Goa - Tavelogue

Having been staying at a five-hour-by-train distance, having visited a nondescript one day seven years back, having that rare and elusive long weekend, and also having gotten married in the meantime, we decided to make a trip to arguably India’s top tourist destination – Goa.
Travel:
Konkan railway provides quick, relaxing, and picturesque travel from Udupi (from where we travelled) to Goa.
Cost: Rs 400 (approx) for a 3^rd AC travel, Rs 250 (approx) for SL class.
Time: somewhere between 3 hours 45 mins to 6 hours.

We reached Madgaon station (remember trains do not go to Panaji) in the evening and booked a cab at the pre-paid taxi counter. Though it is a tad bit expensive it is safe. Note that your GPS on phone can come in handy, it makes you feel safer and sure of direction.

Stay:

Advent of numerous online hotel booking sites have opened a plethora of options and confused a middle class to great ends! The search started long back. It included the already tested place near Calangute beach. Nice hotel but one not suitable when visiting for a relaxing time.

Studio apartment at Arpora

A blog led to an address of Capt.Dehpande at Arpora (north goa) who owns a studio apartment in one of the villas. Though one would think its on the expensive side considering its distance to beach, but for those seeing relaxation away from the humdrum, this is the place. The owners and caretakers are caring. There is a pool and the kitchen is handy for breakfasts or dinner.  

Resort swimming pool - pretty shallow :)

Back view

Cost: Negotiable, 3000 (approx) per day
Location: Right side off the Aguada-Siolim road

Day 1: North Goa

Renting a two wheeler is the best option for travelling around provided you have a valid driving licence. Your hotel guard, caretaker, would be ideal person to book one for you, else there are plenty of them at major road junctions. It is to be noted that petrol bunks are scanty and hence have a good track of how much you are filling. It is advisable to carry a bottle of petrol in the vehicle.

Cost: Gearless vehicle Rs 250 per day; Fuel: petrol is pretty cheap in Goa! (Rs 60 per Lit)

We visited Chapora fort, which has to be climbed through a rough terrain. The soft drink seller at the fort, who claims to be there for more than 20 years, says the entry is kept natural thankfully.

It can be draining to climb it in the hot sun so carry enough fluids. A shop at the base of the hillock is ideal for it. Atop the fort, (most unlikely kind of fort) view of Anjuna and Vagator on one side, the graveyard on the other is lovely.

View atop Chapora Fort - Anjuna & Vagator

Lunch at Oasis (advised by trip advisor!), on the Anjuna beach road was pretty bland in taste but decent enough for lunch, particularly after the scorching sun. I am of the view that any such eateries will do a decent job!

Unique KFC building at Calangute circle

After resting a while at the hotel, we headed to Aguada Fort, which however closes at 5:30 in the evening and thus could not make it. Drive back was good and we reached baga beach where we were ushered by the shack guys and ended up in one after securing the front row.

Cost: Rs 700 for two
However since it was early evening we ended up having dinner at a restaurant on the Aguada-Siolim road, the orange county. Lovely ambience, not so great food.
Cost: Rs 700 for two (approx)

Day 2: Old Goa

Driving 12 odd kilometres to old Goa is worth it.
Church of Bom Jesus, and the museum and Se cathedral are probably the most identifiable place in Goa.

Basilica Bom Jesus

Se Cathedral

 The road opposite Se Cathedral, leads to Adil Shah’s gateway (the last remaining structure), Viceroys gateway and church of St Cajetan.

Viceroys gate

Church of St Cajetan

The area opposite Bom Jesus leads to the beautiful remnants of St Augustinian monastery. It is worth the visit.

Ethereal remnants of St Augustinian monastery

 Back to Panaji via the riverside road is wonderful. The church which features in most movies is the Church of my lady of Immaculate Conception and is right in Panaji and will take hardly half an hour to see.

Church of My lady of immaculate conception

Trip advisor came handy to search restaurants in Panaji and the chart was topped by Ritz Classic. GPS and asking around led us to the hotel (on 17^th June road) which was brimming with people and did not have a proper waiting area. The ambience was good however.

Goan fish curry and rice is the preferred dish. The lime soda was the best we ever had (perhaps accentuated by the thirst of travelling). We ordered shark rava fry, which was quite a lot for two people. The quantity is really huge considering there appeared two papads for one plate of masala papad! Advice is to order after confirming quantity with the waiter.

Fish curry rice with shark fry

 

heavenly sweet lime soda with cherry

Ritz I heard is shifting to a new place in couple of months, but is worth the visit.

Cost: Rs 700 for two (approx)
Pros: Great sea food Cons: Waiting
We headed to Dona Paula beach which was decent. Bad roads lead to it but probably the movie Singham has added to its visiting value.

Ajay Devgn uprooted some lamp post in Singham I believe

Back to North Goa where Fort Aguada was waiting for our visit.

Fort Aguada panaroma

Its a good drive and a good fort to visit. The vast expanse of sea is indeed breathtaking.

We headed to Arpora saruday night bazaar and Anjuna flea market both of which did not begin, for it starts only in mid November.
A rest at the studio apartment and in the evening to Baga beach again to have dinner at Brittos. The place lives up to its hype. Again the quantity is pretty decent so order should be placed keeping that in consideration.

Brittos special chicken with salad and chips

Cost: Rs 800 for two (approx)

Day 3: Return
Back to Mdgaon and reservation in a passenger train. Train arrived late and was irksome though it reached Udupi at a decent time in the evening.
Cost : Taxi – Rs 1000 ; Passenger train: Rs 75 per ticket
Summary:
Goa is not just for the booze and party. It is indeed a nice place for relaxation if considered in that fashion. The Nigerian murder case had just erupted the day we visited. Apart than the brouhaha in media, nothing disturbing happened on ground. It was disturbing and surprising to see local signboards of major outlets in Russian, a testimony to the increasing population of tourists from that country. Goa provides a lot of opportunity for those who love history – Portuguese, English and local. Directions are easy with signboards everywhere and cooperative nice Goan people everywhere. Go to Goa to idly roam around, have good food and just relax.

Photo courtesy: Snigdha Mishra and yours truly

 

Technology - A Pai - Sarukkai debate

In the olden days, Indian women on requiring making a curry paste would embark upon an arduous and time consuming process of grinding various food components. With the advent of mixers and grinders the same process can be done with relative ease, thus liberating the woman of the need to be subjected to such a task and leaves her with much more productive time. Possibly now the time she has saved from her curry paste making process is utilized in watching her favorite daily soaps. That the keenness of this new task is so much that she would like not to entertain or engage with her young child which she possibly would have while spending more time in the older task.

While the first part of the narrative would have been easily relatable, made much sense and sounded practical, the second would have required some thinking, popped some ‘is-it-so’ questions and maybe caused reflection. In fact the ‘curry paste’ scenario presented above is stitched from a debate between two stalwarts – T V Mohandas Pai and Sundar Sarukkai.

The Manipal Conclave held by Manipal Institute of Technology had for a debate, Mr Mohandas Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education Services, the illustrious former Infosys mascot, and a well known TV personality who daftly handles TV anchors of the boisterous kinds. Opposing him was Sundar Sarukkai, Director of Manipal Centre of Philosophy and Humanities, a particle physics doctorate from Purdue University, an eminent philosopher and thinker of the country and author of several books.

Technology, its advantages were put forth by Mr Pai, armed with his statistics; who elucidated how advances in technology have removed drudgery of human life, how longevity (and average human height) has been enhanced, how travelling time has reduced and is reducing, how connectivity has eradicated starvation deaths in far flung regions and how life has become more easy going. However he noted that a few misgivings of technology have treaded along.

There was a man, who had been at the forefront of technology revolution of India, having an active public life taking on governments for wrong doing, indulging in opportunity and knowledge creation, engaging with masses on twitter, who drove home the point which we have all become conditioned with, that advent of technology has made our lives better and that being devoid of it is unimaginable.

Then the thinker spoke. Professor Sarukkai who began by telling that talking about ills and perils of technology at a technology institute was only ironical, craftily enlightened on aspects that on the first thought could sound alien but if pondered upon could help internalize the message. That technology commonly used today have been result of war efforts where millions have been killed (millions of women and children he emphasized as a case-in-point), that technology has led to disease proliferation like mad cow disease and that technology has decimated the human ability of deep focus.

The merit of the debate is certainly worth noting. The relevance of the arguments needs thinking. The debating point holds enormous value for all generations who are in throes of technology becoming integral part of life. Is it to be accepted in its present form? What should be done with newer technologies, how it should be done, and if at all something is to be done. For technologies affecting us cannot be denied, but being deeply conditioned with it could spell dire changes in the future.

Well, that was not the conclusion. A large part of learning experience from the Pai-Sarukkai debate was beyond the arguments. There were two gentlemen who disagreed in the most graceful manner possible. Humor was never lost. When Mr Pai pointed out that the microphone Dr Sarukkai was speaking into was a part of the technology advancement, the philosopher chose to denounce it further on. Walking the talk was exhibited right there in the most light-veined manner possible.

It is rare, in the new age debate culture as the television makes us believe, to be civil, to listen carefully, to be modest, and yet to stick on to ones views. One’s firmness of those views need not be expressed in a manner of shouting down, taking irrelevant detours, or rigidity to acknowledge genuine contradictions. The Pai-Sarukkai debate was a fine example of that.

Movie Review - Gravity

If there could be an antithesis of a movie title, this would be it. Gravity, which begins with three astronauts, one only with voice however, reduces to two in forty minutes and then for the rest of it features only the veteran Sandra Bullock. And for the whole of it barring the last five odd minutes, it happens where there is no gravity, in space.

Breathtaking visuals of the earth, the spaceship, the sunrise, the sunset as seen from space, capture your imagination right up front. Then the charming George Clooney (could be any other way anyway) captures the movie with his experienced, witty, and ‘devastatingly good looking’ (his lines again) astronaut. Right when a chemistry between a space scientist Ryan (Bullock) and the ‘driver’ Matt (Clooney) begins to build that Clooney’s character is lost in the nothingness of space. But the hope of his return is maintained.

And right from that moment it is Ryan all the way, battling a storm of space debris and her own stuck-up life. The battle of a lone survivor in adverse condition almost unimaginable for almost all of us (considering astronauts are a meager percentage), is the majority of the second half of the movie.

While excellent camerawork, technically sound graphics, have to be given great credit, the challenging role of performing while actually floating in the air must have been arduous for both the actors and the crew. For a survivor story, the movie is just perfect. It could as well be a

Alfonso Cuaron shows his genius in directing this movie with two veteran actors George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. For someone who proved his mettle in the third edition of magical Harry Potter, a space movie literally with a solo star is quite a shift and an excellent one at that. It will possibly sink much later that there was only one actor for the majority of the movie.

Watching it in 3D is an added advantage, but 3D or no 3D Gravity is the stuff Oscar nominated movies are made of. A new dimension altogether, a survivor both emotionally and physically, a superb supporting role, breathtaking visuals and technology, is what great movies are made of. And this is one of them.