Goa-The land of beaches

Konkan rocks

Its been a trip which was on the planning phase for the last couple of months. More than 10 of our old collegemates were supposed to make it to Goa last Saturday. But in the end, the number reduced to just 5, with family and work commitments taking care of the rest of them. Later we were to realise that fate could only reduce the numbers not our collective energy or enjoyment. It all started for me and my friend Praveen(yeah, he shares my name) from KR Puram station on Friday evening. The Madras-Vasco express was anything but an express. It was so slow that while it is running at full speed, one could start running from behind it and overtake it in 10 minutes flat. Coupled with that it was stopping for long intervals at every other station. The journey started on an unpleasant note with a particularly violent Hijra attack. As you all know, Hijras are a common feature in trains here. The way they demand money is disgusting and I made sure that I wont pay this time. We had to dodge 3-4 slap attempts in true matrix style. The hijra began abusing us and began pushing. I was not in a mood to relent. So I opened my own abuse dictionary and hurled out something too. Atlast the unthinkable happened. I saw the Hijra pulling up his/her clothes. We turned away. Thank God, it was pulled down in a minute saving further embarrasment. Atlast I pushed her/him away. I really wonder why these people bring a bad name to themselves with such actions. Everyone says society is treating them badly. But, isn't there fault on their side too? At the same time, there was a guy who was cleaning the trains floors just with his own shirt and being content with whatever the passengers gave him. He really commanded some respect.

Getting ready for the blast

Jeetenge Hum

The trip through the Konkan was breathtaking. All around you could see lush green mountains. The sight of the train winding through the hills is one to behold. The dudhsagar waterfall is another breathtaking sighting in the way. Not to forget those innumerable tunnels. The tunnels sometimes scares me when I think about that comic scene in the movie 'Eurotrip'. And atlast after a long journey we reached Goa around noon on Saturday. The rest 3 had already reached our hotel in Mapusa-Ajith from Rajsathan, Muthu from Hyderabad and Cipi from Mumbai. We 5 stayed in a single room(never really stayed...hehhehe). Cipi had arranged for a car and so we had no problems in moving around. The first stop was at Calangute beach. It was way better than what I say 3 years back, during an off season. The christmas-new year cheer was evident all around Goa with foreigners being spotted at very corner of every street. The bikini quotient and glamour quotient had also gone up considerably. A speciality of Calangute beach is that its having a uniform depth for a pretty long distance from the shore. That makes swimming and wading through the water easier. For that matter, almost every beach in Goa is like that. After swimming, it was time for some serious binging. We got into a hotel and found to our surprise that we were the only Indians among those seated there. And in true Indian style, we came with a lotta noise, ate royally with our hands and laughed at those doing that circus with fork and spoon. In between I made an ass of myself by going into the ladies toilet. When I came out, one British lady asked me 'don't u have eyes?' I didn't understand it until I came back to wash my hands after eating, when I saw those signs on the toilet doors.

Twilight

After dinner, we had a game of pool. I proved my lack of talent in yet another sport. Still it was pure fun. Then we strode on to the beach and lied down there. Its one of those small pleasures of life, lying on the sands and peering at a starry sky. We searched for constellations and came up with our own weird formations which would put any scientist to shame. We lied down there for a pretty long time. After some sneak peeks at some small dance parties, we reached our hotel in the wee hours of the morning. That was the end of Day one.

To be concluded in next post..

PS-Picasa page with the pics will be up soon