Sunshine Part Deux....

So ya, the next morning I was literally up at the crack of the dawn because some stupid ass roster was doing its thing. I look outside and its dark, look over the other side and James boy is fast asleep so I try to snuggle back to dream land but the birds and bees had ganged up against me and make that a very difficult task. I finally gave up and figured I might as well catch up on some reading or take a walk, and let me tell you this, I think it’s a good experience to wake up at unearthly hours atleast once a year and watch the sun come up. I spent most of the morning reading and walking around Anjuna and then settled down at Munchies for a nice breakfast. Finally James stirred around noon and after a lot of this and that we managed to head out to Baga beach around 2pm. Once again I was in a state of awe when we reached baga beach..WOW ! I quickly asked a local kiddo where we can para sail and after showing James the intricacies of haggling we were all set to fly the skies. After almost drowning into the sea while trying to jump from the small boat to the big boat I was having doubts abt letting myself go up. But go I did, and man was it fun! Its one of those truly free feelings even though you are safely held by that industrial grade harness. I was a tad disappointed when my feet touched the wood of the boat although I was slightly queasy coz of all the movement. After safely making it back to the shore without any ‘accidents’, we went along to find those super fast jet skis we’d seen zooming around. Didn’t really haggle with the guy who had the 1200cc jet ski’s coz he was really cute and we really wanted to get on those mean machines. Oh the thrill of zooming across the rough seas and being thrown up and down by the lethal waves was something that I can express with words, but now I know why people are all for adventure sports. The guy who was with me was very sweet and even let me ride the bike for a minute or so once we were in deep waters, and I felt like I owned the sea at that moment !
So after all that blood soaring zooming around, we met up with Brr (who was pissed coz he was waiting for us for an hour) and ate and chit chatted at Britto’s. We made plans for the night to go to Hill Top, which was just ok. I expected more from my first “Rave party”, but I bought glow sticks nevertheless. We were there with some other travelers that James picked up somewhere along the way ( he picks up people like people pick up stray puppies) and had a decent time at hill top. But I eventually got tired of finding everyone who kept getting lost and was ready to hit the sack. Brr and me headed back and were lazing around and talking when James came back as well. So we spent a couple hours pulling each others leg and me listening to these two engaging in some pretty disgusting guy talk.
Started off the new year by heading out to Old Goa to catch some more sights and take in the lovely ride from Panjim to Old Goa. The highlight of the day was this small little place on the way looking over the river where we stopped for lunch on our way back. It was the perfect way to end an amazing vacation, lovely view and great conversation and a chilled beer ! We headed back to Anjuna but not before stopping at the Tibetian market at Baga to look at some junk, didn’t buy anything but I was pretty ticked off at the way they inflate the price of every little thing. A keychain for 200Rs was what killed my enthusiasm to bargain !!

There were many instances on this trip when I was so overcome by the beauty or the serenity of the place that I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad. It was totally overwhelming to be surrounded by so much beauty, and after a long long time I felt at peace with myself. If not completely, atleast I was getting there. The whole experience of not expecting anything from anyone ( like expecting ex to come and meet me ) and just doing what YOU wanted was a liberating experience. It helped the healing process of not being hung up on Ex and I think I am more comfortable about talking to him now than I was before the trip.

The ride back to Bombay was too great, but I made up for it but not going to work the day I reached and catching up on lost sleep and hearing my mom grumble about my tan.

Oh right, you’ll are waiting for my New Year Resolution …ok here it is….umm…actually I have given up making resolutions since I don’t follow them for even an hour. But yea, I do hope I have a year full of happiness, love and everything else I would want at any point in the year . 

Sea, Sunshine and everything fine...

After deciding and undeciding a million times (yes even after I posted that I AM going) I told my parents about my impromptu plan and was all set to hear "this is stupid, you can’t go like this, where will you stay? It’s so unsafe in goa...blah blah blah", but they surprise me everytime! Dad said fine, just let me know if you need anything in goa and I’ll get in touch with some people. All I could do was stare and then hurriedly pack my bags and get out before they realized what I was actually doing.
But anyways, I came to work and managed to find a place (after a lot of surfing and phone calls) in a family run guest house near anjuna to stay and bus tickets to goa. After that frantic morning I was all set to sleep off my fatigue on the bus, which is what I did.
Woke up the next morning to the beautiful morning sun and the goan villages zooming by and it was one of those truly blissful mornings.
Brr who was near anjuna came and picked me up from the bus stop and took me to Anjuna, and I think somewhere along the bike ride was when I actually fell in love with Goa. I had never been a huge fan of the place and always thought that there were better places to go to, but was I wrong or what! Those lovely palms swaying in the morning breeze, bikes zooming past on the small village roads, and quaint little huts and houses lining the streets how can you not like the place.
The guesthouse was like icing on the cake and was exactly what I was looking for. A nice relaxing atmosphere to chill. I was told my roommate was a guy from England was he was sleeping and the others hadn't moved out yet. So me and Brr dumped my luggage there and head off to have some breakfast and explore. I must say I was impressed with the variety and quality of food you get in goa, but I guess that comes from catering mostly to foreign tourists.
We went to Vagator beach and I saw the place where Dil chahata hai was shot and mainly went for a long ride around the area - ME LIKEY!!
After a nice long nap I was all set to discover anjuna beach by myself. Oh I should mention that I briefly caught a glimpse of my roommate when he was on his way out and all I can say is cuuuteee! Anyways, I walked to anjuna beach only to find there wasn't really a beach there, just lots of rocks and small patch of sand. Beautiful nonetheless. I spent some time strolling around the area and trying to be bullied into buying some really cool but super expensive nick-knacks. What amazed me there was the enthusiasm of the locals there, no matter how much you ignored them, they kept badgering you over and over and over in that amazingly accented English (which would easily get them jobs in any American call center btw).
I settled down in this place called Sunshine cafe, which had outdoor tables in small balconies facing the sea. After a couple hours, few beers and a watching a glorious sunset I was thoroughly relaxed and a little tipsy. I had always enjoyed spending time by myself and this just reminded me how much I had missed out on alone quality time recently.
Went back to the hotel, and found my roommate sitting in the veranda outside our room. So figured this was a good time as any to get to know him and thankfully we hit it off immediately. It was great to get to know other people and hanging out with them. I hadn't realized it before but it was something I had missed since I moved to India. We here are either skeptical about 'foreigners' or so much in awe of them that we don’t really open up and try to get to know them. It was a very interesting evening and we made plans to go sight seeing in goa the next day. James (that’s his name btw, since I don’t think he'll be reading this or will mind if I do use his real name) had rented an Activa (so adorable) so we were all excited about hitting the goan beaches the next day.

Ok sorry, but this is getting rather long so I am going to break it into two parts. Part 2 coming up very soon...stay tuned. :)

Better get some work done since I have a zillion things to do.