Goa!

Finally, I understood. Ive been to Goa atleat 7 times (mostly when I was too young), but this was the first time I could appreciate Goa for what it really is. Nizammuddin express took us to Margoa at about 6:30 AM, and when we checked in to the hotel, there was this crazy buzz in the air.. we were in GOA!
Pooja, my darling friend, struck up a rapport with the first Goan she could see. He was Joe, our bus driver from the station to the Hotel .In his jolly and relaxed way, he talked about things that we city dwellers consider inconsequential. After getting some of our essential supplies, we rushed to the nearest beach, which was Candolim. There was a crazy hour of water splashing, and throwing people into the water, followed by a walk along the edge of the water. Pooja and I took a snap with an old fisherman who was mending his net, and I found his smile to be so genuine!
We then spent about four hours in a restaraunt, eating and drinking merrily, and followed that up with some mock cricket. I dont know what the hell it was that prompted us all to get into the water again. The gradient of the beach was a tad steep at the point where we entered, maybe because the harbour was close by. This caused the waves to come in at quite a furious pace, and boy oh boy, we enjoyed every second of all the battering that the Arabian sea could give us. We, the crazy boys in the party just had to take on the mighty waves, and at every step went deeper and deeper into the sea. Man, this was huge huge fun.. and when the wave retreated, threatening to take us in with it, it was scary!
I had my first close encounter with a Goan that evening when we went looking for bikes on rent. The almost completely drunk agent talked with me as if he and I were the greatest of buddies.. "Array haan re.. hum to full Goa mein ghuma hai re, itna accha jagah kahin nahin hai re.. tujhe jitna help kar sakta, utna karega mai.. bas tum mereko beer ka paisa de do!".
That night, we friends had a game of poker, and that was great fun too. The next morning, we got up slow and groggy, and a good tea and horrible breakfast shook us up. We got some of our essential supplies, and then, got out to see the market of Mapusa. What a beautiful market, and what fun we had in there! Later that evening, we had open air dinner at Calangute, and boy oh boy, our eyes were treated to some of the finest beauties that they have ever seen. And they werent in small numbers.. they came in the hundreds! Anyway, dinner was followed by club Tito.. which although it had a big name, felt like an average place to hang out.
The next day was our last in Goa, and we had a bus to take home that evening. However, that was preceeded by an incident. The Goan owner of the vehicle we had rented noticed that we had returned it with lesser petrol that what it ought to have. We were willing to pay up, but the problem was that he was asking for way too much money. The happy go lucky goan suddenly went burserk in the midst of our negotiation. We had quite a fair idea that he was a well connected petty rascal in that town. What was mind blowing though, was the way the guy's behavior turned turtle after we managed to drive sense into him. He said sorry about fifty times all in all, and said that the next time we came to Goa and wanted anything at all, we should let him know! I guess drinking has its advantages!
There was some unmentionable fun that we had on the bus ride back home, but it was all in good taste. Ona different note, I think a great great positive for me on this trip was the bonding that I made with my folks.. you dont get too many such opportunities to ...
I get a feeling somewhere, that its not gonna be long before I make my eighth trip to Goa!

Find more photos at:
http://in.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pooji_rajput/album?.dir=/cc9bscd&.src=ph&.tok=ph9ZyoFB4AlBQ0e6