Disclaimer: I started writing this in the first week of Jan2011 immediately after coming back from the trip.. But then, I went into the writer's block and got distracted.. And then I lost interest in recollecting stuff and penning them down.. But as my friends leave today yet again for another happy new year at Goa, I can't help but think back on the last time.. Now, my memory of things that happened is more dream-like, but the trip still deserves a post, nevertheless! Like they say, better late than never...
Warning: Humongous post (I know all my posts are, but this is dinosaur sized! even by my own standards!).. to know the story in short, just go thru the pics in S's FB profile
Note to self: Never keep a post for too long in drafts... especially the long ones..
I know the title sounds very cliched but I cant think of anything else to describe the recent trip to Goa... New year @ Goa.. For a non-smoker, non-drinker and eggetarian person having two left foot (that's me.. I know m multi talented :P), New year @ Goa might have been the last idea.. actually, most would wonder if one such person can actually have fun (not just during new year and not just in Goa).. but hey, I did.. I had loads of fun.. mostly thanks to the group I went with.. 10 very dysfunctional friends in Goa... different ppl bugged by different things in life, having different priorities coming together to one place at the right time...
Anjuna Beach, Calangute Beach, Dona Paula, Vagator Beach, Cabo De Rama, Chapora Fort, Fort Aguada, Dance@Paradiso, Breakfast@Brittos, Party@Titos ------ These are all the places we didn't go and things we didn't do... And yet, we had the best fun ever... So what did we exactly do, you ask? Read on...
As is my usual way, I will start atleast 2 days before the trip started and give a bit of background... This trip was initially planned for atleast 14 ppl out of which 2 had agreed tentatively and true to their tentativeness, dropped off at the end... two more (who I would say were the main reason for us to plan this trip) had to drop off due to personal problems... so with a heavy heart and hopes of spending the last few days of the year at Goa and entering the new year with pomp and fair, the rest of the 10 of us were readying ourselves - Me, A, P, S, R, U (alias P), D, M, K & N...
Day -2
Our train was on the last tuesday of the year and it was sunday already.. and no shopping done... none of us... so we all decided to meet at Brigade to do some shopping for Goa... And since I had no idea what to get, I just tagged along hoping the others would steer me to the right things... after doing very fast random purchases of shorts and t-shirts amounting to 1.5k for self, I decided that I no longer needed the steering committee.. went along till the others were content that we had no time to do any more shopping and in the process got sun glasses for as cheap as Rs.120.. seemed a good deal and I always wanted shades (no matter how cheap!).. finished dinner, went to S's place to sort the dresses, came back to room and slept off
Day -1
Monday was a holiday for all the people in our Proj, except for me and P who had to finish some pending work before going for the leave.. so came on Monday morning (our morning is usually early to late afternoon but hey, we stay up late and finish our work on time, so its ok :P) [** Bursting with pride at how cleverly I covered by bases**] Anyways, by evening we realized we still a have lot to shop for and went and bought slippers, some more tees and inner wears (u wudn't believe how much those cost now a days!).. after a hasty dinner and packing feverishly, managed to sleep by 3AM...
Day 0
Our train was in the afternoon on Tuesday at around 2 at Yashwantpur. So obviously we didn't get up before 10AM.. hurriedly checked that everything is packed and called for a cab to pick myself, P, A and U.. D, M, S, R, K & N had booked 2 cabs on were already on their way.. we reached on time and boarded the train.. D had fever and yet managed to come.. And It was M's first train journey so he was very excited about things and kept looking at everything with a child-like awe and curiosity.. And the others realized that we were quite humgry.. fortunately for us, D & M had a wonderful chef at home who had prepared poori and aloo sabzi for all of us.. and man, were we hungry, we all dug in and ate like crazy.. and then D felt he needed to take some rest of he had to enjoy the next few days.. Our seats were a bit far apart in the same compartment and since I was good friend (atleast in these things :P), went along to give him company in sleeping.. we slept till around 5 after which I let D sleep and went to the where the others were seated.. a game of UNO had already started.. and I started helping out K, M and U who were new to the game.. we were having quite some fun just whiling away the time.. in between D woke up feeling much better & came to join us.. And then it was time for dinner and we ordered some meals.. some of us felt like drinking tea so we all had some tomato soup (coz we had already tried the tea in the afternoon and it was so bad that I didn't think it was fair to mention it here) well, it started out with just 3 soups and in the end everyone ordered one.. the meals were (surprisingly) better than we expected.. soon, it was time to get down at Hubli and take our next train to Madgaon... we got down and started eagerly awaiting for the train to come.. till then, I took some pics on my N8 while P ran to get the very famous Dharwad Pedas... We kept talking about what we would do in Goa and soon our train came.. we hurriedly boarded the train and found our seats.. Just then some people dressed in coats came and asked for our tickets.. we casually showed them our tickets.. and then one of them asked for some id proof.. from each of us.. and that's when we realized our folly... T who had booked the tickets for us, had canceled it for G & Su.. but evidently, something was wrong.. and we realized one of us had been canceled while G's name was still on the ticket.. and U's pet name was used in the ticket for which he didn't have any proof.. after a bit of arguing on how it's mentioned that if only one had the ID proof, it was enough & things like that and haggling on the number of offenses (if you missed it, these were the squad and not TT) the squad person said that the max he can do officially is to consider 2 offenses instead of the 3 (One ticket less travel and two under different names).. that's when a very pissed off S tried to spoil the haggle by saying that if they were going by the book, they should just book all the 3 offenses... but we managed to save any damage done.. and after cursing the adventurous start of the journey (might I remind that it was M's first train journey, so he was actually having quite a lot of fun with this even though he was one of the persons traveling under the wrong name - ofcourse, can't really mention how he ended up traveling like that :P) everyone felt sleepy and fell asleep.. after all, we had to get up by 5 or so..
Day 1
Reached in the morning at the expected time.. (within the tolerance of railway standards that is) and called up our guy - a Mr. Phani (pronounced funny.. I know, funny name!). We found two sets of wheels waiting for us. loaded up everything and reached a small lodging near the Benalium beach. We had already booked a 4BHK apartment where all of us were planning to dump ourselves.. 20k for 3 days & 2 nights.. seemed a bit steep at first, but having a whole house to ourselves sounded too lucrative.. so we had already contacted this funny guy and made an advance payment.. so when we landed at goa, we needn't worry about lodging at all. What a great plan!, you would say. Might I again remind you that it's us I am talking about and you already know what happened in the train. So, as luck might have it, we found ourselves NOT getting the house. Seemingly the owner would give it to only 4 ppl, not to 10.. So there we were, still groggy from sleep stranded near a beach in goa with no idea for accommodation and no backup plan.. we obviously did the most rational thing and came down on Phani like a ton of bricks.. I know what you are thinking.. if we pissed him off and he just returned our money, where would we go? but hey, let me see you able to reason things at 6AM in the morning after a long train journey when you have come to relax thinking everything is set!! Anyways, we argued a lot and finally accepted the alternative lodging provided that were way below what we had imagined.. no it doesn't mean it was bad.. it actually turned out to be exactly what we needed and it was lighter on the pocket.. we all settled down, got ready one by one and went to Phani's shack which was at the beach. Had a very tasty Goan breakfast and decided to go to Colva beach first which was just 2 kms away. And since we were planning to go to different places, it made more sense to get bikes.. we ended up hiring one old pulsar and some 4 activas for all of us.. with everyone ready to chill out and most of us dressed to kill (one way or the other) we went to Colva.. Spent time till evening.. had lunch there.. and by 4PM decided it was high time to see the sunset at one of the forts.. some 20km away.. so, with our mission set ahead of us, driving like crazy in the traffic filled routes that we weren't sure of, we reached near to the place at around 6PM.. after the sun set.. and the fort was closed.. and it was just 2 of us who reached so soon.. so we waited for the others so that we could return back.. and then God thought, "nah.. this isn't fun enough.. I should do something more.." And so, just to make things interesting, one of the bikes stopped working.. it wouldn't start and we were almost at a top of a hill fort.. arguments and verbal abuses started and we started realizing how indeed diverse we were.. but fortunately (God must have felt he ll torture us another day) we found a mechanic shop and gave the bike to fix.. some 1 hour later, with some tea and biscuits in the meantime, the bike started working again.. we all were so tired that we just wanted to reach back and sleep.. but we were disappointed too that we had missed the sunset and wasted a few hours doing nothing.. While coming back in this gloomy state, we found that the last boat ride at Panaji was about to leave at 9.. it was just 5 mins for the deadline.. we hurriedly parked our vehicles, got the tickets and boarded the the boat just as it was abt to leave.. And we were so excited in salvaging our late evening that we didn't even mind the fact that this was just a boat and not a cruise one like the "Casino Royale"..
But there was Goan entertainment for time pass.. two dances by the troupe there followed by dance floor opened for children first (which attracted by uber cute kids) followed by only ladies dance which finally ended with couple's dance.. where we forced P and A to go dance on stage.. the ride was over in 20 mins.. but our spirits were rekindled.. we drove back enthusiastically to our Phani shack for dinner... being the hard core non-veg that some of us were, the theme was sea food with the highlight being lobsters.. the shack cook had kept the lobsters uncooked just to show us that they were fresh..
they quickly prepared the dishes and served them hot to all of us.. everyone was having a sip of some alcohol to go with the food.. and mood.. all except P who was not feeling well and didn't eat much either.. we trudged back to the room and dragged ourselves to bed and fell asleep immediately..
Day 2
We were supposed to get up early and go to the Palolem beach, so obviously no one got up on time and we all went for breakfast around 9.. which is where we heard the pretty interesting story that had happened the previous night.. after everyone had gone unconscious for the night, U had suffered a major allergy to something in the lobster.. the result was hugely swollen face and lips.. but he was lodged with D and M both of whom were heavy sleepers.. in the end, he had to come wake S up who took him to a hospital.. S had to get Avil for U which costed rs.2 but had only 100 rupee notes.. in the end, looking at U, the chemist gave the tablets for free and by morning U was finally back to his unusual self :P the only thing better than a french breakfast is a french breakfast with a good story.. having had fun at U's expense and realizing that we were pretty late, we rushed to Palolem beach - the beach that has an island nearby.. Reaching the beach, we found it to be bigger and more crowded than the beaches that we had seen the previous day.. and the water was deeper and warmer.. and D started teaching me how to float in the water (I didn't know swimming even though I had P at home, who is a district level swimmer.. but thanks to that effort by D then, we have managed to somewhat learn to swim by now).. learning to float was unexpectedly easy and very liberating.. we spent a lot of time floating around.. and then U and I went for a walk along the beach to "look" at the "natural" beauty.. by the time we were back, the others had ordered some starters and were busy applying ample amounts of sun screen... while most of us just lay there mimicking the foreigners by looking casual but feeling very worried abt getting tanned, D haggled over for a boat to goto the island.. we decided that try as we may, we couldn't be as casual as the foreigners abt getting some sun on the skin, so we might as well go to the island.. on the way to the island, the boat man was saying that if we had come a bit sooner, we would have seen dolphins in the water.. ever hopeful that we were, we still tried finding some of them in water, but all we got were shadows..
We reached the island in sometime and it was superb.. totally deserted except for 4-5 ppl who had also come on a boat and completely lush.. we spent time roaming around and taking photos (by which I mean we roamed around while S took pics on his DSLR).. soon we were starting to feel hungry and returned back to the beach.. changed dress and had a hearty meal.. the food wasn't that great but we had stopped caring long back.. we were slowly losing ourselves in the aura of goa.. it was 4.30 when we realized we should have left alteast an hour before to catch the sunset at the fort.. so yet again, we missed the sunset and decided to while away some time doing nothing.. then starting to feel a bit tired and not wanting to be late for dinner like the prev night, we left and came back to our rooms.. planned for a camp fire alongside dinner just near the water, on the beach.. music, drinks and food kept flowing till wee hours with all of us starting out with full vigor and slowly becoming lazy and getting closer to the fire & a lot cozier.. when the fire could no longer keep the cold away, we left back to our rooms and had an uneventful night.. for a change..
Day 3
It was finally D day.. the eve of new year.. we got up lazily & reached the shack as was the recent ritual.. we started walking along the beach while wondering which beach we should go for the new year.. we were still at Benalium and we wanted to go to the most hip and happening beach.. but we hadn't made any bookings and we had heard new years are always pre-booked in goa.. and we still hadn't tried any of the water sports.. so while all the others were brooding over what to do, D & I, being recently bitten by the water bug, went into the water.. the water was feeling just right and the tides seemed gentle.. and just as we turned to call the others in, WHOOSH! we were both underwater.. after swallowing huge amounts of salt water, we both came out of water.. not knowing what hit us and gasping for air.. and that's when we realized that the "gentle" looking small waves were actually pretty forceful.. and that started off an whole hour of competing to stay against the tides and playing with each other.. by the time we were mastering the waves, we realized another thing.. there were water sports right here and it would probably be cheaper than the ones in the coveted beaches.. And boy, are we glad we decided to go for it.. it was just pure water pleasure.. 3 rides - banana boat, double float and single float with the motor boat guy singing "My name is Anthony Gonzalves.." before making a sudden turn with the boat and whisking the floats from under us so that we would fall into the water.. I had never thought that getting pushed into the water, being shoved overboard and trying to drown could be so much fun!! After feeling all bruised up by falling so many times in the water, we had a quick breakfast and went to our rooms to get ready for the new year party.. which we had finally decided would be baga beach.. the traffic was a killer thanks to new year but riding a two wheeler has its advantages and so we reached by 5..
The beach was pretty crowded and we started looking for a shack for the new year party.. finally found one that said we had to make a bill of 15k with an advance of 5k.. with very little time left and no other choice, we took it.. but we had the presence of mind to get a bottle of JD on the way to the beach.. we soon found another shack that agreed to give us starters while we drank our own drinks.. and that's where we saw the sexiest dance by a girl who was just grooving sensuously.. soon a whole bunch of ppl gathered around to watch her dance with grace and style.. until we found out, it wasn't a she.. well, it took us time to recover from our shock but whoever s/he was, that was the best dance ever! That weirdness was the sign from above to drink which everyone religiously followed.. with night approaching and the time nearing the party time, the guys started trying to finish the drinks faster which resulted in D drinking a couple patialas.. the end result was a bunch of ppl high before the party started.. and since everyone was high, we decided its time to shop (ya, we are one rare bunch of ppl).. went out shopping and I was amazed at the bargaining skills of D which seemed to have increased in proportion to his high.. D conjured some weird addition concepts that would astonish even Einstein and managed to convince the shop keeper that adding 240 to an amount will only increase it by 170.. or something like that.. I still don't understand what he did but he added 3 "final" prices that the shop keeper agreed to and came to a much smaller total which the shopkeeper just couldn't argue on, even though it was wrong.. after laughing our heads off and doing small purchases here and there, we entered the designated shack for the new year party..
To preserve the dignity of the ppl involved, I will stop here instead of describing what happened.. Let's just say that M and I enjoyed it more than the others with M and a few strangers being wished happy new year a couple of times by one of us. But the highlight had to be the sign board which said "Credit Cards" accepted.. there is a whole story to it, which I ll maybe tell later :)
Anyways, after a few fruit punches, even I was starting to feel high and after watching the kids fashion show and trying to dance with 2 left feet, managed to slump down and fall asleep for sometime around 4.. most of the others were already unconscious from the high..
Day 4
We all woke up at around 6.30 in the morning with a huge hang over.. had a train to catch back home.. so we hurriedly tried to settle the bill and leave for our rooms.. and in all that commotion, the guy at the shack forgot the 15k deal and just went with the bill which was way cheaper and considering we had already give 5k, turned out to be the best new year party deal.. feeling happy over profit, we started the long ride back.. and that was the worst riding experience ever! full drowsiness, head ache and an almost "out" U falling over me on an Activa.. reached back by 8 and slept for sometime.. got up, got ready and went for breakfast.. it was already quite late and we had to reach for the train in 40 mins.. I & D told the rest to wait at the shack while we a got vehicle and loaded it with luggage.. we got one car to agree to come to station and went to the room to pack the bags.. we also sent an auto to pick the others from the shack.. unfortunately, all the sleepiness had ended in mis-communication with the whole group waiting at the shack not knowing that an auto was waiting outside.. the end result was that we missed the train which unusually left exactly on time.. and had to take 2 cabs to Londa, which was where our connecting train to Bangalore was booked from.. reached well ahead of time, this time around.. had some chilli pakoda and tea.. played some fruit ninja on apple ipad.. and finally boarded the train.. which was ironically late by an hour or two.. I guess that's fate..
Well, the coming back to Bangalore, reaching room and sleeping a lot was comparatively uneventful.. But the time spent in Goa is just unforgettable.. even now.. And what made it special was the total ad hoc-ness of things, the (mis)adventures, the diversity of each beach, the dresses we wore and the photos that S released very slowly over the next few couple of weeks after we returned.. A hearty thanks to the group of ppl who made it memorable.. even to a guy like me :)
Warning: Humongous post (I know all my posts are, but this is dinosaur sized! even by my own standards!).. to know the story in short, just go thru the pics in S's FB profile
Note to self: Never keep a post for too long in drafts... especially the long ones..
I know the title sounds very cliched but I cant think of anything else to describe the recent trip to Goa... New year @ Goa.. For a non-smoker, non-drinker and eggetarian person having two left foot (that's me.. I know m multi talented :P), New year @ Goa might have been the last idea.. actually, most would wonder if one such person can actually have fun (not just during new year and not just in Goa).. but hey, I did.. I had loads of fun.. mostly thanks to the group I went with.. 10 very dysfunctional friends in Goa... different ppl bugged by different things in life, having different priorities coming together to one place at the right time...
Anjuna Beach, Calangute Beach, Dona Paula, Vagator Beach, Cabo De Rama, Chapora Fort, Fort Aguada, Dance@Paradiso, Breakfast@Brittos, Party@Titos ------ These are all the places we didn't go and things we didn't do... And yet, we had the best fun ever... So what did we exactly do, you ask? Read on...
As is my usual way, I will start atleast 2 days before the trip started and give a bit of background... This trip was initially planned for atleast 14 ppl out of which 2 had agreed tentatively and true to their tentativeness, dropped off at the end... two more (who I would say were the main reason for us to plan this trip) had to drop off due to personal problems... so with a heavy heart and hopes of spending the last few days of the year at Goa and entering the new year with pomp and fair, the rest of the 10 of us were readying ourselves - Me, A, P, S, R, U (alias P), D, M, K & N...
Day -2
Our train was on the last tuesday of the year and it was sunday already.. and no shopping done... none of us... so we all decided to meet at Brigade to do some shopping for Goa... And since I had no idea what to get, I just tagged along hoping the others would steer me to the right things... after doing very fast random purchases of shorts and t-shirts amounting to 1.5k for self, I decided that I no longer needed the steering committee.. went along till the others were content that we had no time to do any more shopping and in the process got sun glasses for as cheap as Rs.120.. seemed a good deal and I always wanted shades (no matter how cheap!).. finished dinner, went to S's place to sort the dresses, came back to room and slept off
Day -1
Monday was a holiday for all the people in our Proj, except for me and P who had to finish some pending work before going for the leave.. so came on Monday morning (our morning is usually early to late afternoon but hey, we stay up late and finish our work on time, so its ok :P) [** Bursting with pride at how cleverly I covered by bases**] Anyways, by evening we realized we still a have lot to shop for and went and bought slippers, some more tees and inner wears (u wudn't believe how much those cost now a days!).. after a hasty dinner and packing feverishly, managed to sleep by 3AM...
Day 0
Our train was in the afternoon on Tuesday at around 2 at Yashwantpur. So obviously we didn't get up before 10AM.. hurriedly checked that everything is packed and called for a cab to pick myself, P, A and U.. D, M, S, R, K & N had booked 2 cabs on were already on their way.. we reached on time and boarded the train.. D had fever and yet managed to come.. And It was M's first train journey so he was very excited about things and kept looking at everything with a child-like awe and curiosity.. And the others realized that we were quite humgry.. fortunately for us, D & M had a wonderful chef at home who had prepared poori and aloo sabzi for all of us.. and man, were we hungry, we all dug in and ate like crazy.. and then D felt he needed to take some rest of he had to enjoy the next few days.. Our seats were a bit far apart in the same compartment and since I was good friend (atleast in these things :P), went along to give him company in sleeping.. we slept till around 5 after which I let D sleep and went to the where the others were seated.. a game of UNO had already started.. and I started helping out K, M and U who were new to the game.. we were having quite some fun just whiling away the time.. in between D woke up feeling much better & came to join us.. And then it was time for dinner and we ordered some meals.. some of us felt like drinking tea so we all had some tomato soup (coz we had already tried the tea in the afternoon and it was so bad that I didn't think it was fair to mention it here) well, it started out with just 3 soups and in the end everyone ordered one.. the meals were (surprisingly) better than we expected.. soon, it was time to get down at Hubli and take our next train to Madgaon... we got down and started eagerly awaiting for the train to come.. till then, I took some pics on my N8 while P ran to get the very famous Dharwad Pedas... We kept talking about what we would do in Goa and soon our train came.. we hurriedly boarded the train and found our seats.. Just then some people dressed in coats came and asked for our tickets.. we casually showed them our tickets.. and then one of them asked for some id proof.. from each of us.. and that's when we realized our folly... T who had booked the tickets for us, had canceled it for G & Su.. but evidently, something was wrong.. and we realized one of us had been canceled while G's name was still on the ticket.. and U's pet name was used in the ticket for which he didn't have any proof.. after a bit of arguing on how it's mentioned that if only one had the ID proof, it was enough & things like that and haggling on the number of offenses (if you missed it, these were the squad and not TT) the squad person said that the max he can do officially is to consider 2 offenses instead of the 3 (One ticket less travel and two under different names).. that's when a very pissed off S tried to spoil the haggle by saying that if they were going by the book, they should just book all the 3 offenses... but we managed to save any damage done.. and after cursing the adventurous start of the journey (might I remind that it was M's first train journey, so he was actually having quite a lot of fun with this even though he was one of the persons traveling under the wrong name - ofcourse, can't really mention how he ended up traveling like that :P) everyone felt sleepy and fell asleep.. after all, we had to get up by 5 or so..
Day 1
Reached in the morning at the expected time.. (within the tolerance of railway standards that is) and called up our guy - a Mr. Phani (pronounced funny.. I know, funny name!). We found two sets of wheels waiting for us. loaded up everything and reached a small lodging near the Benalium beach. We had already booked a 4BHK apartment where all of us were planning to dump ourselves.. 20k for 3 days & 2 nights.. seemed a bit steep at first, but having a whole house to ourselves sounded too lucrative.. so we had already contacted this funny guy and made an advance payment.. so when we landed at goa, we needn't worry about lodging at all. What a great plan!, you would say. Might I again remind you that it's us I am talking about and you already know what happened in the train. So, as luck might have it, we found ourselves NOT getting the house. Seemingly the owner would give it to only 4 ppl, not to 10.. So there we were, still groggy from sleep stranded near a beach in goa with no idea for accommodation and no backup plan.. we obviously did the most rational thing and came down on Phani like a ton of bricks.. I know what you are thinking.. if we pissed him off and he just returned our money, where would we go? but hey, let me see you able to reason things at 6AM in the morning after a long train journey when you have come to relax thinking everything is set!! Anyways, we argued a lot and finally accepted the alternative lodging provided that were way below what we had imagined.. no it doesn't mean it was bad.. it actually turned out to be exactly what we needed and it was lighter on the pocket.. we all settled down, got ready one by one and went to Phani's shack which was at the beach. Had a very tasty Goan breakfast and decided to go to Colva beach first which was just 2 kms away. And since we were planning to go to different places, it made more sense to get bikes.. we ended up hiring one old pulsar and some 4 activas for all of us.. with everyone ready to chill out and most of us dressed to kill (one way or the other) we went to Colva.. Spent time till evening.. had lunch there.. and by 4PM decided it was high time to see the sunset at one of the forts.. some 20km away.. so, with our mission set ahead of us, driving like crazy in the traffic filled routes that we weren't sure of, we reached near to the place at around 6PM.. after the sun set.. and the fort was closed.. and it was just 2 of us who reached so soon.. so we waited for the others so that we could return back.. and then God thought, "nah.. this isn't fun enough.. I should do something more.." And so, just to make things interesting, one of the bikes stopped working.. it wouldn't start and we were almost at a top of a hill fort.. arguments and verbal abuses started and we started realizing how indeed diverse we were.. but fortunately (God must have felt he ll torture us another day) we found a mechanic shop and gave the bike to fix.. some 1 hour later, with some tea and biscuits in the meantime, the bike started working again.. we all were so tired that we just wanted to reach back and sleep.. but we were disappointed too that we had missed the sunset and wasted a few hours doing nothing.. While coming back in this gloomy state, we found that the last boat ride at Panaji was about to leave at 9.. it was just 5 mins for the deadline.. we hurriedly parked our vehicles, got the tickets and boarded the the boat just as it was abt to leave.. And we were so excited in salvaging our late evening that we didn't even mind the fact that this was just a boat and not a cruise one like the "Casino Royale"..
But there was Goan entertainment for time pass.. two dances by the troupe there followed by dance floor opened for children first (which attracted by uber cute kids) followed by only ladies dance which finally ended with couple's dance.. where we forced P and A to go dance on stage.. the ride was over in 20 mins.. but our spirits were rekindled.. we drove back enthusiastically to our Phani shack for dinner... being the hard core non-veg that some of us were, the theme was sea food with the highlight being lobsters.. the shack cook had kept the lobsters uncooked just to show us that they were fresh..
they quickly prepared the dishes and served them hot to all of us.. everyone was having a sip of some alcohol to go with the food.. and mood.. all except P who was not feeling well and didn't eat much either.. we trudged back to the room and dragged ourselves to bed and fell asleep immediately..
Day 2
We were supposed to get up early and go to the Palolem beach, so obviously no one got up on time and we all went for breakfast around 9.. which is where we heard the pretty interesting story that had happened the previous night.. after everyone had gone unconscious for the night, U had suffered a major allergy to something in the lobster.. the result was hugely swollen face and lips.. but he was lodged with D and M both of whom were heavy sleepers.. in the end, he had to come wake S up who took him to a hospital.. S had to get Avil for U which costed rs.2 but had only 100 rupee notes.. in the end, looking at U, the chemist gave the tablets for free and by morning U was finally back to his unusual self :P the only thing better than a french breakfast is a french breakfast with a good story.. having had fun at U's expense and realizing that we were pretty late, we rushed to Palolem beach - the beach that has an island nearby.. Reaching the beach, we found it to be bigger and more crowded than the beaches that we had seen the previous day.. and the water was deeper and warmer.. and D started teaching me how to float in the water (I didn't know swimming even though I had P at home, who is a district level swimmer.. but thanks to that effort by D then, we have managed to somewhat learn to swim by now).. learning to float was unexpectedly easy and very liberating.. we spent a lot of time floating around.. and then U and I went for a walk along the beach to "look" at the "natural" beauty.. by the time we were back, the others had ordered some starters and were busy applying ample amounts of sun screen... while most of us just lay there mimicking the foreigners by looking casual but feeling very worried abt getting tanned, D haggled over for a boat to goto the island.. we decided that try as we may, we couldn't be as casual as the foreigners abt getting some sun on the skin, so we might as well go to the island.. on the way to the island, the boat man was saying that if we had come a bit sooner, we would have seen dolphins in the water.. ever hopeful that we were, we still tried finding some of them in water, but all we got were shadows..
We reached the island in sometime and it was superb.. totally deserted except for 4-5 ppl who had also come on a boat and completely lush.. we spent time roaming around and taking photos (by which I mean we roamed around while S took pics on his DSLR).. soon we were starting to feel hungry and returned back to the beach.. changed dress and had a hearty meal.. the food wasn't that great but we had stopped caring long back.. we were slowly losing ourselves in the aura of goa.. it was 4.30 when we realized we should have left alteast an hour before to catch the sunset at the fort.. so yet again, we missed the sunset and decided to while away some time doing nothing.. then starting to feel a bit tired and not wanting to be late for dinner like the prev night, we left and came back to our rooms.. planned for a camp fire alongside dinner just near the water, on the beach.. music, drinks and food kept flowing till wee hours with all of us starting out with full vigor and slowly becoming lazy and getting closer to the fire & a lot cozier.. when the fire could no longer keep the cold away, we left back to our rooms and had an uneventful night.. for a change..
Day 3
It was finally D day.. the eve of new year.. we got up lazily & reached the shack as was the recent ritual.. we started walking along the beach while wondering which beach we should go for the new year.. we were still at Benalium and we wanted to go to the most hip and happening beach.. but we hadn't made any bookings and we had heard new years are always pre-booked in goa.. and we still hadn't tried any of the water sports.. so while all the others were brooding over what to do, D & I, being recently bitten by the water bug, went into the water.. the water was feeling just right and the tides seemed gentle.. and just as we turned to call the others in, WHOOSH! we were both underwater.. after swallowing huge amounts of salt water, we both came out of water.. not knowing what hit us and gasping for air.. and that's when we realized that the "gentle" looking small waves were actually pretty forceful.. and that started off an whole hour of competing to stay against the tides and playing with each other.. by the time we were mastering the waves, we realized another thing.. there were water sports right here and it would probably be cheaper than the ones in the coveted beaches.. And boy, are we glad we decided to go for it.. it was just pure water pleasure.. 3 rides - banana boat, double float and single float with the motor boat guy singing "My name is Anthony Gonzalves.." before making a sudden turn with the boat and whisking the floats from under us so that we would fall into the water.. I had never thought that getting pushed into the water, being shoved overboard and trying to drown could be so much fun!! After feeling all bruised up by falling so many times in the water, we had a quick breakfast and went to our rooms to get ready for the new year party.. which we had finally decided would be baga beach.. the traffic was a killer thanks to new year but riding a two wheeler has its advantages and so we reached by 5..
The beach was pretty crowded and we started looking for a shack for the new year party.. finally found one that said we had to make a bill of 15k with an advance of 5k.. with very little time left and no other choice, we took it.. but we had the presence of mind to get a bottle of JD on the way to the beach.. we soon found another shack that agreed to give us starters while we drank our own drinks.. and that's where we saw the sexiest dance by a girl who was just grooving sensuously.. soon a whole bunch of ppl gathered around to watch her dance with grace and style.. until we found out, it wasn't a she.. well, it took us time to recover from our shock but whoever s/he was, that was the best dance ever! That weirdness was the sign from above to drink which everyone religiously followed.. with night approaching and the time nearing the party time, the guys started trying to finish the drinks faster which resulted in D drinking a couple patialas.. the end result was a bunch of ppl high before the party started.. and since everyone was high, we decided its time to shop (ya, we are one rare bunch of ppl).. went out shopping and I was amazed at the bargaining skills of D which seemed to have increased in proportion to his high.. D conjured some weird addition concepts that would astonish even Einstein and managed to convince the shop keeper that adding 240 to an amount will only increase it by 170.. or something like that.. I still don't understand what he did but he added 3 "final" prices that the shop keeper agreed to and came to a much smaller total which the shopkeeper just couldn't argue on, even though it was wrong.. after laughing our heads off and doing small purchases here and there, we entered the designated shack for the new year party..
To preserve the dignity of the ppl involved, I will stop here instead of describing what happened.. Let's just say that M and I enjoyed it more than the others with M and a few strangers being wished happy new year a couple of times by one of us. But the highlight had to be the sign board which said "Credit Cards" accepted.. there is a whole story to it, which I ll maybe tell later :)
Anyways, after a few fruit punches, even I was starting to feel high and after watching the kids fashion show and trying to dance with 2 left feet, managed to slump down and fall asleep for sometime around 4.. most of the others were already unconscious from the high..
Day 4
We all woke up at around 6.30 in the morning with a huge hang over.. had a train to catch back home.. so we hurriedly tried to settle the bill and leave for our rooms.. and in all that commotion, the guy at the shack forgot the 15k deal and just went with the bill which was way cheaper and considering we had already give 5k, turned out to be the best new year party deal.. feeling happy over profit, we started the long ride back.. and that was the worst riding experience ever! full drowsiness, head ache and an almost "out" U falling over me on an Activa.. reached back by 8 and slept for sometime.. got up, got ready and went for breakfast.. it was already quite late and we had to reach for the train in 40 mins.. I & D told the rest to wait at the shack while we a got vehicle and loaded it with luggage.. we got one car to agree to come to station and went to the room to pack the bags.. we also sent an auto to pick the others from the shack.. unfortunately, all the sleepiness had ended in mis-communication with the whole group waiting at the shack not knowing that an auto was waiting outside.. the end result was that we missed the train which unusually left exactly on time.. and had to take 2 cabs to Londa, which was where our connecting train to Bangalore was booked from.. reached well ahead of time, this time around.. had some chilli pakoda and tea.. played some fruit ninja on apple ipad.. and finally boarded the train.. which was ironically late by an hour or two.. I guess that's fate..
Well, the coming back to Bangalore, reaching room and sleeping a lot was comparatively uneventful.. But the time spent in Goa is just unforgettable.. even now.. And what made it special was the total ad hoc-ness of things, the (mis)adventures, the diversity of each beach, the dresses we wore and the photos that S released very slowly over the next few couple of weeks after we returned.. A hearty thanks to the group of ppl who made it memorable.. even to a guy like me :)
