Girls in Goa

This weekend we decided to go off to Goa: just us, the three girls- me and my roomies! The guys had already left a day earlier and the idea was to give them a surprise by suddenly landing up in Goa! However, it turned out to be a shock instead of a surprise as they simply refused to believe us (are we so bad that we can’t even plan a trip without them?) and therefore we didn’t even meet them. So it ended up being just us, and no, we ain’t complaining!

From Garibrath (during our Kerala trip) to dirty sleeper class, we are just getting cheaper by the day. But it ended up being an unexpectedly pleasant journey! Putting up at Dona Paula, 3 kms away from Miramar, the nearest beach, it was a comfortable 3 days, but a very hectic one too as we went beach hopping in the middle of the afternoon, with oodles of sunscreen dripping off our faces, smudged kajal and tanned arms! My previous trips to Goa were with my parents and therefore extremely low on the cool quotient and I was determined to make up for it this time. We did the usual rounds to the beaches (Vagatore, Anjuna, Baga, Colva and Calangute), posed for pictures in Dil Chahta Hai style at the Aguada Fort, apparently got fleeced during our boatride at Dolphin Point (but no regrets, the dolphins were worth a watch), waved to the prisoners in Goa central jail (even criminals in Goa have a great lifestyle with residences overlooking the sea), visited a couple of temples and churches (including the famous St. Francis Xaviers church), as also the artificial little Goa village, “Spice” where we literally paid through our noses for a little bit of shade and respite from the sun (but due credit to the “local experience”) and finally the cruise across the Mandovi river with Goan music and folk dances and a lot of crowd involvement. Then there was late night drinking and somehow managing to walk back home, cheap shopping (junk jewelry, souvenirs, cashews and of course cheap wine) and getting drunk in the middle of the afternoon and then boarding the train. And then there was the Bong guy who was in charge of the water sports and our animated discussions like we were long lost siblings. There was me, walking 6 kms all by myself to the Miramar beach as I remembered my dad carrying me on his shoulders for two hours as I refused to walk and I was a heavy kid of nearly seven!However the high point of the trip was definitely getting high on pheni (30 ml for 15 bucks is something I am still getting over) and fried fish and going for water sports (water scooter, banana ride, bumper ride, and parasailing) and puking in the sea. But I had never had so much fun in a long long time!

Now to some observations about what makes Goa, well, Goa…

1. Dirt cheap alcohol (cheaper than soft drinks), so you don’t have an option but to get drunk
2. Clothes or the lack of them… it’s the only place in India where you can get away with wearing anything (and I have pictures to prove so) or nothing
3. The laidback attitude… being from Kolkata that’s something I can always identify with
4. The friendly people especially if you tell them “Hum Indians hi hain bhai, foreigners nahi; so there is no point in trying to fleece us” to which they grin and reply back, “We know and we also know that Indians will always bargain and therefore we always have to ask for more than the fair price”… POINT!!
Yes, we had to skip some things like Tito’s, and late night drinking on the beach and dope, and yes we did miss the guys (especially when we had to walk home late with no one to chaperon us safely) but at times, this kind of all girls’ trip is very empowering!