Travel Diary #3 : Goa

When I talk about a tourist destination with bewitching beaches, quintessential churches, variegated cuisines, vibrant flea markets, herds of foreign travelers and inimitable nightlife; which place am I referring to ?? No brownie points to the winner – its Goa baby !!

This small state, popularly known as Portugal Enclave, allures tourists from across the world. Countless tourists, from India as well as different parts of the world, arrive at this place to unwind themselves in swaggering wind, get lost in interminable coconut groves, dig themselves in white sandy beaches under the shade of sashaying leaves of palm trees or simply bathe in scorching sun. Goa has always been a crowd-puller and I was no different. I wanted to visit this place right from my college days but didn’t get a chance. However, this new year, I made sure that the trend won’t be repeated and we headed for Goa in the second week of Jan (to avoid humungous crowd & exorbitant prices). The stats read: 8 from Hyderabad, 1 from Bangalore, 1 from Mumbai and 1 from Noida; a total of 11 morons.

Day 0 – 11^th Jan, 2014

We, the 8 folks from Hyderabad, reached our resort, Dona Julia, at around 12 PM and immediately took bath and freshened up. Nestled amidst the coconut groves and tranquil milieu, the resort was just a minute walk from the palm brushed Calangute beach. Everyone was immensely pleased with the choice of resort, a perfect location, good swimming pool, good service and so-so rates. Just a few steps from the resort were plenty of good restaurants lined up on the side of road. We had our lunch in Zuperb, and waited for Mohit, Hitesh & Komal to arrive. We set out to hire some bikes on rent from Calangute market but it is very very difficult to get bikes at 3-4 PM, and we had to return to the resort on foot. J In the meantime, the remaining 3 had arrived and we planned to visit the nearest Calangute beach. Just a minute walk from resort and we were at beach.

A vast eternal sea roaring every now and then giving the highlights of its audacity, an abashed tangerine sun about to be gulped down by the mighty horizon, rattling winds raking its fingers through hair giving occasional goose bumps, lively beach shacks serving chilled beer, plenty of happy faces all around playing with sand, blue sky dotted with yellow parachutes of people doing parasailing and to add icing on the cake were plenty of scantily-clad foreign babes. J Everything was just awesome, super-awesome!!

We spent an hour or two at the beach itself, playing in sea, and offering competition to majestic waves but often humbled by their sheer might. It was an inexplicable experience. Holding hands of one another, forming human chain and facing the mild blow of Poseidon’s trident in unison. Farcical comments every now & then from Hitesh or Neelu or Anshu filled the entire universe with a euphonious laughter; we were romping like kids over there.

After that, we changed and headed for Arpora Saturday market. This market is held between Nov to Feb every Saturday. The stuffs in the market were over-priced but a good bargaining skill can definitely land you a good deal. There was some live performance going and an open space as dance floor. We immediately plunged on the dance floor gyrating to some of lovely songs played by the band. Prior to us, there were just a few foreigners dancing but we just rocked the dance floor and made all the people follow us. We danced and danced with some intermittent breaks for tequila shots and again danced. It was crazy 3-4 hours. 

We were tired, dog-tired; everyone was craving for a bed. We had our dinner on our way back and reached the resort by 1 AM. Everyone went to sleep, except me, Mohit, Anshu, Subodh & Hitesh. We came to beach and spent an hour sitting there and watching the glistening water under moonlight.

Day 1 – 12^th Jan, 2014

It started with tiring 3 hours in search for bikes. Finally we ended up with 3 bikes & a car, thank god. #SighOfRelief. Unlike what people mentioned, we found it difficult to find bikes, probably because of holiday season. Anyway, immediately after that we went to Baga beach for water sports.

Baga beach is the ultimate destination for water sports aficionados who have a ride of their lifetime here. Everyone was willing to do parasailing, except Neelu. Although I had agreed to it, but from my heart I know how scared I was. My stomach was feeling upside down. A boat took all 10 of us into the middle of the sea to another boat which had parachutes. As the person over there was fastening belts on everyone, my heartbeat was getting vociferous with each passing second. All sorts of bad things were coming across my mind, what if the safety hook broke, what if my life jacket failed, what if my heart burst out of acrophobia, and plenty of other what-ifs. A constant feeling of vertigo was reeling inside me all the while I was seeing Himani, Komal, Hitesh, Anshu, Snehh and Subodh doing the parasailing. Finally, it was my turn. Oh god. Nalin was constantly boosting me up, “Abhijeet, now or never”, Hitesh explaining me that nothing is gonna happen, Komal reminding me ZNMD dialogues and scenes; support was pouring in from all sides. For me, everything was happening in a very slow motion was if time had frozen. The helper on boat very slowly fastening the safety hook to my belt, people shouting in front of me; life was like a slow moving camera footage . And then MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA………AAAAAAA…… Reality struck hard and I was moving backward; gradually all my friends on boat running away from me, getting smaller and all of a sudden I was in sky with water all around. It was a total change of events, awe replaced fear, exhilaration replaced squeamishness, and peace replaced silence. That view from sky with sea breeze caressing my hair, saline water droplets splashing my face and a band of mist draping the horizon was mesmerizing; I felt as if I was on top of the world. Floating over the ocean, watching the beautiful coastline and soaring high in sky made me feel invincible. It made me realize my true potential and taught me never to second guess myself. 

After water sports, we all enjoyed a lot on the beach playing boisterously with sea waves and then returned by around 3 PM.

We immediately changed and then headed for Chapora fort, the location of Dil Chahta Hai shooting. We had the rub of the green and reached there by 6-6.15 PM, before the sunset. With a little bit of short trekking, we reached the top of Chapora fort. The drowning sun was taking its last few breaths; entire sky had taken the shape of a colorful canvas bathed primarily in an orange hue with a seldom sight of white, blue and grey clouds here and there. The pristine water of Vagator beach and a very tranquil, uncrowded ambience was cherry on the top.

Day 2 – 13^th Jan, 2014

We all woke up at around 9-9.30 AM and left for south Goa by 11 AM. Me, Komal, Anshu, Sneh, Hitesh & Mukki were on bikes and Mohit, Subodh, Himani, Neelu and Nalin were in car. It was a very beautiful 3 hour ride to Palolem beach in south Goa, especially the last 25 km. We witnessed all types of roads right from smooth highways to crowded cities, from coconut and palm groves to hilly regions with sharp hair pin bends. Palolem is totally different from Calangute beach. The sand here is white and much finer. It is relatively very less crowded and water here is a bit still. We hired a boat for ride and went to honeymoon beach from there. It was really scary to ride in ocean without life jackets and all. The boat often used to go topsy-turvy owing to strong waves and scared the shit out of me. On our return journey from there, we managed to see some dolphins as well. It was 5.30 PM by the time we were done with Palolem beach. Since, we had to drive back and roads were a bit dangerous, so we planned to leave immediately and left by 6 PM. My heart was longing for more but my body was sort of giving up. After driving for 6 hours, it was great relief to reach resort and properly stretch my legs and hands and lie on bed with straight back. 

The dinner on that night was special as the restaurant we went had karaoke. Since it was the last night in Goa, so something special was required. We all went to beach and opened champagne there. This night was crazier that previous one. More beers, more wines and champagnes; that’s the way to celebrate the passion and spirit of friendship. As the night wore on, insanity grew proportionately with the alcohol level in our bloodstream. At 3 or 4 AM in the morning we went to nearby hotel and ordered pizzas and sandwiches and obviously more beer. People used to go there, take a leak and then come back without ordering anything else. We made names and songs of our own, Party all night, koi ladki hai jab wo hasti hai were the prime victims of our wild imagination. We saw the moon setting on the beach, and wanted to see sun rising from the horizon but everyone gave up at 6.30 AM and came back to resort.

Day 3 – 14^th Jan, 2014

This day we were supposed to leave Goa. Everyone woke up at around 11-11.30 AM and immediately packed up. We checked out of hotel and once again went to beach to spend some last 2-3 hours in Goa at the beach shack on Calangute beach. We boarded our bus at 6 PM that day left for Hyderabad. On our way back, I can see sulky faces craving for a few more days of beach, babes and booze, but all good things come to an end. We spent most of the times on bus shooting the breeze, learning about one another a bit more and playing literature.

No one realizes how beautiful it is to go on vacation with such a great bunch of people until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. I cannot forget the twinkle in everybody’s eyes when Himani read out Komal’s goodbye SMS aloud. No matter how far we travel, memories will always follow in the baggage car. And the memories of this trip will remain close to my heart in many many years to come.