Ready? Get Set... Go-a!

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, we would spend time in Calangute beach and then leave for the airport.
As we were prodding on in detail, it occurred to me - if we had to cover all the beaches in North Goa, we would have to get out of the car, go and wash our feet in one beach, then make way to the next beach, wash our feet and so on. Maybe not so relaxing. There were so many beaches in Goa and visiting all would be more like doing tasks than actually enjoying.

Finally, Sreejith validated and said that the plan was good. As a parting advice, he suggested visiting Aguada Fort and maybe Dona Paula beach and try out some water sports - paragliding was a good option. I had already tried that in my US trip. Once was good enough. Not required anymore.
Panaji ferry was also another option to try out. There would be some live Goan music and they would take us around for a while. I made a mental note of everything and thanked him for his free service.

I wondered out loud, "Thanks to Google maps, these kinds of travels are possible nowadays."
Sreejith said, "People used to travel way before Google maps."
"Well... maybe. But not ladies alone. It would not have been this frequent. Google maps give us the confidence to do so."

"Is there anything we should definitely buy from Goa?" I asked.
"People usually go there to get cheap liquor..."
Hmm... "Anything else?"
"Nope. Then there's their Bebinca..."
"I've eaten that and I don't like it." Ok. So, shopping was not a necessity in Goa. Well, at least, not for me.

I went back to my desk and I waited and waited and.... waited. As soon as the clock struck 12, I jumped up from my seat and put on my backpack.
Vivek asked casually, "Going home?"
I said, "No." Suddenly, Goa just didn't seem appropriate to say in front of the people sitting near me. Especially after what Prashobh and Sreejith said it was famous for.
"Then, where?"

Mic il koodi villichu parayathe vedi vazhipaadu nadathaan patumo?

I smiled and said nothing, thinking that he would just let it go.
"Where?"
I mouthed. "GO-A".
He must have felt he understood it wrong. He asked again, "Where?"
I said in a normal tone. "Goa."
"Eh", he was aghast and in a loud voice asked, "GOA o?"

By now 2-3 people in the floor got up from their seats and were looking at me.
I just ran out from there.

I walked out from my office building and walked towards the Technopark gate. DT was waiting for me in front of the gates leading to her office. As soon as I reached her, we both jumped up and down in excitement. Goa! Goa? Yes, Goa.

DT had borrowed 2 pairs of shades from one of her lunch mates and she hadn't decided which one she wanted. I said we had a lot of time to decide.

Since we had to make arrangements for lunch, we walked over to Supreme and ordered a sandwich and erachi pathiri each for both of us. That looked like a decent enough meal.
From there, we took an auto to the Kazhakoottam railway station. 40 Rs. Thank you, Kazhakoottam bypass. You've made things more complicated for simple folk like us.

As soon as we got down, we saw an elephant standing in front of the temple, next to the station. The sight looked spectacular. I decided to take pictures from that point on - it would become handy for the blog.

I asked DT, "What's going on here?"
She said, "It is Ganesh Chathurthi." And then she remembered her friend's warning that Goa might be crowded because people would be drifting small Ganesh idols from the shore.
"Ohhh!" I groaned.
"No issues. He said it might just be a small function and few families would do so. It would not be as crowded as when they immerse the big idols."
I was slightly relieved but I kept it at the back of my head.

The train was due to arrive at 1 o clock. Time was 12.50 p.m. We waited... and waited. The plan was to get in the train and eat.
We waited. In the scorching heat. And we waited. Checked the time. 1:05 p.m? Okaayyy. So, the train is late.
At 1:10 p.m. Still no sign of train. Dushakunam aanello. Luckily, our flight was late at night. So even if our train was late, we would still reach the airport well ahead of time.
We checked the live train running status site. Train hadn't even started from Thampanoor.

Adipoli

We persisted and decided to eat only in the train. In the AC compartment. Good for us. And well, what would we know... The train was 1 hour late.
As soon as we got in, we plopped down and gobbled our supplies. And we realized it was too less. So, we decided to drink water and fill our tummies.
To top all that, the train was moving very slowwww...
DT went to the upper berth to take a nap and muffle the cry of her hunger pangs.
While I sat looking outside... When will we reeeach?