GOA - Day 4

Day 4 : March 5th, 2011

The delirious night ended when we all woke up late in morning. Thanks to resort management, things were all cleaned up and no troubling questions were asked. We realized it was our last day in Goa and were disheartened by the fact. We had to visit Aguada Fort (famous DCH spot) and Arambol beach, 40 kms from Candolim. We got our tickets booked for next day's travel in train. It was a 22 hours long travel back to Hyderabad. So, 2 guys, Bhanu and Kiru, decided to leave in advance today by bus at 6pm today in Panjim. After a little dilemma, we wanted to stick to original plan to visit both Fort and beach, which was an aggressive target to meet by 5pm. Obviously the other two guys had to be content with only Aguada Fort. As usual, we had sumptuous lunch in Anand Sagar and headed for Aguada Fort.

Aguada : The DCH fort

This fort was only 5kms to our place of stay. The sun was scorching and we reached the fort around 2pm. We were aware that this would be the last day and we realized the fact that we didn't care much about pics in this trip. Clicking random crazy pics of our group was usually the pastime for us but may be, this time, we had better things to do. Finally, we sprang back to life and got back to retro photo clicking mode all over the fort. The DCH spot and some crazy other things were enjoyable enough. The only pain was the scorching heat which was sucking out energy from our body.

After an hour or so, the tired, tanned and burned bodies of ours were craving to go back to our rooms. It was getting late to Bhanu and Kiru for their bus.

Farewell Frens

While we looked again for the lost Volleyball, we bid farewell to Bhanu and Kiru in evening. Ajay and Ravi accompanied them to bus stop. Running out of time and finding no buses, Ajay and Ravi stretched their capacities to offer ride to Bhanu and Kiru until Panjim, 15 kms away from our place, to board the bus back to Hyderabad. Bhan jaan wanted to stay back with us but on other hand, he was worried about 22 hour journey too.

Saturday Night Markets

We dropped our idea to go to Arambol, 40 kms away and instead opted for the local Saturday Night Markets. This was probably one of the best calls we made. We went to Mackeys, the saturday night market at Baga. I donno why but I got feverish again. Then I recollected that I was never well during the entire trip in the first place. But somehow, the unwell feeling didn't struck to me until the last day.!!

Concert @ Mackeys

Mackeys was a big street bazaar bounded by Baga river. You get to visit offbeat, trendy, flashy and cult fashionable clothes, jewelry etc with wide choices to purchase. The biggest advantage is for girls who can dig deep and leave the pockets of their boyfriends empty. They will simply love that place and yes, we liked the girls who loved that place. We took a stroll and spent most of our time near a music concert stage, first played by Indian band and then by a bunch of foreigners, which we liked. We did some street shopping and even more of windowless shopping. We really liked this place and headed back to Anand Sagar for dinner.

We finished our last dinner at Anand Sagar, and thanked that silly srikanth once again for having let us know about this place. My fahrenheit was rising and ravi dropped me at resort. He joined others at Newtons, the supermarket nearby, to buy few bottles to carry home and few arrangements for our food in our next day train journey. I crashed in my room, dosing a pill to kill my headache. I asked my frens to wake me up when they return and they did. Shankar woke me up reminding me that we had only one more night left at Goa. That was a strong motivation enough to combat my illness. I won't let this night slip out of my hands. Like others, I wanted to make the most of it.

After packing our stuff in rooms, we went out again to explore another market near Anjuna, which was way bigger than Mackeys. It was around 11.30pm that we entered a light filled bright market, which was bustling with a nocturnal crowd. There were few streets in which only foreigners displayed their fabric and jewelry collections in shops. The local Goan sellers were fluently speaking in Russian and English, which will simply blow you away. There was this dance floor which we explored and hard rock music on other end. Pravin continued his endless shopping and finally, we all grouped and left the impressive market. It just set us in the right mood for whatever hours we were left with.

The Last Night

On our way back from the market, we suspected if our bikes would run out of petrol. Luckily, we found a local seller at past midnight who obviously added his extra costs. Petrol may not be needed to drive our bikes but it definitely burned our pockets. It was around 2 pm and we headed our way to Baga beach. Being very familiar with many popular streets of Goa, we knew exactly where we were going. We crossed the colorful Titos lane, parked our bikes and headed to a serene beach carrying our pints.

So here we were on the verge of an end of 4 beautiful days & nights. The crowd on the beach was calm but the waves were raging furiously with anger. The 6 of us sat on the shore, while Ajay was opening the pints with ease for us using his belt buckle. We all felt nostalgic about Goa, and loathed ourselves for having no choice but to get back to the mundane office lives on Monday. As usual, I threw the question to others asking what they liked in Goa. Everyone expressed their feelings and felt that this was the best trip they had in their life. This was Ajay’s first trip and he cherished it more. I summed up my feelings saying, “Goa is not about beaches, bars or fashion. The soul of Goa lies in the freedom it offers.” We had the freedom to day anything and everything in those 4 days. We had the opportunity to be truly ourselves-even Ajay did. I again shared the anecdote of that French Guy who met in Palolem beach. I thought, if a piece of blank paper is handed over to someone and asked to write few words about the “purpose of life”, many of us would write long essays and even ask for an additional paper. But I felt there would be few people, like the French Guy I met, who would simply leave the paper blank, which would aptly convey that there is no real purpose in life.

It was 4 am already and we didn't want to leave. We had to catch our cab to Vasco-da-gama at 5am and we are still here in Baga. We celebrated the last moment and wistfully, left the beautiful beach and colorful lanes to cherish those moments in our memories.