Go Goa...

First of all, I would like to wish all the readers of this blog a very happy and a prosperous new year (a cliche, I know). Before I go on with this, I would make one thing clear that this blog is not an attempt to promote any sort of tourism. It's going to be an account of my trip to Goa.

You see folks, I graduated from Pune and in all those 4 years of engineering we made many plans to visit this land. But somehow, it never got materialized. And finally, when my college got over (but I'm still in pune...working of course), almost the same bunch of blokes with whom I'd always tried this plan, made that much awaited trip and that too on the new year's eve. So it had to be a very special one, and thankfully it was.

I've heard that in the U.S., petrol (or gas, as you call it) is cheaper than water. And I guess even booze must be cheaper than water there. But to find such a place in India, where alcohol is cheaper than water, is, I tell you, a big deal. And goa is the place. To quote some figures here...You get a pint of beer for 18 bucks and a bottle of water for 20! You walk into any restaurant and no one will serve you water (until you ask) as it happens in most of the parts of India. But they will show you that menu card with all those fancy names on it.

After being intoxicated (also by the beauty, a pun is very much intended), we moved on in search of more. "we" as in the seven of us who were there. We were chatting and catching up on our college days and stuff...Basically, we were continuously blabbering. But one could observe intense silence whenever there was any real beauty around. I'll elaborate... I remember this incidence when we were moving around the place in the car and it was all surrounded by real head-turners (literally string clad), and no one was talking to each other (except for those occasional words of appreciation on the chicks around) but just ogling out of the window. Honestly guys, I've never seen such pretty faces in my vicinity, in so much of abundance.

When this babe-watching reached its threshold, we, like a frustrated and desperate lot also tried to get lucky with the foreigners there but in vain. Actually, we'd heard many such stories where people have succeeded in playing up with the aliens. So we had to try. But we thought that those storytellers must have merely boasted (I guess, that was just to comfort our failed endeavors).

In the middle of this, we got to eye some celebrities like Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan, also Karan Johar. We got to see some TV artists of Saas-Bahu fame (don't ask me their names). Finally, on the 31st night, we settled down in one of the shacks along the beach. And our table was about 20ft away from the shore when we had started dining. This was at around 9pm. But by the midnight, the waves started touching our feet. It was lovely. And the defining moment of this celebration was the fireworks, at the stroke of the midnight, when we moved into a fresh year. All along the sea line (that was visible), we could see the shimmering and sparkling fireworks, that went on for an hour. Nothing less than a crore could be the budget of this extravagance. I mean, it was fabulous. We were reasonably on high until this had started but we all got back to our normal states. And hence looking for another round of drinks.

This insatiable thirst only ended when each of us bought a bottle or two before saying a bye to this land full of fun and frolic. I just enjoyed myself thoroughly in these couple of days, spent totally in a bohemian fashion.