Go Goa and Always Go Goa

Goa, The Place to Be in 💙

     Travelling. One word and the swarm of feelings it carries. It's delightful to move somewhere as something on this Earth and even more joyous to move places and places in quest of self. To Travel isn't actually a verb but a noun. Poetically so. It is essential for the soul to Travel and find likings or similarities in this vast sphere we all are a part of. Travelling breathes life to the monotonicity of our lives. 

     I've found my love in many places apart from home. Home being the need and goal of life, of course, is a part of life. But these places actually hold significance just in taste with Home. One such is Goa. 

     Goa. The word, the place, the geography and all adjectives of happiness merge skillfully in. It's a gifted place. People tend to portray various notions and reasons for travelling this particular land. Some have the reason for enjoying surf-sun-and-sand. Some have their adolescence blooming at it's fullest (yeah, tongue-in-cheek), Some want romantic escapades with the love of their lives while some just want a solo honeymoon with their own self. I travelled Goa alongside the two loves of my life. Mom and Dad. The clichéd family trip that every youngster dreads ceaselessly, without knowing the amount of togetherness it has to offer to the respective families. I'm lucky I'm not a stereotypical teen that way. 

     We started off from the Airport, clicking our beautiful selves in the coolest attires and gearing up for the journey waiting to unfold. I remember (though it's not that safeguarded in the box of the Past) overlooking beneath the window of my seat as we supposedly (obviously 😁) inched close to Goa. I could see the waters embracing the sunlitness at 12:15 pm of the hour. All I suddenly felt was surreality. I couldn't believe my luck of having reached at what stands to be the dream tour for many. And finally, amidst all the butterflies in my stomach, we stood, all smiles, on the land of Goa.

     Airport fatigue is pretty the thing now. So we reached the resort in the car. We rested for a while. The resort was much closer to the famous Candolim Beach. It was merely a 2-minutes walk on the lovely sands and there we were. I finally saw the Candolim Beach, of what, until then, I had only witnessed cute postcards of. Just imagine the feeling ! I had felt happiness and also seen it several times over. But in the Goa Winds, I was breathing Happiness. Yes, sorry oxygen. And seeing my parents enjoying the beach was even more rewarding. Money can indeed buy pleasures, if not create. They walked hand in hand, and as I watched all this, I had my own fun of running alongside the waves. Candolim Beach served the best of memories that day. The cute "all hands held" family walk also took place by the beach and I was more than pleased to have the joy creep fully in me.

     Goa also means shopping to Fashion Freaks like me. So the next day, on my special request, was spent at the Mapusa Market. Mapusa is a small village in Goa but is more developed than cities. Locals call it "Mapsa",  which I had a nervous moment coming to terms with. Because why do they pronounce it wrong ?! But then, that's their dialect. The Goan Dialect is all of ease. Everywhere you'll hear "O' Jesus ! Idhar Sab kuch chal jaae. Jyaada nai mangta". Goans are definitely large hearted, which was depicted in Mapusa. We bought stocks of Kaaju-s (cashews) and clothes/stuff for me and family. We travelled to Mapusa in the local Goa bus to get it's experience. And in just 12/- , we witnessed the beautiful Baga Beach on the way and many Palms. Speaking of which, the roads of Goa have their own story to tell. And to each traveller, it is different. 💫

     The next day, we hired means of transport and travelled to the utterly beautiful and loved, South Goa. The South Goa has the Miramar Beach, the radiant Dona Paula Memorial, The Basilica of Bom Jesus and the famous Mangueshi Mandir. The very first in cue was the Miramar Beach. The Beach faces Fort Aguada and Goa central jail. We had the ride in the big ferry boat. It was called the "Dolphin Ride". The Miramar Beach joins the Arabian Sea. We were taken almost midway and spotted dolphins as well. The ferry boat had all music and merriment, with the assistants making the onlookers dance to the beats of the music. To which we all had a nod and a jig.  Later, we witnessed the Dona Paula Memorial. It is a high spot which can be climbed through the stairs. And the Arabian Sea is visible from it. Legend has it that it is given the name of two lovers, Dona and Paula who had their luck in love but not togetherness, sadly. Dona Paula is my most favourite place in Goa for reasons which can only be testimonized when the readers themselves go over there 😊 . The Mangueshi temple and the Basilica of Bom Jesus are equally spellbound. The Basilica of Bom Jesus has the years old dead body of St. Francis Xavier. While the Mangueshi Mandir depicts Mahadev. Where I'm finally convinced that India respects every religion's feelings. 

     The day after, we took transport to Travel to parts of North Goa where we didn't pay visit earlier. Which meant, Beaches, Beaches and Beaches. The state of Goa is organized as having all Beaches in the North Goa and all the world famous monuments in the South Goa. We went to the Fort Aguada in the beginning. For the bolly diggers, this place is where the movie "Dil Chahta Hai" was shot. And its beautiful. It's an old Goan Fort made by the Portuguese (and do not behead me for wrong facts, if at all 😁).  Later, we went to the Morjim-Ashwem Beach, the Vagator Beach and the Anjuna Beach. All these Beaches were peculiar, lovely and breathtaking in their own ways. The Vagator Beach is also called the Rocky Beach, because it has many big rocks and boulders on it's shore. Everything is so picturesque that it would be actually disrespectful to just write the beauty out. One has to envision all this in being.  

     The last day of the Trip approached and I was so sorry for whining in some parts of the tour, possibly because of tiredness. I didn't want to leave Goa. We spent the day in some minor shopping near our resort and lounging in the pool area for the later part. Till that day, the Resort Staff had become our pals. So when it was time to bid goodbye, emotions actually did come out a bit. This is the uniqueness of travelling. You make new friends in life, in the world. As we finally packed bags and shoved them in the car meant to take us to the airport, I hugged the Resort Staff and promised to come sooner next time around.  The Goa trip, the boisterous, the so-much-talked trip came to a closure as I listened "Channa Mereya" while going back to the Dabolim Airport for departing for Ahmedabad, my origin. 

     The Goa trip and the blog may end, but the joys never do. They just have beginnings and promises of "See You next time, You beauty !" So, see you readers next time. Keep showering love. Keep travelling. 

Love, 

Naisargi 💙

A soul.