The Goan Odyssey

7:00 a.m. When the whole world was overshadowed by the Monday morning blues, I stretched lazily on the world's best bed. BAM! Suddenly it hit me. We still had 2 more places to visit, plus, we had to enjoy at the Calangute beach! Why am I stressed out thinking about it? Who cares! No more time to lose! Downstairs, a lovely buffet spread was waiting for us. What should have been relished, was quickly gulped down. As we were heading out towards the beach, I stopped at the reception and checked the rates for hiring the hotel's cab to the airport. I wanted to know how much they would charge extra if we were to stop at Aguada Fort and the Immaculate Conception Church on the way. The receptionist said she would collect the details and give it to us as soon as we returned. Off we headed towards the beach. Without Google maps. Suddenly, DT suggested, "Why not check out Baga beach?" Though Sreejith had said to avoid it because it was always too crowded, judging by t...

There we stood in the middle of nowhere. No board. No sign. Nothing. Just a narrow road. A road that looked like it led to our deepest fears. Summoning all our hard-to-find courage, we took a few steps forward. Still no one around. Kept walking. Finally, a board showing Chapora Fort was visible! At least, we were on the right path. On continuing further, we reached the base of the fort, where we saw so many people. It was a relief. This was the point, I had the guts to take a pic. It was steeper before this point. Walking towards the fort, I heard most of the people speaking Malayalam. Are we in Kerala?  Evide thirinjaalum Malayalis. We climbed the steep hill, which looked more like a wall. Sreejith mentioned it was a bit steep but I hadn't expected this. Veruthe alla aalkar ee fort ittechu poyye... Entry okke road side il aakikoode... I turned around to see where we were. Whoaaa... Everything was moving around me. This wasn't a very good idea... Going down wa...

Light dawned and seeped in through the blinds of our windows. I lazily opened an eye and shut it. I don't want to go anywhere! Just stay in bed all day, after all that has happened yesterday. Nothing can make me move from here! Nothing! But... this was a trip. Grooooaaan! Day 2 in Goa. We had a long list of places to go to. And no car. This would definitely be an adventure. Pancakes with Chocolate Sauce & Maple Syrup. I dragged myself out of the bed to see DT awake with no energy as well. We both got ready and went for the complimentary breakfast. It had a limited set of items but it was good enough for us. I took a sip of the kokum juice. A bit sour but very refreshing - highly recommended by a friend of ours. Once we were done with the food, we got out and walked towards the bus stop. As per the map, buses should go via Calangute to Chapora Fort - famous in our circle for the scenes shot here for Dil Chahta Hai . "You know, what? Hamein har saal...

By now, we were accustomed to all adversities. Things could not go downhill from here. We continued walking through the museums and the churches. Halfway through, we both realized we were not enjoying but instead, we were worried about the car. There were ways for things to go downhill from here. What if some lad decided to scratch the car. The crocodile guy would not be happy at all.  As soon as we realized that we both were deeply troubled, we decided to take the car back. Verum DT alla... Al DT! On the way back, DT realized she didn't get the chance to put on her shades anyway. It would be better to just sit in the car with the shades on.  At least in the car.  She put them on and sat there, while I silently drove back. Not at all how we planned. I was in a hurry to reach the rental and place the car safely in the guy's hands. Halfway through, DT told I was speeding. I didn't feel so, but I slowed a bit to respect her wishes. When we reached the place, ...

Certain things that don't catch your attention, later on, are very much visible when they become crucial to your existence. We learnt that when we looked around desperately. A little way behind the road was a big compound with a small house, slightly elevated, in the center. DT started banging on the gates and called out loud. No response. I, CID of the India. No take pen. Menon. Menon come. Aa avide vannu. Ente neck pidichu. Pidichu. Veenu. Pena pocket il kayari. Kandilla. Out came a black dog, which jumped on the fence and started barking ferociously. DT backed off a little. An old lady put her head out of the door, glared at us with suspicion and asked what happened. We expressed our plight in whatever ways we could. "Car. Tyre in the field. Help!" She finally understood and scolded us for putting the car in.  Well, that was needed... maybe.  " Aaj Gaanesh hai na ?" Athinu... As per her theory, we should have known better than to put the...

Heads bowed down in shame, we walked back to the rental. Little croco guy asked for ID proof and before I could take out mine, DT offered hers. The guy took DT's pan card and locked it, before DT could say anything. That's when it struck us. The guy was keeping it as a security. DT was worried. When she expressed her concern, the guy expressed an even bigger concern about his car. The car came. i10 was now replaced by Swift. It was a bit bigger than what I had in mind. But that's all he had. DT's friend had strongly suggested to take photos of the car before we start off. We went one step further and made a full length documentary of the car's damage (the rain did add to the effect). I wondered why the guy was so worried about this car. The guy asked to take a video of the fuel reading. I did. Then, he said to return it with the same amount of fuel we took it in. I got in, took the car from the narrow lane and reached a wide place only to realize I cant see th...

Taking our bags, we walked out of the airport to find it raining. Umm... this was not expected. How would the beaches be? Our packing scene the day before and the checklist quickly ran in front of my eyes. Sunshades - Check Sunscreen - Definite check. And a check. Umbrella - Not needed but if the sun is too hot. If there's space in the bag, maybe... Rush to the present scene... Thank God we brought our umbrellas! Our room @ Hard Rock Hotel, Calangute Took prepaid to Hard Rock Hotel, Calangute - we were ready to check out the best bed ever. The place looked beautiful. Very green. We reached the hotel and got an early check in - a room with a pool side view. Hard Rock Hotel offers free 6 hour crash course to learn guitar and on request, they send an electric guitar to the room. I declined the offer. I was way past the 6-hour crash course. Anyway, I didn't need an electric guitar to play Jingle Bells or Mary had a Little Lamb . The receptionist mentioned that th...

Aluva At last! A sight for my sore eyes... our first stop! What took you so long, crazy Indian train? After constantly checking our mobiles, we reached Aluva - at exactly 1 hour after the time we should have. It was dark outside. Google showed a nice restaurant with an above 4 rating - Kerala Kitchen. We took the prepaid auto to Aluva old market. The auto driver didn't know Kerala Kitchen. So we switched on Google maps ( of course! ) and moved forward. In between, the maps took time to update and we went in the wrong direction. DT yelled, "The other way!" - as soon as the map updated. At the end, Google showed an arrow saying it was close by. Apparently, the destination was in the new market. The auto driver scolded, saying it was in the new market and why did we say the old market. Ahem, sir... Shouldn't you be the one knowing the directions? We were irritated, too. We got down and decided to walk. Around 200m. And there... stood a very small restaurant ...

Friday morning. I did my last round of packing and set off to office. Had to get out by noon. Pic Idea Courtesy:  Deepak Narayan When I mentioned that I would be going to Goa to Prashobh, his first question was, "Are you going for Feni?" "Who is Feni?", was my quick question. I think he was sorry he asked. (Apparently, it is the local beer that Goa is famous for.) I shrugged my shoulders and tried to focus on checking in online for our flights to Goa. Sreejith promised to go over my travel plan to give me an idea on where all we should visit. At his desk, we opened Google maps and I told that we planned to cover the Basilica of Bom Jesus and Immaculate Conception Church and maybe hang around Panaji in one day - maybe check out the museum of Goa. And next day, start from Chapora Fort and come down to Vagator, Anjuna and whatever beaches were on the way and finally reach Calangute - our place of stay. The third day just before vacating the hotel...