beach...now unlike any other beaches in Konkan, Malwan beach as you can see has a slight civil touch to it. It's neat and clean...but not the kind of a place where your thoughts run wild.....I had other options like Devbaug and Tarkarli for such wilderness but didn't want to waste much time wandering.


The main tourist attraction here at Malvan beach is the Sindhudurga Fort...built some deep into the Arabian Sea. You need to take fairies to reach the fort. Couple of fairies had already left the
shore before i reach there...next one was to leave with atleast 15 passengers onboard, we were only 5 left..I waited for a while fidgeting with the camera clicking the empty fairy and a couple of other then decided to let Sindhudurga enjoy its solitude along with 30 others.



I'm not much of a history buff anyway...rocks and rubble don't interest me as much as an strange fellow staring into an oblivion. I wanted to to talk to this man and wish him good bye as i was about to leave for Tarkarli...but his back said to me...he wasn't interested in it; He had huge sea of blue water to talk to and share his grief.


You get to see some really strange things along the road...This house almost stopped me dead...All sorts of building technologies were used here...You could see the evolution of these techniques here... in the reverse chronology if i could guess right.


After Malvan I was on my way to Tarkarli when I met this wise man who said to me, " You better go to Devbaugh"...and I did. The moment I reached the beach..I thanked god to have met this man....


So the next up is Devbaugh special

"A Photographer can never plan to capture a moment"
let me leave this this argument with u to ponder upon while i start my journey.

I felt increasingly uncomfortable about the whole affair as i hardly had any time to plan the details (.A friend of mine had to respond to a court summons in Ratnagiri, one of a very few matters of concern in a growing real estate business.we started at 5 am in the morning which is not very uncommon when I'm traveling but to get out of a bed by a blowing car horn and a ringing cellphone without prior notice is a totally different matter..so as u might imagine in total frenzy and chaos i somehow manged to brush my teeth grab my stuff and dash in to the car all within 10 minutes (i bow my head to an imaginary applause).To be very honest i had been planning a trip to Goa through western Ghats and Konkan for a while now.but as they say perfection is the enemy of a possible good and i didn't quite managed the perfect plan all this while.

I wasn't still in the best of the moods until we took our first stop very early in the morning near Vai ( a tahsil in the District of Satara, Maharashtra) .Sun was about to rise above the Desh (the foothill region east of the Ghats in Maharashtra ) spreading a spectrum of colors across the horizon.
Dwarf hills, thick bush and a palm tree wasn't a perfect background i was expecting but one could hardly let go such an opportunity to capture the colors in low contrast.I took out my Nikon and got couple of decent shots.Now I could enjoy hot Idli sambhar .You let me know how they turned out.


The scenery along the road kept getting better and better as we traveled further South, unfortunately we were running on a very tight schedule and had to reach Ratnagiri before 10.30 am. i still managed a couple along the road (man!!! I'm proud of myself). We had our lunch at Rajapur after a brief visit to the court followed by another.The work was finished at approximately 4.00 pm, which means we could be at Malvan beach before sunset.....



The sunset was beautiful....well ! sunsets are always beautiful...and beaches along the western coast are marvelous...combine these two and I get my combination of perfect time and place.. all left now is a good camera...i take this opportunity to thank my buddy and a long time companion my 'Nikon D70' .

"You can see the Big yellow sun spreading its galore of warm shades while setting down across the Arabian sea turning red and fierce just before taking a plunge into the waters.Shades after shades Hues after hues... It makes peace and sets down with a promise of a beautiful tomorrow." (Present tense used here is to give an effect of reminiscence)

(Thanks Deepak for the Text )