If It Rains, We’ll Just Get Wet!

wet wet wet!

I’m headed to Goa for the weekend. I leave on Thursday morning and am back by Saturday.

Two really fun people who lived about 10 minutes away from each other for most of their lives without really getting to know one another met after a series of failed relationships and life incidents that left them pretty disillusioned till cupid hit them right between the eyes and they never looked back. They’re getting married in Goa, monsoon wedding and all, and the rest of us are going to cheer them on.

I’ll be back on Sunday, so it’s going to be a short trip. But it looks like it’ll be a fun one, and I could do with some fun! I’ve been feeling pretty horrid lately about a bunch of stuff, so hopefully, this will be the breath of fresh air the doctor would have ordered. ;)

Cheers!

Go-Ahh! :D

Annnd I’m back!

Back from my impromptu little sojourn to the most chilled-out place ever. It’s like everyone’s walking around in a stoned haze or something! Which wouldn’t surprise me, considering I walked into Martin’s Corner and instantly smelled pot in the air! I breathed in deeply and exclaimed to sis “I’m gonna love it here!” :D

And who wouldn’t? What with the delicious sea-food and their cheap alcohol and laid-back attitude, the place is a haven for a wannabe beach bum (I prefer mountains, but who can say no to alcohol and good food at these prices?).

I arrived at seven in the morning on Friday to cloudy skies and beautifully lush green landscape. I felt like I was in Kerala, the flora is so very similar! I was staying in South Goa, which is quieter than the north, the party-place. This suited me and sis fine as we are not really into the crazy party scene, and cos it was off-season, we got a very good rate at the hotel as well.

As there is no direct flight from Dxb-Goa and I had to take a connecting flight which basically meant I had to keep running through various airports from 10pm till 6am and was exhausted by the time I’d reached Goa. When I reached the hotel, I took a shower to wash away the grime of 3 cities and fell into the kinda deep, dreamless sleep that comes with exhaustion. I woke up around noon, famished and salivating at the thought  of goan fish curry and rice.

Lunch at Calangute

The hotel lunch, unfortunately, was a bit disappointing. I think what happens at hotels is they try to cater to a wider audience and so compromise on authenticity and opt for bland, safer food. It wasn’t bad, but not as good as the Goan food I’ve had previously (or since).

My sis arrived by the afternoon flight, and we headed straight to the massive pool at the hotel. The water was lovely and cool, perfect for the weather. The pool was surrounded by lovely coconut palms on one side and a massive bar at one corner. The clouds stayed gray and lovely, with a beautiful breeze  bringing us the smell of the lovely frangipani trees a little away. We stayed there for a very long time,  talking non-stop and jumping from topic to topic, running away with our thoughts and so into catching up after so long that we didn’t realize that we had become as wrinkled as a couple of prunes! When we finally got out of the pool, we were both hungry again. Dinner was at Martin’s Corner, where sis got super tipsy after a couple of sips of their very potent Long Island iced tea, or maybe the smell of weed in the air had something to do with it as well!  ;) The food was delicious, and and the conversations hilarious, thanks to the LiiTs!

Aguada Fort

The next day was mainly spent in North Goa and in the evening, we checked out St. Xavier’s church and then headed to Panjim to meet Haathi. She took us to dinner at the lovely Portuguese restaurant – Venite. Meeting Haathi didn’t really feel like I was meeting someone new! I felt like I already knew her, the conversation was easy and flowed just as easily as the feni!

At the end of it, she took us for a nightly stroll along the lovely Portuguese-style houses and I was so distracted with things that I forgot to give her the gift I got her from dxb. :( I felt like an idiot about that, cos I kept reminding myself to not leave it at the hotel… and I didn’t… I left it in the car. *sigh*

Oh well! This just means I’ll have to go back and meet her again, na? :)

Beat the Heat

I was so busy in the office these past couple of weeks that I’ve been working myself to the bone and then coming home exhausted and too mentally wrung out to do ANYthing else.  Though we’re supposed to have reduced working hours for Ramadan, I’ve been staying at work till 7-8pm on most days. Not to mention that it is hot here! This summer’s been the hottest and most difficult that I can remember, with temperatures rising to 50 deg C and lowering only to 40 deg C in the nights.

bit warm, isn’t it?

At work, I had no time to think! My boss was on leave and I was doing his work as well, so I’d be running around from his meetings to mine and then rush back to finish work and when I got home (late) and finally got a chance to catch my breath, the assault of all the emotions pent-up from my day  would leave me exhausted. I would just lie on the couch, surfing the channels continuously, not able to retain interest in anything. I’d fall asleep and wake up hours later, freezing to death, and then drag myself to bed.

I stopped cooking. I’d order take-away or eat maggi. I stopped exercising (other than the mandatory yoga in the morning to control the pain of overworking myself). I stopped cleaning. So there’s piles of newspapers stacked around the house, most still in covered in plastic. The ones that have the plastic taken off are those that I don’t pick up early enough in the morning, so someone “borrows” them and after reading, brings it back. I would have been more exasperated with that, except, I feel slightly better that at least someone is reading the paper and it isn’t going completely to waste. Plus, exasperation takes effort too, and I just couldn’t be bothered.

But thankfully, my boss is quite cool. He gets the all-work-and-no-play-makes-me-cranky mindset (he’s the same) and so he gave me a day off next Sunday (our regular weekends are on Fri-Sat, this being the Middle East). I also got my commissions for the last quarter, and because we did so well last quarter, I’m rich (for like, a month :P)!

So I called my sis and made plans to meet. I mailed Haathi and asked her how the weather was in her neck of the woods, and after hearing  how lovely the rains are and seeing my car’s thermometer rise to crazy levels and stay there, I decided to go to Goa for the weekend! :D

By the time you read this, I’ll have landed in Goa and be enjoying my welcome drink from a nice lounge at the hotel (I hope!). This will be my first trip to anywhere with just my sis.  I’m so looking forward to this!  The rains,  spending time with sis, meeting  Haathi, exploring the Goan landscape and eating the awesome local cuisine … can’t wait! :D

I’ll see you on the other side of this mini-holiday!

Stay cool!