60 hours of Nirvana

Calangute, Candolim, Baga Beach, Tito’s, Arpora, Saturday night bazaar, Anjuna, Vagator, 24 hour Restaurant @ Calangute, Panjim, Dona Paula, Cida de Goa, Miramar, Fort Aguada, and Bob’s.

The beaches, the white (?) sand, the Sunset, the rivers, the forts, the booze bars, and the bikinis. What do I talk about and not? Every name that comes across in the mind throws a memory, 60 hours in Paradise.

It did come to an end when we moved out on Monday, 5th of March. Each of us longed to stay back. We blamed our organizations that they don’t have an office at Goa and hit the road. 3 days after the journey begun, we headed back home in a different route and the road this time gave us absolute nightmares. But, I need to catch some sleep before I can write anything about it.

Finally

Two traffic cops, endless bad roads, one flat wheel, and several confusing roads later, 18 hours is what it took us to complete the journey and finally, we did arrive at the destination, Calangute at 2 AM. Being midnight, a deserted place is what we expected and all that on the mind was to find a place to crash. A deserted place it was only until we reached the town.

Calangute at night is a jaw dropping beauty; the beach on one side at its violent tide and the town on another bustling with activity. Making the town even more interesting are several beautiful girls (unfortunately with several guys ;-) Even before we managed a place to stay, even before we spent an hour, the three of us decided this really is the place to be and we were going back for Christmas this year.

The fatigue from the drive kicked us and abused us to set out the plans later and instead find a room. It turned out to be the most difficult affair, being the weekend. Rooms were either not vacant or over priced, that was until we met a savior, who got us a beautiful room near the beach. Once in the room, the long drive took its toll as I slipped into sleep as soon as I tossed myself onto the bed.

A viagem a Goa

I never complain of waking up early on a holiday, for I never wake up early. 2nd March however, was different. It took a single wake up call from Vicky. Kiran reached my place even before I was ready; Vicky arrived in another 10 minutes, and our journey began. I told the guys that we could beat the distance in 12 hours.

When we stopped for Coffee and Samosa at Secuderabad Railway Station, we did not expect it be our best food for the next 15 hours. Having consulted road maps and people, we chose the Solapur way expecting it to be the better option. We were wrong and the road was an absolute nightmare until 45 KM away from Hyderabad. At the first sight of a drivable road we had our share of sighs of relief and stopped by a road side restaurant for breakfast. And the breakfast made us wonder why we chose to eat at all; putting everything aside we continued our journey and reached Solapur.

Solapur was where the real fun began starting from the chance encounter with a traffic cop. Apart from the balderdash he served out, he managed to snatch away Rs. 500 and involuntarily billions of abuses and curses from the three of us. And another cop led us to a restaurant, supposedly the best in Solapur, which would make any westerner make better rotis and Paneer.

The drive to Solapur was just the beginning. The road from Solapur is absolute dynamite and I cannot stop boasting of my maneuvering skills. City after city, we crossed to realize that the destination is still away. 12 hours from when we begun the journey, we were 300 KM away from Goa.

Meanwhile, the stomachs hurt with pangs of hunger. Finally, we did manage to find a place at Nippani that serves decent food. We did not know what lied ahead when we had dinner. Wasting no further time, we set towards Goa immediately after dinner and 5 KM away from the Highway, we found ourselves in total darkness, with the car being the only source of light and trace of civilization for miles away.

What we were not told was that the way to Goa from Nippani passes through a forest in a hilly area. Terrain in the night; the journey was turning out to be nothing short of an adventure. Minimum civilization and maximum nature; this part of the journey turned out to be the best as we passed through the seemingly unpolluted terrains of Amboli. Finally, we did have something to cheer about when we entered the Goan border at about 1 AM.