Wednesday, January 16, 2013

I love you, Goa!

I have been to Goa. Yes, I have been to the famed beach getaway and I'm in love. I cannot begin to justify my love. Where do I begin? I can talk to you about the diversity and natural richness. I could talk about the laid back lifestyle and how it reminds me of Ulysses and the lotus eaters. I could talk economics and qoute petrol price may be even go completely consumer focussed and do a price comparison of alcohol across states in india. But honeslty Goa would shrug and shuffle off at the mention of numbers and analysis.

Goa had greeted me with cloudy sky and a drizzle and mesmerasized me with the greenary and ever changing landscape. I found my senses overwhelmed by Chorla ghats where misty clouds drenched me. The forest looked both alluring and scary reminding me of the Lord of the Rings. The dark black asphalt road beckoned to come on a ride, find new places in the nooks and crevices of Goa and forget the world that existed outside Goa.

Goa is not jus one entity, it is perhaps a conglomeration of the nature, the ambience, the weather, the people. Yes, Goans make this place what it is. As a tourist you gape at every structure you pass in Panjim city and click goes your digicam. No one flinches or moves a muscle. You don't feel out of place for a moment. Perhaps it is my imagination they don't seem to notice us.

The architecture of Goa always suprises you. Everywhere there is something unique or special which catches your eye and makes you stop in your tracks and stare. The churches that are scattered across Goa lure you for one more untold story.

The beaches each of them different from the last. The sand feels different at Anjuna or Candolim or Calangute. You start noticing the sea comes towards you differently at each beach. At Anjuna you are graced with frothy white foam in each step. At Calangute the sea seems distant and more concentrated in its effort not really worrying about what you think. At Vagatore the water is clearer carresing you, sometimes playful but mostly serene.

As I got closer to my date of return I realised I was falling hopelessly in love with Goa. I had to come back. I had to let my spirits get drenched in the chilled water of the beautiful falls on Chorla ghat, I had to shut my eys and pray at the old church, I had to build a sand castle on candolim or anjuna beach, I had to spend the entire night under the starlit sky listening to the songs of the sea while digging into a chocolate pancake. How could I forget the gastronomic delight that Goa is? I think my long term relationship with Goa has begun.

Monday, January 14, 2013

The New Year Post


Every year it is customery for me to either end the year with a post or begin it. In 2013 I'm late for both. Call it laziness or procastination. This year's post is modelled on a the "points to remember" at the end of each chapter of our high school books. Things I learnt in 2012: 1. Nothing lasts forever, Human life is too transitory to come with any warantees and gurantees. 2. Revenge is a dish best served cold. But serving it means spoiling one's own appetite for a very long time. 3. Friends and foes are mutually interchangeable depending on how happy your life looks from the outside. 4. East India has no decent cities to travel to, apart from kolkata, what we have as cities are merely big suburbian towns stretched out for lack of options. 5. I've a ridiculous belief that I can be a regular member of a health club. 6. There is never anything to wear just when you thought you will not shop again for the next 6 months. 7. A good looking vampire or a serial killer does as well as a good looking Bf as in all the above cases you are staring at a idiot -box. 8. Online shopping is injurious to financial health and should come with a statutory financial warning. 9. Working sucks especially if you are doing somethig you dislike and are too proud to admit to hate, or too chicken to give up because then points 5. 6. & 8.may be jeaopardized. 10. Happiness is still pretty over-rated. Happy New Year , Everyone!