'Heaven'o Clock'

"What time is it?" I asked. "Seven, I guess" replied my friend who did not bother much to look a little longer at the watch to be sure. A strong voice of disagreement interrupted – "No. Its heaven'o clock..." declared another. As cliché as it may sound we all did agree, still looking away in different directions to make up for what the other one was missing on.

Tarkali is no Bora Bora or Hawaii but it happens to be one of the finest beaches on the Konkan coast in Maharashtra, India, or so said our research. Not like we had many options with the tight budget, time and other trifling issues. The moment we reached, we knew it's not the place which needed for us to dig our heads into guide books and make it an orchestrated trip. This one had its own pace and we contently favoured to flow with it.
The basic means of transportation, Rickshaws, were very accommodative by all means. It was a regular sight to see one of them overloaded, with people sitting even on the either sides of the driver. It did not take too long to befriend the native driver, 'Savant Bhau' as we fondly called him, who would come at a given time and wait patiently for us while we explored, always seeming to understand why we took so long each time around.

Walking through the tapered lanes we could see few houses with food shacks and affordable lodges between the greens. The shacks were nothing more than four walls, sheltered by a thin layer of cloth and flowing fabrics by the sides suggesting wind directions. The one we settled for had distinct blue curtains with silver sequins; it must have been a marketing technique to attract more customers, I guess. As my friends binged on to the Malvani Seafood delicacies made from crabs and fish, I, a loyal vegetarian settled for the pseudo North Indian food in the rich eastern coastal lands of India.

A quick rain put an end to our ambitious outing of snorkeling and dolphin sighting. Trying to make something out of the drained day we decided to head towards 'Devbagh', an estuary. We did not go with many expectations and so we asked Savant Bhau to come pick us up within an hour. My first remembrance of the place is seeing a narrow stream of Karli river mutely flowing against the imposing mountains. The local fisherman and his son were ecstatic to give us a boat ride around the backwaters. A 180 degree turn and we were experiencing the confluence of the Karli River with the Arabian Sea. A quick stop at a miniature sand laden island and the next thing we know, we are 12 feet away from the island and 3 feet in the water.

As we floated somewhere between the grey sky and immaculately pristine waters, the clouds parted giving way to the sunshine. As I lay there on the bench of the boat listening to the narratives of the fishermen with rhythmic back score of the waves; I closed my eyes to feel every bit of what I had seen and take it in before the harsh sun could evaporate it all away. That very moment from a tourist I became a traveler. It indeed was a 'Heaven'o Clock'.