I’ve been to Goa more than 5 times now and each time I love the place even more. Goa brings out the laziest best in me. A typical day in Goa starts of in the late morning when you wake up to the smell of frying salami and cocktail sausages. My last visit found me and a group of friends at “Ozzy’s place” – one of them typical bed and breakfast kind of places: where the owners cook you breakfast and stop by for small talk. Sitting on the veranda: breakfast generally lasts for nothing less than an hour.
After that it’s into our shorts and head for the sun and surf. While the Goa sea-face offers a lot of water sports opportunities, there are other interesting sports as well – like making out figures in the clouds or counting the waves at they hit the shore. The latter sport is more to my liking cause it can be achieved while not deviating from the horizontal position.
So much was the inclination to lie around and do nothing that we found ourselves in a Keralite Massage Place ( yes in Goa!), where for a mere 450 rupees you can enjoy a terrific body rub. And this was no ordinary place either- the ambience was great and so were the Tibetan chants that were playing in the background. That alone would have put me to sleep! After the massage was done and they had rubbed you with the sweetest smelling oils, you were allowed to take a bath and were offered lime tea. It was the works, I assure you!
Having pampered our bodies, it was time to pamper our stomachs. And when you are in Goa, oh what a pampering you get!
(that’s if you are a non-vegetarian that is… or atleast a fishetarian!) So I ordered myself a pomphret raichad and some delicious boiled mussels. Add to that a glass of Irish Coffee and you have a complete treat for the senses. Of course I could go on and on about all the fabulous things we had to eat over the course of our holiday like some yummy sarpotel and spicy chicken curry and crab curry and flambé but we don’t want you to be drooling all over your keyboards now do we? And everything at pretty reasonable prices; considering we were in the heart of the foreign tourist hangout- Candolim.
(that’s if you are a non-vegetarian that is… or atleast a fishetarian!) So I ordered myself a pomphret raichad and some delicious boiled mussels. Add to that a glass of Irish Coffee and you have a complete treat for the senses. Of course I could go on and on about all the fabulous things we had to eat over the course of our holiday like some yummy sarpotel and spicy chicken curry and crab curry and flambé but we don’t want you to be drooling all over your keyboards now do we? And everything at pretty reasonable prices; considering we were in the heart of the foreign tourist hangout- Candolim.
A little more about Goa: A little state to the South of Maharashtra, this was the center of Portuguese Trade and a Portuguese stronghold right upto the 1960’s. To this day of course many goans love to associate themselves with Portugal rather than India: but then many of them have Portuguese passports so they aren’t wrong in doing so. Being a Portugal colony for as long as it has been has had a definite influence on the Goan way of life – which is completely distinct from the rest of India. One of the major events in the Goan year is Carnival which happens sometime in January ( that’s one thing I haven’t seen yet ). The typical attractions in Goa are Old Goa wherein lies the naturally mummified body of St. Francis Xavier. Once a year there is an exposition and all the faithful catholic queue up see their favourite Saint. Ok..so I don’t like everything about Goa! But the Goans are a simple people, fun loving and cheerful. And some of that light-heartedness and fun-loving nature creeps into you while you are there, making you forget the busy schedules of everyday life.
Like the last time I had been to Goa with a friend …it was Christmas time .. the next best season to be in Goa after 'carnivaal'. We were hanging out at this Christmas Party that my friends uncle had taken us to. And all of a sudden we stumble upon the keys to his car that he had left lying in a coat. (we were supposed to be guarding that coat!) . It was midnight and we were a couple of girls with car keys. So before we knew it we were in the car and driving along a road to nowhere. Ok. I can be totally dishonest and tell you we roamed Panjim at midnight on Christmas, but the truth is we didn’t get too far, cause we were both completely stupid about road sense back then….Still, we parked the car somewhere else and it was real fun to see the expression on her Uncle’s face when we finally called it a night. The poor man was talking about changing the car locks all the way home…..
That’s the thing about the place…it lightens your spirit and your mind!
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