Goa_oct_2005

Susegad


Diwali 2005, another four day long weekend and where would my traveling stars lead me – GOA of course. After my trip to goa a month ago I had promised Pranav that we would go there for the diwali hols, but until I sat in the car I did not believe it would happen coz work suddenly gained momentum and incessant rains in the city were rendering most roads inaccessible. Myself, neelu & Pranav set out in an amby baby on a rainy Friday nite at 11pm. The 600km stretch to goa from Bangalore was not too picturesque but for the short stretch of yellow sunflower fields along the way before hubli and the beautiful coast of karwar. Thanks (but no thanks) to the superfast amby, the bad roads and incessant rains it took us “only 16hours” to get to madgaon in goa (Like always u must have guessed that I slept for most part). Also traveling with two good singers is a really good idea, (having Pranav along is like carrying a juke box)

We picked our darling hosts (celine aunty & dudley uncle) from the station and headed towards their home at varca. This is a resort just 300metres from the sea. Since it was still not season we had the beach mostly to ourselves during our stay there. Aunty & uncle gave us a quick tour of the resort. It has about 300 units (villas, townhouses and apartments), two pools, restaurant. It is mostly occupied by foreigners during the season. We caught the beautiful goan sunset at the beach. After freshening up we treated ourselves to lots of goan seafood . Then ended the day with a beautiful walk along the beach (it really is a sight to see the white waves break on a dark night). We were really tired after the journey so we retired to bed early.

The next morning we woke up early to hit the waters before sunrise. Neelu, in search of inspiration carried her note and paper and decided to write while myself & Pranav went for a jog along the beach. We then went into the waters, it was really cool and shallow. Myself & neelu did not venture too far coz me is always scared of the sea but pranav did have fun there. After we had our share of the waters we checked out the leela, goa. We did not like it too much coz it looks a lot like the leela b’lore while we were expecting something that looked more goan. We decided we did not want to see more beaches so we got back home and then played a quick game of scrabble. We then set out to lunch at the most touted restaurant in Goa. Its called martins, it’s a renovated goan house with good food and ambiance, but the selling point of the place is its clientele which includes all the whos who of Indian cinema, sports and entertainment. It really is good food at a good price, so next time any of u is at goa do check this place out. Neelu was in another world for that half hour that she was eating ;-) From there we drove through goan country roads with beautiful old goan houses on either side. I have become such a fan of goan archi that I plan to build a dream house which borrows a lot from this (hope to make this dream come true before my next b’day ;-)

Our next stop over was the St. Xaviers church in old Goa. We were fortunate enough to see a goan wedding in progress. There is lot of style and class about their weddings. Then we set up base at their home in karmali. This house is atop a hill and has a view to kill for. It overlooks the river mandovi and in the night the lights of the bridges, boats and churches make it a picture postcard backdrop. In the evening Pranav got strumming his guitar. we were joined by the uncle & aunt who lived in the next block. That uncle was also a base guitarist in a band in his youth, so he too joined Pranav on dudley uncles guitar. Then they taught us the rules of the dart board game. It looks really interesting, need to buy one here. We cancelled our movie plans and instead drove down to Miramar beach and feasted on ice creams.

The next day we rose and took the ferry across the river to an island. On our way we stopped and visited a quaint little church. It was different coz it was very homely with a model of a ship on one side, models of doves hanging from the ceilings (cannot describe it well enuf). After a morning walk through green countryside we returned to the mainland. After b’fast we decided to realx that day since Pranav had caught a bad cold and fever, neelu was tired,we sat at home the whole day and played many many rounds of my latest board game craze – up-words (thanx to celine aunty who introduced me to it & who is ever ready for one more game of it). Afternoon siesta and then for evening disaster. We went on the cruise and both neelu & Pranav would have drowned me but for my past good deeds. It was a bit too noisy and the crowd unruly so this is one of the ‘must not dos’ while in goa. As icing to the spoilt cake we dined at ‘Mums kitchen’ (good ambiance but I guess we ordered the wrong dishes) and we were letting out smoke through the ears at the end of the fiery vindhaloo. Since it was the day before diwali all the houses over there had bright lanterns lit on their balconies and verandhas. Few houses also had small and colorful effigies of narakasur filled with hay that would be burnt at midnight. One more round of ice creams and we were back at home.

Next morning we went on their terrace, Pranav at the guitar whie we waited for the sun to rise. But I guess that day even the sun was on holiday. We then got ready and went shopping at panjim city. We checked out the old portugese style houses at Fointanas. They are brightly coloured and really really beautiful. Then we started back for bangaluru. Another 16 hours of journey through rainy bad roads and we were back

If u r still wondering on why the title a life where one just lives one day at a time without a care or concern in the world is referred to as SUSEGAD in goan lingo, & we lived upto it while we were there ;-)

The goods
For all the beautiful places we ran short of adjectives and aunty taught us this new one. It truly describes our trip to goa

It was “TOO MUCKING FUCH”

The bads
Never again in an amby, take the train;
Never again on the cruise

The uglys
(that’s just to complete the trio ;-)