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I realised why on my first visit to Goa recently.
The beaches of Langkawi or Pattaya may have the softest of sands, the best shacks and water sports in the world, but nothing beats Goa when it comes to the aura and festive spirit it exudes. No wonder why it has always remained the favourite haunt of newly weds who choose it over other foreign destinations to celebrate their love, as well as people from all age groups, who come here to let their hair down.
If you happen to visit Goa between October and February — the grand Indian wedding season — Goa is colonised by the newly weds. The new brides wearing the bright red chudha are a clear give away. Sometimes the girls insist on wearing it with the bikini on the beaches, making for a strange mix of tradition and modernity. When the year is coming to an end, it’s time for fun and merriment in Goa. It becomes a hot spot for holiday makers.
A must-visit for domestic tourists, Goa also ranks high when it comes to foreigners who throng the place during the New Year season. The Lonely Planet lists Goa among the top 10 destinations for year 2010 in the world, vouching for its popularity abroad.
For the young and old
My first brush with Goa and what it had to offer starts, not with the beach, but on a cruise down River Mandovi. If you choose to stay in the Goa Tourism Board hotels and resorts, you get a complimentary ticket to a river cruise.
You can also buy the tickets at the harbour itself and hop on to any ferry of your choice. I find myself the only single male in a ferry full of honeymooning couples. The chudhas are prominent in display as is the affection. But this is Goa. The excess joy or revelry may look incongruous with Indian ‘culture’ in other parts of India, but in Goa, the only one out of place is me, sitting alone, twiddling with my camera.
It is amazing to see how instinctively tourists respond to Goa’s carnival spirit. The young emcee on the ferry has to only suggest to the happy crowd to come on the stage. After a few moments, everyone is up there, dancing with gay abandon.
Besides making the tourists dance, there are several performances to entertain them, including local dance forms. But it’s the Portuguese dance that gets the loudest cheers.
The cruise is also a good way to familiarise yourself, not only with Goan culture but also with other holidaymakers. The cruise offers tourists the option to participate in interactive games and dance competitions onboard, and it is interesting to see people from diverse backgrounds take part in them with childlike enthusiasm. The cruise takes us down the beautiful Mandovi riverside, but it is only me looking out. The rest are busy with the activities onboard.
Unless you are staying in one of the several five star hotels in Goa, the only casinos you will find are around the Panaji area. A few found on the Mandovi River are very popular but often criticised for polluting the river. You can spend a night gambling in anyone of them.
If you want to experience Goan culture, its Portuguese heritage and have a look at its splendid church architecture, then North Goa is the place to be in. During Christmas, the churches are decorated beautifully and elaborate services are conducted. North Goa also has some of the most popular beaches including Anjuna, Candolim and Baga. These may not offer you as much solitude as the quieter beaches in South Goa, but they make up for it with their celebratory air of all-night music and dance, which everyone looks forward to while celebrating the New Year.
Also, not all beaches in Goa are worth swimming in. Some of them are deemed dangerous because of their turbulent waters. These are hardly visited by tourists and therefore, no touristy shacks are available there. But despite being isolated, these beaches make for great places for sports activities, ranging from soccer to baseball. A constant irritant on the beach, something I noticed not many sun-bathers seemed to mind, were stray dogs. They had somehow been accepted as part of the Goan scenery.
Each beach or resort in Goa is separated by large swathes of water bodies or vegetation. The best way to get around is by renting a bike or if you have a family, a car. Going from one point to another, you can enjoy the diversity of Goan landscape, which changes seamlessly from water to land, from rural to urban and from beaches to the forests, as you drive. The lure of the beaches is such that not many people know that Goa, owing to its location on the Western Ghat range, is a bio-diversity hotspot, blessed with rich flora and fauna.
Goans are a bit ambiguous about their Portuguese heritage. They are caught between asserting their new identity and flaunting their unique and rich Portuguese past. However, wherever you go in Goa, what doesn’t change is the Goan spirit of hospitality and joie de vivre. It is perhaps this spirit that one comes to partake. Goa, like Ernest Hemingway’s Paris, is indeed a movable feast, which stays with you, no mater where you go, and makes you want to come back to it again and again.
Travel tips
*How to get there: Goa is easily accessible by air from almost all major cities in India. It is also well connected by rail. From Bangalore, it is a 570 km journey by train and is 607 km away from Mumbai. Goa can also be reached by sea from Mumbai.
* Where to stay: The state-run Goa Tourism Development Corporation hotels and resorts are spread all across Goa. You can pick up a booklet about them at the
airport. These hotels make for an economical and pleasant stay with their spacious rooms and big lawns, but their service, like any government enterprise, is wanting.