Let me tell ya, it’s not easy to predict life! You have your
plans and there is one ultimate plan above all of life itself. Only four months
ago life seemed a strenuous journey of have-nots, despair used to have its
fields day. And then there comes hope of a better future and after much stumbling,
we rise up to live again. It was beyond imagination that I would go to Goa
twice for a vacation within a span of a fortnight. No doubt I and my family deserved
to unwind and take a break from the continuous struggle of the last couple of
years when we hardly moved anywhere.
Ridhima had the sense that she was going out and one could
tell this much before Tuesday (12th August) evening when the journey
started. We were three couples and two kids including Ritesh’s (my friend and neighbour
) son Krish. The train journey was rather comfortable if we skip the late part
of it. Next day around 8.30am we reached Madgaon and were graciously picked up by
the hotel car. The landscape was sea change where serpentine roads found their ways
through vegetation, backwaters and hills covered in dark shades of green. It
was a good ninety minutes ride and we reached the Livemint Beach Resort at the Holiday Street Goa.
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| Holiday Street- Goa |
The Livemint Beach resort happened to be a good place to
stay.
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| A good hotel |
We headed directly for lunch only to regret experiencing poor service and
surprisingly high price. The Zooperb restaurant at the hotel had to be a strict
No No!
We then rather lazed around till evening and went to the nearby Condelim
Beach and spent some time at the beach. Ridhima has seen enough sea in Mumbai
but she was touching the salty waters for the first time.
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| The first touch |
We then walked down
to the nearby Calangut beach that looked a bit bustled with the evening crowd.
Ridhima was all excited to see her favourite balloons when we entered the
market close by. We had our dinner at
one Punjabi Dhaba then hired a car and headed hotel.
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| Calangute Beach |
The next day started with breakfast at the hotel. We hired
the same car for the day’s site seeing. Rajesh our driver was an easy guy, first
he took us to the Balaji and then to the nearby Mangeshi temples and let me
tell you, they are one of the best temples I have seen in terms of cleanliness
and tranquility.
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| Mangeshi Temple- Goa |
It was Old Goa where we went next to see the St. Xavier
Church and his mummy. Debraj our friend hired a guide and squeezed every
historical piece of information he could in flat 30 minutes. We could not stand
that quick download and moved ahead, especially Ridhima was looking sick by the
time we finished the church tour. It was 2pm when we reached Panjim just to
know that there is a boat ride called ‘Filmi Chakkar’ that started just there.
We couldn’t say no! An hour well spent, you can say, on a small colourful boat
with loud music and a bit of impromptu dance by all of us on board. We had our
lunch in a jiffy at Panaji as it was 3pm and the restaurant was to be closed at
3.15pm. Food was good though. We went to Miramar and Dona Paula on our way back.
By the time we reached hotel it was already 9pm. We bought some food and drinks
at the hotel and had a good time together. Ridhima between all things was
looking sicker and had intermittent fever the whole day.
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| Basilica do Bom Jesus |
The next day was Independence Day and I started it with listening
into the excellent extempore of our new PM Shri Narendra Modi from the rampart
of the Red Fort. It was impressive in every meaning of the term. An Innova we hired for the day. Francis our new driver
was even more cooperative. He took us to all the famous beaches of North Goa
like Vagator, Anjuna, and Bagha beaches, it was by 5pm Francis left us at the
hotel and we quickly headed to the Condelim beach which was 7 minutes from
where we stayed. We were back to hotel by 6.30 jumped into the pool at the
hotel. This 15th August was truly different.
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We came to know the reason why Ridhima has been looking pale
throughout. She has never been used to huggies and pads and since last three
days she had been wearing it continuously, it was today when Rinku noticed that
she has rashes on her groins and beyond and they were looking bad. We started
to wash her every two hours with luke warm water and sprinkled Soframicine to
keep her dry. She responded quickly and looked happier the whole day. Sigh of relief!
Our train was scheduled to depart at 6.40pm on Saturday (16th
August) and we checked out at 11am after a heavy breakfast. We called Francis
and went on to see some left out beaches like Colva in South Goa and Mapusa market
to buy legendary Goan Cashews. We bought our load cashew and wine and after visiting
the Mardol Aquarium we had some great food at the adjacent restaurant. We then headed
for Colva Beach- our last destination. One
more day well spent and we reached Madgaon Station at 5.45pm all set to head
home.
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| Fish Aquarium - Mardol |
There was a surprise waiting all of us there! We got to know
that that the train was only to come at 9.40pm as per the new schedule. It was four
painful hours we spent at the platform without a single fan running. Humidity
was a killer to say the least. Train was again delayed by almost 30 minutes to
add more to our misery. Finally the train rumbled in at 10.10pm and we hit the
shack as soon as the comfort of air conditioner reached our senses. The train
surprisingly reached on time at 8.30am and by 10.15am we were already home.
This trip is gonna be there in our minds for some time to come.
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| Beginning Or The End? |
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