Goa.
The world knows it for joy, freedom of being, travelling and an absolute carefree attitude!
But ask anyone who has been there for a short or a long trip, he will have a tale of his own to tell, beyond these.
Here is mine.
Seven Single Girls
Six Mocktails(+ One shot of Fenny)
Five Beaches to explore
Four Days
Three I-Phones(Apple I-phones)
Two means of transport(a Wagon-R and a Honda Dio)
One Mission: Go Crrrrraaaazy and DO Crazy!
Just like the abstract that I created with the numbers above, so was this trip to Goa (organised by the Being Single Club)... a total "abstract" and that I believe was the USP of the trip, right from the journey to the destination to every single bit of experience. Some tiny glimpses of how Goa exhilarated us.
First Tale:
This definitely was not our first experience of the trip, but I just can't get over it and had to mention it in the first tale. It is about how we managed our trip inside of Goa(after Kesineni Travels' A/C Bus left us). We were put up in the Mahindra Resort Club in South of Goa, Varca Beach and given that, all the known and recommended beaches were located in the North of Goa, we needed an immediate transport arrangement for ourselves. Considering the budget, feasibility of drivers/riders, fun and adventure all put together, we decided to hire a Car and a Bike and began our journey inside of Goa... straight from the South to the North! To help us guide through the route, we resorted to the GPS/Google Maps on the I-phones of 2 of our dear friends sitting in the car and the bike rider followed the car.
The actual distance for us to be travelled was about 60 kilometers, but thanks to the phone batteries getting conked off one after the other, we lost GPS and the only thing to depend on were Milestones, Landmarks and Traffic Police. We were a little more than skeptical to ask a way out to people on roads(considering trouble that could come in). Due to this frenzy and uncalled for "loss of GPS" we travelled a 40 kilometers extra, digging into new roads, taking lefts and rights(with small misses).
After the exciting drive/ride we reached the Baga Beach on the first day and realised that it was 9 pm already . Now picture this...Seven Girls, all by themselves on a beach(a crowded one though), starving for food and still not sure when to head back to their den, in a semi-decision making mode amidst all this we still managed to take a few group photos(which didn't exhibit any emotions of our mind on our face).
Some of us then enquired at the Britto's Restaurant(which was located on the beach) about how long the beach can let us be and how safe it is to be there. They told us that we can stay over till 5 in the morning, but somehow not everyone was convinced with the fact of staying over.
What worried us more was the night ride back home attributing to no GPS, very scanty public on the roads and how could we forget... all of us Women!!! It was a perfect Catch-22 situation. But the final decision was quickly made and Neetu delared that we were not going to stay at the beach.
The adventure ride began. It started as a joy ride, as we took to the highway and we were filled with confidence to trek our way back, but it was not more than 15 kilometers that we began feeling the thrill with the roads getting narrower and almost every church that we had for our landmark started looking similar; we soon, near Margao realised that we were lost and a quick adrenaline rush defined my state of mind and body, which no water sport or bungee could beat. There were roads trying to mislead us in all its mysteriousness, and in more than one instance we were caught in the middle of no man's land, just the seven of us. We didn't know whether to feel happy about the courage that we had or to feel terrified; all our feelings were mixed(more mixed than a mixed fruit jam).
Haunts and freak out moments:
If you've watched this movie Talaash, you would know what I am going to talk now. There's this place where Kareena Kapoor asks Amir Khan to meet her, a very hidden and untouched kind of beach? So, in our great adventure to search the right road we ended up on a turning near the Benaulim Church which absolutely resembled our filmy haunted location. What freaked us out even more was the on the face reality that we were just a few hundred meters away from running our bike inside the water owing to very low-lighting. We didn't drown and were on our feet real quick. A little later we were also offered help by a few men to show us the directions taxing our minds for refusal even more. When the breeze got better and the feeling of having survived a drown and a few possibly lecherous men, the victorious mind asked for a quick rest from the fatigue and I gave in to a very short(fraction of seconds)nap while riding the bike. Adventure again, I skid near a road divider, just a few inches away from ramming into the divider(Chanting Ram... ensured no Ramming) ;)! Me and Geet were again back on track and this time she made all the efforts to keep me awake by telling stories of all kinds :)
The last thrill was one near the Varca Church cross roads, we lost the road to our resort almost 3 times on the same day, whirl winding at 1 am, freaking our tired minds all the more. After all the excitement, frustration and exhilaration(all in the same order), we reached our stay put with the help of few family cars that were passing by and thanked god for keeping us safe in all the forms that we should.
Learnings and more learnings
So while this happened I learnt so much and I thought I should tell you about my learnings too.
The world knows it for joy, freedom of being, travelling and an absolute carefree attitude!
But ask anyone who has been there for a short or a long trip, he will have a tale of his own to tell, beyond these.
Here is mine.
Seven Single Girls
Six Mocktails(+ One shot of Fenny)
Five Beaches to explore
Four Days
Three I-Phones(Apple I-phones)
Two means of transport(a Wagon-R and a Honda Dio)
One Mission: Go Crrrrraaaazy and DO Crazy!
Just like the abstract that I created with the numbers above, so was this trip to Goa (organised by the Being Single Club)... a total "abstract" and that I believe was the USP of the trip, right from the journey to the destination to every single bit of experience. Some tiny glimpses of how Goa exhilarated us.
First Tale:
This definitely was not our first experience of the trip, but I just can't get over it and had to mention it in the first tale. It is about how we managed our trip inside of Goa(after Kesineni Travels' A/C Bus left us). We were put up in the Mahindra Resort Club in South of Goa, Varca Beach and given that, all the known and recommended beaches were located in the North of Goa, we needed an immediate transport arrangement for ourselves. Considering the budget, feasibility of drivers/riders, fun and adventure all put together, we decided to hire a Car and a Bike and began our journey inside of Goa... straight from the South to the North! To help us guide through the route, we resorted to the GPS/Google Maps on the I-phones of 2 of our dear friends sitting in the car and the bike rider followed the car.
The actual distance for us to be travelled was about 60 kilometers, but thanks to the phone batteries getting conked off one after the other, we lost GPS and the only thing to depend on were Milestones, Landmarks and Traffic Police. We were a little more than skeptical to ask a way out to people on roads(considering trouble that could come in). Due to this frenzy and uncalled for "loss of GPS" we travelled a 40 kilometers extra, digging into new roads, taking lefts and rights(with small misses).
After the exciting drive/ride we reached the Baga Beach on the first day and realised that it was 9 pm already . Now picture this...Seven Girls, all by themselves on a beach(a crowded one though), starving for food and still not sure when to head back to their den, in a semi-decision making mode amidst all this we still managed to take a few group photos(which didn't exhibit any emotions of our mind on our face).
Some of us then enquired at the Britto's Restaurant(which was located on the beach) about how long the beach can let us be and how safe it is to be there. They told us that we can stay over till 5 in the morning, but somehow not everyone was convinced with the fact of staying over.
What worried us more was the night ride back home attributing to no GPS, very scanty public on the roads and how could we forget... all of us Women!!! It was a perfect Catch-22 situation. But the final decision was quickly made and Neetu delared that we were not going to stay at the beach.
The adventure ride began. It started as a joy ride, as we took to the highway and we were filled with confidence to trek our way back, but it was not more than 15 kilometers that we began feeling the thrill with the roads getting narrower and almost every church that we had for our landmark started looking similar; we soon, near Margao realised that we were lost and a quick adrenaline rush defined my state of mind and body, which no water sport or bungee could beat. There were roads trying to mislead us in all its mysteriousness, and in more than one instance we were caught in the middle of no man's land, just the seven of us. We didn't know whether to feel happy about the courage that we had or to feel terrified; all our feelings were mixed(more mixed than a mixed fruit jam).
Haunts and freak out moments:
If you've watched this movie Talaash, you would know what I am going to talk now. There's this place where Kareena Kapoor asks Amir Khan to meet her, a very hidden and untouched kind of beach? So, in our great adventure to search the right road we ended up on a turning near the Benaulim Church which absolutely resembled our filmy haunted location. What freaked us out even more was the on the face reality that we were just a few hundred meters away from running our bike inside the water owing to very low-lighting. We didn't drown and were on our feet real quick. A little later we were also offered help by a few men to show us the directions taxing our minds for refusal even more. When the breeze got better and the feeling of having survived a drown and a few possibly lecherous men, the victorious mind asked for a quick rest from the fatigue and I gave in to a very short(fraction of seconds)nap while riding the bike. Adventure again, I skid near a road divider, just a few inches away from ramming into the divider(Chanting Ram... ensured no Ramming) ;)! Me and Geet were again back on track and this time she made all the efforts to keep me awake by telling stories of all kinds :)
The last thrill was one near the Varca Church cross roads, we lost the road to our resort almost 3 times on the same day, whirl winding at 1 am, freaking our tired minds all the more. After all the excitement, frustration and exhilaration(all in the same order), we reached our stay put with the help of few family cars that were passing by and thanked god for keeping us safe in all the forms that we should.
Learnings and more learnings
So while this happened I learnt so much and I thought I should tell you about my learnings too.
- Women are at their strongest best when not with men.
- When you know that I-phones are so useful, have it charged fully especially when you know that you have to bank on it. Better still have a fully charged spare battery during travels.
- Be a quick decision maker.
- Respect the decision of the leader. Discuss in case of disagreement, but do not waste time.
- When lost, maintain calm. All of us did. It was wonderful to see 7 women quiet and composed, none in the blaming mode.
- Stay together. We all have gut instincts, but stay on the same page. Either all of us land in trouble or none.
- When scared, sing a song. Enjoy the breeze! It works in boosting positive energy.
- All girls must learn to ride a bike.
- When in Goa. Enjoy every bit! :)
Kudos to an amazing bunch at Being Single!
Watch out for the next tale from the same trip with a new set of learnings... until then Practise Travelling!
Love.Peace.Happiness
Niru
Practising Alchemy!
