It's Better in Goa

"It's better in Goa" is a fond memory I have of a T-Shirt caption which was very popular with Goa tourists when I first went there in the early Nineties with my parents. This time, the T-Shirt wasn't that popular but it is still better in Goa...

After a lot of discussions and planning (all though mails) we decided on the Goa tour in the first week of March. It was a memorable trip, full of fun, excitement, energy and enthusiasm. Goa is by far the best Holiday spot I have seen till now. It seems as if the whole of Goa survives only on tourism!

Starting from Pune, Mumbai, Aurangabad and Bangalore, seven of us arrived in Goa full of energy. Five of us arrived on Day 1 while rest two joined on the second day. We checked in at a couple of rooms on Baga Beach. We roamed around Baga that day, North Goa, South Goa on the next two days and rapped it up with Calangute beach on the last day.

Day 1: Baga Beach

Baga was recommended to me from my project mates who had been there some time ago. Baga is famous for its European tourists. So you will see a lot of them there in bikinis and shorts walking and also on motorcycles which can be rented. Baga has a whole lot of beach shacks which provide economical accommodation and compensate it with some expensive food, but the quality of food is very good. Our lodging, “Drop Anchor” was directly on the beach, so the sand started from the hotel steps!

As soon as we entered water at Baga, our earlier Idea of getting out of it in 1 hour was discarded. We ran back to the hotel, threw our clothes, sandals, mobiles, cameras etc and had a full blown beach bath till evening. It was simply irresistible!

Evenings at the beach were just wonderful. Relaxing in a chair sipping coffee on the beach is a lovely experience. Afternoons too become enjoyable with the sun beds laid for you with the umbrella. You can experience the sea, the wind without the scorching sun. All this is usually provided by the hotel you live in on the beach or else you can rent one, it is worth it.
Baga has golden brown sand, a rock cliff on the north and a picturesque extension of the beach towards south ultimately becoming Calangute beach. Actually Baga is an extension of Calangute.

Come night and we were still hungry for more. Sitting on the benches laid down on the beach was another great experience. The swashing of the sea waves, silent beach and nobody in sight. Night time at the beach was very relaxing, ideal for thought processes & good discussions. We used it to the fullest.

We had a great candle light dinner at “Casa Portuguese” which is a fine Portuguese restaurant with Goan flavors. It is actually a 300 year old house which is converted by the owner into a hotel. Mr. Francisco, the owner was very polite in talking to us and gave personal attention to everybody. It was a nice experience and the food too was delicious.

It was so hectic for us that we slept as if we were dead.

Day 2: Panaji & North Goa

Start of the day 2 and morning tea with the sea in front of you. Amazing!
The remaining 2 guys joined us and we first went on to Panaji to book return tickets. Had a bad meal and then made a deal with a taxi driver to take us through North Goa. 100 per head was pretty good for us although it was a bit jammed for 7 in the Maruti Omni.

First we went to Shapora Fort. This is the fort shown in “Dil Chahta hain”. We all remembered the threesome of DCH there ;) We also had those round sun caps to cap it all! Then there was the Wagatur Beach, just below the fort which had a lot of crabs. Not a picturesque beach at all, an average sort of.

Then we had a look at the first Light House of Asia which is there in Goa and missed out on another fort because of the timings. We also had a look at some Mandir in between but it isn’t worth a mention.

Finally we came back to Panaji for a Cruise with a dance floor. We danced in the ship for an hour, had a look at the beautiful Mandovi meeting the sea and then came back to sleep.

For vegetarians, I would strongly recommend “Hotel Plantain Leaf” in Calangute.
We have to find this because 5 of us were vegetarians (I never was!)
This is the one we found after much look around as most of the hotels in Calangute-Baga specialize in Non-Veg and especially Sea food.

Day 3: South Goa

We had the South Goa tour in a Qualis this time so it was much more comfortable. We started with Old Goa. Old Goa has a couple of famous churches. “Basilica Of Bom Jesus” is a 16tth century church which has the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier. It’s said that the body remained fresh even after so many years being buried underground. Couldn’t figure out the reason how they have managed to do it. Just next to it is “Se Cathedral” which according to me is even more beautiful than the Basilica although not equally famous. It has graves all around and so walking in this church feels quite morbid.

The next was Manguesh Mandir. Quite beautifully made Shiv mandir named after Lata Mangeshkar and which also is a name of lord Shiva. We had Vada-pav and chilled buttermilk in the Mandir premises ;)

Then we went to another Mandir but that does not need a mention as it was quite a carbon copy of the earlier. After all the religious outings came Colva Beach.

Colva is the longest beach in Goa and its said, only second in popularity to Calangute. It has hordes of people trying to make a buck by selling you anything and everything related to water sports. We did fall prey to that and had a beautiful Para-Sailing experience. It was splendid to go that high and have a look at the beach.

We came back to central Goa to visit Dona Paula. It’s the lovers heaven here so had nothing special for 7 of us bachelors. A good sunset point and yes, it’s not a beach, only rocks.

Finally we ended the day with the stroll down Miramar beach in Panaji City and returned home quite contended.

Day 4: Calangute

Day four was totally dedicated to Water. We went to Calangute in the morning and played on till afternoon until it was high time that we start because we had to go back home. We went on in the “Banana Ride” which is basically a banana shaped tube to which you have to hold on and a boat pulls that banana really fast over the sea. It also turns upside down on request so that you have some thrill. And yes, that was arguably the best experience in Goa. Don’t miss the banana ride and the topple if you happen to go there.

We had a good lunch in our hotel with some Tiger Prawns and King Fish and checked out to head to Panaji where we would be catching our buses back home. We bought some Cashews and Kokum concentrate there to finish the Goa holiday.

It was fantastic time for all of us to be together. It was a great time chatting, sharing and having fun with college friends. We all agreed to Amir Khan’s words in DCH… “Saal mein ek baar toh Goa ana chahiye”

Here comes the ‘Happy Birthday’!

Right from childhood, everybody is fascinated by those two words. And yes, those two words are always together. My younger cousin Rohan used to say, ‘Udya maza Happy Badde’ ahe, and that’s what I feel today :-)

Many a times I try to convince myself that there is nothing great in the day, it is just another day. I will get up the same way, get ready, have my same idly-dosa breakfast, come to the office, go about the same clients, friends, colleagues, go home late and go to bed. All this will be interrupted with a flurry of phone calls (That’s what I expect ;) ) and the day goes down as yet another day.

But should it be? It’s the day in my life which brought me into this world; I opened my eyes for the first time to see this beautiful world. This is the very same day my parents, relatives and their friends were overjoyed because of me, it is a day all too important in their lives.

It was a great feeling. When in school, I used to take those chocolates with me. Used to stand on the stage during the morning assembly with a ‘colored dress’ and then everybody would sing in ‘Happy Birthday to You’ just for me. And then the final moment came in when I had to say ‘Thank you my dear friends’ right there in front of the mike. Let me tell you, that was the greatest stage fear I ever had in my life! Then distributing those chocolates within the class and then going all around the school distributing those sweets to the teachers, the principal and also the bai (Maids). I still remember the joy I always had in getting that Happy Birthday card from our father principal and the anger I had for those maids who used to make the most of getting my chocolates.

Things changed after school. Never ever did I feel the same excitement again.

Wake up Parikshit, It’s yet another day :-)

Rang De Basanti !

First day of the opening and I was off to see ‘Rang De Basanti’ at Rex Cinema. Before I say something about the movie itself, let me say something about parking, yes PARKING! That is the dirtiest word, if you are on Brigade road, Bangalore. It was my friend’s brand new Honda Dio and as the traffic cop didn’t allow us inside the theatre premises, we parked it in a Bank’s compound after Bank hours. It was so creepy, the guy had no authorization to do what he was doing and we had no idea if that was safe. But still we trusted him, and that’s the risk appetite every Indian has!

The film had all its hype it required, thanks to objections from the Defense Ministry to the Animal Welfare Department. And yes, the defense ministry had very political reasons to have a look at it before it went to the theatres. I am sure the earlier government would have been much more critical.

The film starts on a very happy go lucky note and takes us through the life of young guys and a girl who know nothing but enjoyment. Lead among them is obviously Amir who is brilliant as ever in every scene of his. The one to always spoil their party is a saffron clad political worker who takes objections to their westernized ways of celebration and hates the Muslim guy among them for dogmatic reasons alone. This has been excellently portrayed by Atul Kulkarni. Man, this guy hasn’t failed to impress me from Dum, Satta, Khakee and now in Rang De Basanti.

The foreign actress also plays her part pretty well with the famous dance number and also with her Hindi slang word. The film has enough comic scenes to keep you giggling in the first half.

The twist in the tale comes in when these guys are helpless over the death of their Airforce Pilot friend in a MiG crash. The Defense Minister is guilty of corruption and then again of mutilating this brave soldier’s reputation. As usual, he feels above the law and makes a mockery of democracy.

Now these young men do something which every one of us has felt at least once in our lifetime. There comes a time in our life when emotions takeover pragmatism, anger takes over rationality, we tend to forget the law and the distinctive line between good and bad becomes ever so thin. What these guys do is something unprecedented in Indian history which they rightly call the ‘dhamaka’ which can wake up a sleeping nation.

The way in which past sequences of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru are superimposed with the thought processes of these new age guys has been executed superbly. In the end you feel, may be what these men did was really stupid indeed, may be they could have tried a better alternative, may be they could have had a more rational way of achieving the same thing, but then again, the situation they are in really seems hopeless at the outset.

Jaago India Jaago!

And well, the vehicle was safe and sound. The man had earned his trust and his Rs. 5 while we heaved a sign of relief ;)