Goa can be easily divided into its northern and southern beaches. While the southern beaches are prettier, the northern ones are more intrepid with palm fringed fishing villages, turtle eggs scattered coves and solitude. I relaxed in Anjuna for a couple of days and keeping my unwinding tradition alive, did nothing but sleep, read, zip around through golden rice fields in rental scooter and eat. There’s nothing more pleasant than riding through the lushly forested Goa roads but after a bad accident in not so recent past, at times I used to opt for a pilot.

Pilots are uniquely Goan and are motorcycle taxi drivers. They are found all over Goa and are the most convenient of Goan mode of transportation. I had been friends with Rama, my pilot for years and had seen his children grow up in front of my eyes. While for short distances, I kept my space, Rama used to drive me to far flung places. He had shown me beautiful parts of untouched Goa, helped arrange a home stay at a fisherman’s hut and invited me to his family functions. Together we have covered many Goan miles and a mild mannered elderly gentleman, he always tsk tsked at my lifestyle.

My favourite drives in Goa are through its winding forested roads or on dirt tracks between golden paddy fields. It feels great and very humbling to bifurcate between a waving sea of gold with only an equally deep blue sky spanning overhead. Interior Goan roads are also very pretty, although at times are bumpy on the rear. Trees droop down on those roads like old friends, flower petals scatter in a warm breeze and cuckoo calls reverberates through the cool glens. Occasionally small villages occur and apart from rows of pretty tiled crayon coloured houses, locals unhusking paddy in sheets on the road and fierce football games in progress, these little human habitats get lost in a sea of deepest green. Even the air smells fragrant and green on those roads and sunlight trickles down through the thick foliage.

Only the lily white churches and gaudy Hindu revered basil pots remain constant apart from the huge expanse of a friendly blue sky. Billboards are a nuisance in Goa and mar much of its beauty. From beer to medical insurance, they sell everything possible to the hefty chunk of Russian expats who call the state home. Russians love Goa and form the largest group of foreign tourists who visit its sunny shores every year. A lot of them have thriving businesses there and most of Goa’s nightclubs which are based in the northern part are heavily patronized (and owned) by the Russians. Tito’s, Club Cubana etc are some of Goa’s most happening nightclubs and one of my most major road accidents had happened on the way back from Cubana. It was very pretty bad and messy and kept me away from Goa for some time till I made a comeback recently.

TRAVEL TIP – Road accidents are quite a common occurrence in Goa and driving under the influence of alcohol and faulty rental scooters are the biggest reasons. It is advisable to thoroughly check the vehicle before hiring it and point out every scratch and problem to the owner. Some rental outfits have a notorious habit of passing off dented problematic scooters and then charging customers for the faults. Street dogs are another big reason for road accidents in Goa and at night they come chasing behind passing 2 wheelers. They are ferocious especially around Taj Exotica Hotel and it is exactly where I met with a road accident because of them. Those routes are best avoidable at night and some Goan roads are narrow, filled with heavy vehicles and without street lights.

Over the years I have explored parts of Goa in bits and listed down my favourite places and not so great ones. Mayem Lake was disappointing although the route was very scenic. Obscure villages, lily filled ponds, tangle of greenery and still rivers on which wooden barges floated, made up the incredible landscape. It was a drier part of Goa with tall grassland and not so great roads. Mayem Lake was just a bowl of water and perhaps prettier in the misty mornings. Bird watching is supposedly great around that area but the exorbitant charges of the gaudy touristy paddle boats put me off. Another disappointing trip was to the Aguada Fort which culminated into a worse Sinquerim dolphin tour.

The Aguada Fort was beautiful, historically important and offered great views, but the teeming number of my fellow country men making absolute nuisance of themselves marred its charm. Built by the Portuguese in the 17th century, Aguada Fort has a preserved lighthouse which overlooks the Arabian Sea. While the fort was constructed to guard against the tenacious Dutch and wily Marathas who gave the Portuguese sleepless nights, ships from Europe used the lighthouse for reference. A freshwater spring inside the fort replenished the water stock of those vessels and rendered it the name Aguada meaning “water”. Sitting on the shore of the Mandovi River, it cradles the still functioning Goa Jail at its foothill and mansions of the rich ribbon along the base.

Sinquerim dolphin tour was a waste of time and offered better chances of wildlife watching in the mornings before swarms of loud domestic tourists descended upon the water. Disappointed by these 2 trips, on that Goa sojourn I restricted my activities strictly to eating and riding around in my scooter around Anjuna. Goa’s food is legendary for its mouth puckering acidic taste and fire and I indulged in it with caution.

Goans love spices and heavy dollops of coconut milk in their dishes along with generous helping of kokum ( sort of mangosteen fruit used for flavouring) and seafood. They make some great pork and beef dishes too and beef Vindaloo, chicken Xacuti, pork Sorpotel and prawn Balchao are my Goan food favourites. I have had some great meals in Goa and indulged in their sinfully delicious Bebinca and Dodol desserts guiltlessly. My best meal however had been the one which was prepared for me by the pilot Rama’s sister.

Upon my request Rama took me to Mapusa market (my old haunt) where I bargained for a glistening red snapper and wriggling blue grey tiger prawns from fat smiling fisherwomen. These ladies sported flowers in their immaculately coiffured hair, wore colourful sarees like pants and made coarse jokes at my expense. Good natured, friendly folks they loved to have a good laugh and I being their favourite approachable customer used to be butt of many of their puns.

It was all good because the fish they gave me was always the freshest and they often used to call Rama to inform me of arrival of a special catch. Rama’s sister tossed them up in a most delicious way and I can still recall the taste of the leaf wrapped smoked spicy prawns. With life involving twists of only mango orchards, tangles of banyan trees and lure of wisteria, bougainvillea and frangipani, it is difficult not to unwind on those languid shores. Caught between the blue sky, bamboo groves and the rolling ocean, Goa is hard to let go.
RESPONSIBLE TRAVELING-BECAUSE I CARE

A rental scooter

A rental scooter

A beautiful countryside

A beautiful countryside

A pretty fort

A pretty fort

Local fish market

Local fish market

And easy pace

And easy pace

Made up my laidback

Made up my laidback

North Goa days

North Goa days

Add to that

Add to that

A quaint life

A quaint life

In blue and gold

In blue and gold

A bit of glitz

A bit of glitz

And a beautiful beach

And a beautiful beach

My Goan sojourns

My Goan sojourns

Were quaint

Were quaint

Rustic

Rustic

And colourful

And colourful