Goa anecdotes
We are back after the masti-bhara Goa trip. Now it’s time to share some of the stories from the trip. I, Samik, Raj and Jamatia made the trip. Our friend Dion took the pain to keep us at his home in Margaon. I had suggested to the other three to gift a phenyl bottle to Dion while leaving from Goa. We really made a mess of the bathroom that we were using. The sands from beaches blocked the outlet for five days and Samik’s unhygienic practices contributed to the mess.
Stay at Dion’s home was really homely. Aunty made us feel like home and she made it sure we have a memorable stay in Goa. Dion was always sleeping not concerned whether his ‘state guests’ were feeling comfortable or not, though aunty made it sure that the four food-sinks are getting their daily dosage of nutrition. In between, there was Dion’s father’s birthday. Some of Dion’s cousins, uncles and aunts had come. There were lots of talks and of course loads to eat. The talks included pouring out all the college gossips about Dion to his family. All in all we spent a wonderful six days at Dion’s place. For that a note of thanks to Dion for bearing with us and regards to his family. Here I would also like to thank Nandan, our 2nd year junior who took us around the places in and around Panjim, his hometown. Together we enjoyed a lot. The trip also contributed to Nandan’s personality development through what Dion termed as ‘male bonding’. Isn’t it Nandan??
26 Sep: Palolem beach
Some years back I read in an article of a newspaper that changing the modus operandi of the process of excretion is also one of the causes for loose motions. That’s what happened with Raj. The first thing he did when we reached Cannacona bus stand near Palolem beach, was to look for a 'sulabh sochalaya'. Raj couldn’t adjust to the western style in Dion’s home. The commode was small for him to try the Indianised style on the western platform like the patriotic Santa-Banta. From there on Raj was given a new name, the Haggu Bhai. He took five minutes in all and then we were off to the beach.
28 Sep: A Chinese restaurant, Margaon
I and Jamatia went along with Dion to his favorite Chinese food restaurant to get some parcel of rice and chicken for dinner. Already there were many aluminum foil parcels at home but Dion feared they will be less, rightly so. At the restaurant all from the manager to the waiters were chinky; Dion says they are from Tibet. Chinky are the people with round face, small eyes and flat nose for those who don’t know. Jamatia is also a chinky, so the chinkies of the restaurant started staring at him as him they are seeing someone from their homeland.
Not only in the restaurant but everywhere we went people didn’t stop staring at us. Jamatia looked someone from the Far East and all the hawkers would come up to him to sell their stuffs taking him for a foreigner. There was another foreigner with us!! Yes Raj had turned even darker under the Goa sun and his weird dresses and head-gears made him look someone from the African continent. Raj’s reaction to comments on his get up; “jaisa desh waisa bhesh”.
29 Sep: Benaulim beach
Benaulim is a local beach of Margaon just ten minutes from Dion’s home. We planned to lazily spend our full day on the beach playing football, reading books or just soaking up some sun. In the afternoon we went to one restaurant named Pedro for lunch. For the dessert I ordered a ‘banana fitter’. Normally desserts arrive fast but the waiter was making considerable amount of delay to bring my dessert. Finally when it arrived, what was I getting to eat; banana cut into long slices and then fried in refined oil with a coating of flour. It was really bad, even the banana had become tasteless. As they say in our college “pura kela ho gaya”. What’s the morale of the story?? When you try out a new stuff, try to collect some information about it beforehand. I should have asked the waiter about the composition of the ‘banana fitter’.
Dion’s home
Aah this thing happened throughout our stay at Dion’s home. Whenever aunty will offer us something, Samik would have his own over-dramatized way of giving a reply. When aunty would ask us if the food was enough and do we need more, Samik would say in an exaggerated way “no no no aunty….”. His exclamatory ‘no’ was so prolonged that aunty would take it for a NO and she will ask us to take more of the chicken, fish, curry or other dishes she prepared. Then Samik’s sentence came to an end “no no no aunty, its more than enough. We don’t want more. Thanks.”
More about Samik, well he takes bath everyday but his cloths, he will not be able to recollect when the last time was his pair of jeans or shirt given a proper wash. But amazingly he maintained a decent level of hygiene at Dion’s house and made it a point to smell good at the breakfast or dinner with the fragrance of his god-knows-how-old talcum powder.
In the case with Raj, he carried his Amway kit wherever he went. So he was as always 'amway neat and tidy'. I was always forgetting to buy a soap so all the days I was using my Garnier shampoo as my soap bar.
1 Oct: CSTM Mumbai
‘Looks can be deceptive’ and it almost cost Samik some hundred bucks. Actually Samik was asked to show his ticket to which he duly obliged. But the TTE threw a suspicious stare at him. Samik’s receding hairline made him to look more than a 21 years young lad in the eyes of the TTE. Finally Samik showed him his college I-card to confirm he is infact a young lad not a bald old man!! That was a close shave, thanks to the I-card being with him.
