Goa – The family way

With much trepidation I entered the general compartment again at the Udupi station. It had been exactly one year since the last time I took one. Five hours later I reached the Zeal resort, Arpora. (16 bucks to get there J ). Tired due to the late night journey, I slept like a log for a few hours.

My parents reached there in the afternoon (Yes parents! And no, it wasn’t bad). I had been to the Baga beach before and found nothing much interesting then, for the student budget hadn’t left us with much choice. This time was different. We started with lunch at Brittos, a place by the beach.  My father, finally at ease remarked, “That girl is smoking Marijuana”; before I could ask ‘how?’ he said “It’s a different smoke”. He is an alumnus of Yum I T, but had never talked to me about his days much (I barely count academic talk).

We spent a majority of our time at Baga. Indra had been kind enough, so most of the shacks were open.  We would just lie down on a cot and have the pints flowing in. Inebriation is something that offers an unremitting seduction to a Goan tourist. However, we had discovered that beer has its own advantage (we had to drive, and I was with my family!!).

During the nights we’d take one of those candlelit shacks with the sea gusting beside us. The music timing was surprisingly regulated and was not allowed to be played loud for a gathering after 10.30. We went to a few old restaurants. One of dad’s friends had been fairly regular to Goa over the years so he knew restaurants, dishes and the local delicacies. I had something called as Chicken Cathral, which was similar to a Murg Massalam sans the stuffing and was eaten with bread.

We preferred relaxing over roaming. All of us had been to the famous tourist spots and were not much interested in them. We would choose a quiet place to sit and drink. We went to Curlies, and it was easily the best beach of Goa according to me. You have greenery, high foreigners doing yoga in the scorching sun, a guy smoking pot at the rocks, a random firang flying his paraglide and a fisherman who on catching an eel leaves it to die after injuring it. It was surreal.

I ate a lot, drank more and went back to cover up my attendance after missing 3 working college days. I clicked a lot of pictures as well. No alcohol for the flat mates but I guess they would understand.