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One of the best joys of life is travelling and I’m lucky to have traveled a lot. Be it the Dil waalon ki Dilli or Aapno Gujarat, I’ve been there and spent quite sometime meeting new people, trying out new food, experiencing the rich culture. It’s been a great journey all this while. It’s the beginning of a new year and summer vacations aren’t too far, I mean 4 months is less in terms of deciding a place and planning everything. It’s that time of the year when travel portal will be flooded with travel related queries to a new city. One of the favourite holiday spot of Indians is Goa. Far away from the riches and traffic of a city, people want to visit goa to enjoy the sun, sand and beaches. They go to Goa and spend some quality time exploring the place and rejuvenating. People spend days and weeks in Goa during summers and the New Years time.
However, have you ever wondered how is it like staying in Goa ? I mean just like you stay in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad or in fact any other place, ever gave a thought to spending few years in Goa ? Well, here I am presenting you Goa from a different angle – Aamche Goen. I had always heard from my friends that they had spent their holidays in Goa,but I never thought I would be staying in Goa one day. I’ve been fortunate to have spent a few years in Goa in the early 2000s. My parents moved to Goa and so did I, new place, new School, new friends and everything new, it was time for a new beginning.
I was residing in Margao or Madgaon as it is known locally. To be more precise I stayed in Navelim just across the Navelim church on the Madgaon – Canacona road. Our house was on one of the streets in the colony which had a few houses and a small park. The houses mind you were huge and had thatched roof – yes the red colored roofs that you make in drawings. There were glass pieces in the roof so that sunlight would reach during the day. Had expected the water to be too salty, but it was exactly opposite. The water was very good and didn’t require any purifier or RO system. Just as drawings, my house had a couple of coconut trees and once every month the landlord used to give us coconuts and lots of it.
Sky view of Madgaon. Bus stand on the left. Image Courtesy: inngoa.comI studied in a boys school in Madgaon just across the park near the bus stand. Well that was the first time ever I went to school alone in a bus. Language was the biggest concern, as they spoke Konkani and I had no clue of, but luckily everyone spoke and understood English very well. Guess the reason behind this is tourism. Moving on, the bus service is extra ordinary in Goa, with frequent shuttle services by – Kadamba – the Goa state transport service from Madgaon to Panji, Ponda, Vasco and Mapusa.
A couple of strange things in Goa were: first the bike taxi, probably the only where I had seen this. A dedicated bike taxi stand with pulsars and splendors painted yellow black waiting for their passengers.
The Bike Taxi in Goa. Image Courtesy: Wikipedia.orgSecond: the autos in goa had doors, so they would protect you from rain but that did make the auto congested. Overall the transport service was amazing in Goa.
Well that was about the place and the transport service in Goa from a different angle. Will write about shopping, culture and life in Goa in the next post.
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
