Weekending in Goa - II

The story so far...

Early morning the cellphone sounded an alarm, I must have shut it off, but I frankly don't remember, thanks to (V and Shan)'s heavy treat on the previous night. I still maintain, if they had told me beforehand that it was their treat, I would have had more of the exotic stuff. Great Ambience...Indian Spice indeed...

V called me from her room early morning, may be ten-fifteen minutes after the alarm went off. Groggily, I picked up the phone and told her I was awake. Looked at Santu, he too was sleeping blissfully, as I was a few moments earlier. Freshened up and by the time I left the room, Ayhay barged in wearing a bright red shirt. The rest of my drowsiness vanished instantaneously.

The beach was only a few metres away from the hotel. As my gramma put it "Goa nalli enide suDgaDu, bari beachu..hotelsu...ondu tsunami bandre kochchkondu hogatte" Anyway, there were two reclining chairs on the beach, on which me and Goks made ourselves comfortable, while the girls stood guard for us. LT1 was already in the water. Santu and Rupa too went to explore the beach. After some time of lazing around on the chair, we thought we would join them as well. But what bliss it is to just sit around on the beach, smelling the salty air, and watching the waves crash into the beach, while the sun plays hide and seek with the clouds... Ohohoho... poetic stuff.

Anyway, played around in the beach for a while, the beach is quite inclined in places, and Ayhay was almost gone. In fact, in hindsight we shouldn't have tried it in the first place. We saw that even though the waves kept low, they exerted a lot of pull while they receded, and just to try this, Ayhay sat crosslegged on the beach with me holding his hand. A wave was all that we wanted, and they next thing we knew, Ayhay was lying prostrate, and I was struggling to pull him. God!!! For a moment, all meters were off.

Then the rain started, and how!!! We trudged the path back to the hotel, and let me tell you, the open shower near the hotel pool, used to wash away the beach sand and dirt, was more fun than the actual sea. After a warm bath, and in dry clothes, we checked out of the hotel, but threw the luggage in the hotel safe room. We then sneaked into a crowded Udipi hotel. I have this question in the back of my mind - Why are Udipi hotels always crowded? I have seldom been to a UH, where my next table was empty. Anyway, after a heavy breakfast of a variety of dosas, and strong filter coffee, we set about towards "Fort Aguada".

Fort Aguada reminds me of Tipu Sultan's famous dungeons in Srirangapatna. Only, the ruins are much more greener here. There is a moat around the fort, which they say was full of water and crocodiles, so that no one could attempt to scale the fort. The fort offers scintillating views of the sea from its vantage points, and you can see some steamers and trawlers out in the distance. I am also told the cruise boats do cover these places, so if you book a cruise in Panaji, you can get a view of this fort (and other forts)from the sea.

From Aguada, we went to cover Dona Paula. Dona Paula is a creek, with land jutting out into the sea. In season, they say, sea scooters are available from the jetty, so that you can have a ride in the sea. It was already midday, and we had some tender coconuts while Ayhay and Goks purchased some "Its better in Goa" kurtas. It remains to be seen how long they remain as kurtas. Met a guy who was keen to fish, so Goks went along with him to get some "Knowledge Transfer". If we get kicked out, then we can hire a boat and pursue it as an alternative career...

From Dona Paula, we booked tickets for the evening cruise and went to have lunch at "Goa Residency". I kinda liked this place. It was calm and serene, with no boisterous crowds, and the silence actually improves your appetite. It is near to the church and cathedral as well. Around this time, Ayhay became Dada...I mean to say he began to lose his form. He had lost form much earlier, but he could not hide it any more. Some time before, I failed to mention, we had covered the market, and purchased some salted cashew, and with much persuasion, stopped the girls from shopping. YES!!!

Post lunch we went to St Francis Xavier's church, and looked around at the magnificent carvings, while Shan prayed for all of us. We also went to the cathedral across the road, though Ayhay, Rupa and Santu did not join us there. From the cathedral, we went back to Calangute, to collect our luggage, and putting all of it in, we covered the whole distance back to Panjim, and stopped for a cuppa coffee. This restaurant at which we stopped, Ruchi, was too good. Why, he even gave us decoction in a cup, in case we wanted to make our coffee stronger. It must be one of the most-frequented hotel, because Niral was screaming Ruchi--Ruchi as soon as she saw the snap.

The cruise was a disaster. So speaking, this was when our run started. After a couple of songs in the cruise boat, we went up to the top deck, only to meet unruly crowds, drunk, and in their own world. I loved the feeling, alone with water all around, but I would've enjoyed better without the drinks and the crowd. I almost started feeling seasick, but thankfully an hour had drifted past, and it was time for us to get down and go back.

We had had a taste of Miramar beach before the cruise, but it was a mistake going back for a second round. The water had receded, there was nothing much to enjoy, and Shan had some fans, to whom she refused her signature. She came to us for help, and me, Goks and Ayhay, like good shepherds, herded the 'kuris' to our vehicle. What happened next will take another blog.

Contd here.