Down to the waterline!!

It was a much deserved vacation. The pace of Mumbai had got to me in more ways than one. The monotony of work had crept upon me like a “tongue-less ghost of sin”!!! Just as those forwards about the value of a second, minute, hour, day etc go; to know the value of mental refreshment, you only need to ask a bored soul.

Initial plans of flying into Goa were shot down after due consideration when I found the difference in rates between bus and air fares. Plus the horrifying prospect of spending the wee hours of the morning in an airport waiting staring at strangers and being frisked by over worked security staff put me off. I went ahead and bought an overnight passage by Raj National Express. My return though was by the Mandovi express, scheduled to cut through the Konkan heartland at such a time that all the famous scenery would be at its best display.

‘Aadadella Ollite Aaythu’ goes a famous song in Kannada which translates as ‘All that happens is for the best’. I realized the truth in this proverb only when I reached Goa the next day. It so happened that my bus was an hour late, and I kept cursing my luck since the Bangalore and Hyderabad travelers had already had a head start of about a couple of hours over me. It was only when I reached Goa, it hit me that this delay helped me spend lesser time at Panjim bus stand waiting for the delayed Hyderabad ‘Sultans’ and Bangalore ‘Lions’.

Loco and Gandhi did appear about a couple of hours after I had come over and we made our way to Zinho’s, Baga. Some snacks and a couple of beers later, we welcomed the exhausted Bangies and then the fun began….

I can never do justice to describing how much fun we had. Some memories are best expressed in the “modified words” of someone else

“Sweet surrender on the beachside
You remember we used to run and slide
In the land of Goa, we take our own time,
Let’s go walking, down to the waterline”

-- Dire Straits

Beaches, babes, bikes were there in large numbers; but somehow I found greater solace in exhausting myself by playing and sleeping soundly. Drinking too never appealed to me on this trip!!

I was scheduled to leave on Christmas day. It was an early departure from Baga to catch the 10:00 hrs Mandovi express from Madgaon. I loved the early morning chill and the rural side of Goa that I was able to witness courtesy the interior routes that my bus took. My train journey was pretty uneventful and there was some wonderful scenery to take in all along the route.

That’s all there is to it. I disembarked at Dadar, made my way home and focused my mind on the meetings that were scheduled on Tuesday, the 26th December.

Boxing Day cometh!!!!!!!!!!