Goa!

By Niyantha Shekar 5 March 2008 318 views No Comment

The scenes in the Hindi movie ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ ¹ where the protagonists vacation in Goa, best epitomize the spirit of India’s smallest state. Sunny beaches, beautiful Portuguese architecture and the opportunity to get involved in almost every kind of water sport were the highlights of my trip to Goa, a couple of years ago.

It wasn’t a perfect vacation, however. It was a high school trip - so we weren’t living it up by any stretch of the imagination. There were six of us in every room and the rooms ran out of water by our first night there. I stayed at The Old Anchor Resort, which was 35km away from Panaji, the capital of Goa. If you feel the urge to go to Goa after reading this article, make sure that you do not stay at The Old Anchor Resort. I had a sneaking suspicion throughout my stay there that the water from the taps came directly from the swimming pool. The one consolation was that the resort was a walk-able distance from the beach.

Goa would definitely be a perfect Spring Break location (if airplane tickets were not a problem): it has beautiful surroundings, young tourists and plenty of outdoor activities. On the first day there, we had to do the tourist thing and check out all the historical sites. Now, I am not a big fan of sight-seeing but I did enjoy some of the spots I saw.

We first went to the Basilica of Bom Jesus located in Old Goa. It houses the tomb of St. Francis Xavier who was a Christian missionary to India in the 1500s. The remarkable thing was that the body of St. Francis, which is placed in a silver casket inside a marble tomb, was and still is in perfect condition. There is a public viewing every ten years and if you do head to Goa in 2014, you are in for a pretty awesome sight.

We then headed to Fort Aguada, made incredibly popular due to the trademark scene from Dil Chahta Hai where Akash, Sameer and Sid sit on top of the hill and reflect on life. If you’ve seen the movie, I’m sure that’s the first place you’ll head to in Goa. Don’t forget to take your camera with you if you go there - it’s the perfect location for a picture with your friends.

The best part of the trip, though, was driving something called a Water Scooter on the Dona Paula Beach. It was wonderful, feeling the wind in my face and seeing natural (and other) beauty everywhere. Maybe I got distracted because of this, but I lost my balance and fell face first into the water.

Goa is a great place to visit because there is always something you can engage in. There are cruises if you are into that sort of thing, beautiful churches if you are into seeing the sights of Goa or if you’re the lazy type like me, plenty of beaches to lie around on and ponder about life, the universe and everything.

^References:

1. Dil Chahta Hai wiki

Photo Courtesy: technicolorcavalry, Premshree Pillai, Sulekha.com