Of talcum powdery beaches

After a tiring and restless bus 15 hour ride, I landed in Goa in the early morning. Took a pilot (bike taxi unique to Goa) to Dona Paula, where synapse has a great bungalow called Monte Carlo.

digs @goa
uploaded by kaa on flickr.

Its supposedly an old portuguese house which they have slightly modified and revamped. And I absolutely liked its architecture. Infact buildings in Goa have a lot of portuguese influence, even new ones which even an untrained eyes like mine noticed. More on that later.

I went for a stroll in the evening. Saw the Dauna paula Jetty. There were water scooter shaped motor boats, complete with a handlebar. But tourists in there picnicking frenze hardly noticed that the handles were there only for show. It was totally controlled by the boatman riding pillion. But that hardly mattered as people would twist the handlebars at bends and getting an adrenaline rush anyway.

img_2374
uploaded by kaa on flickr.

Then i took a bus to Miramar beach. Miramar was just ok, nothing worth mentioning. Roamed around, and ended the day with squid garlic fry and goan chilli chicken. Both were awesome.

On sunday I left for Calangute beach at abt 10 am. Calangute is the beach of the commons. I saw ordinary folks with holes in their undies, along with there families taking a dip. It was really nice seeing people from all categories sharing the same surf. I do think there is something unique about goan peple. maybe they have been influenced by decades of easygoing hippies. but all of them seemed so happy. With there brightly colored houses. It will be a nice place to settle in after i retire.

At one end of calangute beach is a hillock. I came to know that if I walked around the hill I would reach anjuna beach. So i did a small trek. Atop that hillock was a small christian shrine. Also a family (adventurous dad, proud mom, and two pretty chicks in red hot pants) was preparing for parasailing. I got down and was so thirsty that I entered the first beach shack i came upon. Now these people know how to create an ambience. Nice goan trance music, chataieees, wooden benches. ...OH baby...I spent about 3 hours there just relaxing.

not out
uploaded by kaa on flickr.

At 3:30 caught a bus, rushed to panjim. missed the ferry by a min. waited for the ferry to return. took a bus to dona paula. reached at 6 pm. came to know that my bus for mumbai was to leave at 6 pm. One of the bungalow staff, Rajesh took his kinetic honda and at a speed of 50kmph, with the kinee groaning we reached panjim bus stand at 6:30pm. And guess what i again got the last seat of the bus and that too the middle one.

PS. i missed to mention this - -" the hotter chick and the adventurous dad did a double decker landing coming from above my shack, surprising me in the process. then both the chicks proceeded to undress to their hot two piece bikinis. After some frolicking around in the waves, the whole family proceeded to eat a whole lot of seafood. "

Fast Local

Travelling in mumbai locals has become such a daily thing that normally i wouldnt mention about it. But today is different.
A guy was speaking on the phone in marathi.

Guy: me kurlala pahunchte aahe...(subtitle.srt -- I am about to reach kurla...)

Phone:.. ... . ... . .. . . . .

Guy: tumee lagnla jaavat aahe ka? (are u going to the marriage?)

Phone: .. .. . .. . . . . . .

Guy: naay ...lagn usi divas aahe... (no...the marriage is on that day only)

Phone:.... . .... . . . . . . .

Guy: mulgi doosre mulgela saath bhhagli..magar doosri mulgi gaon madhe taiyyar aahe ..toh shaadi usi din aahe ... (the to be bride ran away with another boy..but another girl in the village was willing and ready..so the marriage is to be held on that day only)

p.s. to marathi readers (if any), I respect all languages including marathi. But i have found that using incorrect language is the only way to get people to teach you the correct version :).

Also on the same train a middle aged man came and offered me a small glass of chilled water. And not just me, he offered it to practically the whole bogey. he had a lots of plastic water bottles. What he didnt have was batch of any organisation, nor any words.