Somnath Kinda Sucked

Somnath was a miss for me. I knew there wasn’t much there that would meet foreigner standards but had thought there would be something special to see for evening prayer rituals, with it being such a pilgrimage place. Nope and nope. It doesn’t help that we were both still grumpy and sick. 

We booked the only hotel Lonely Planet said was halfway decent for travellers and discovered that foreigners are so rare that toilet paper is not provided, nor heard of in town. We found a guy, who called a guy, who called a Brit, who ran over with 2 rolls. Bless.

Lonely Planet had also warned us decent hygienic food would be a problem. The Brit confirmed. We stopped at one place that was out of most ingredients and we just had some rice. We loaded up on bananas and some Hide and Seek biscuits and that was dinner and breakfast. 

The temple really was lovely. We divested ourselves of bags, electronics, watches, shoes, etc. and went through the multiple security screenings, supported by a trio of sweet older ladies, and were able to pray at the temple. The men were being herded through quickly, but we could take our time to whisper in Nandi’s ear and gaze upon one of the 12 jyoti lingams in India. There was no big dramatic seaside aarti as we had hoped, but once you came out of the temple, into the beautiful manicured grounds, you had a clear, unobstructed view of the sea.

Despite Somnath being on the sea, the town had found ways to choke it off from easy access. There was a massive structure set up to block off the beach and require you to pay 5 rupees to access it. Once in there it was covered in people selling horse and camel rides and the whole beach stunk of camel piss. As soon as K walked in, she became the main feature. Everyone wanted their photos taken with her, one of the 2 white humans in town. No one batted an eye at me. I was just another Indian tourist until K spoke to me and then I, too, became an object of fascination. I was even offered a free horse ride, which I declined. The poor horse had just begun her dinner break.

I suspect the real reason for charging to enter the beach was to keep out the beggars. They were intense. They lined every structure around the temple and followed you around, plucking at your clothing. It feels cruel to ignore them but, if you don’t, you will be swarmed. Indians do sometimes give discreetly but they aren’t as scrutinized as foreigners. 

I am very excited to be heading to Diu today. We have a modern hotel that probably does have toilet paper and doesn’t have spiders in the showers, and I can have my first beer in 2 weeks. All Somnath has is a nice temple.