Be it an employer or an employee, an entrepreneur or a professional, everyone knows what it means when 31st March comes... The nightmares of not achieving targets are like aww and the satisfaction of exceeding them is just wow !!! After a yearlong of turmoil, "break toh banta hai" and a New Financial Year starting with a weekend and a holiday on monday is just like icing on the cake with a cherry on the top.
We grabbed this opportunity and tickets were booked in tatkal.Thanks to IRCTC it worked for us that day. My friends were leaving on Friday evening. As I didnt have saturday off, I planned to join them on sunday. But they booked the tickets and I had to take a leave... !!! The train was at 10:40pm from Thane starting at 10:00pm from CST... but the train came only at 11:45pm at Thane and reached Panvel at 12:30am from where Janab and Rakesh had to get in. We were to reach at 7:00am but Indian Railways proved itself again....and we reached at 12:00pm... !!!
With India beating Pakistan in the semi-finals of ICC World Cup 2011, India were to play Sri Lanka on Saturday for the cup. 28 years of wait was to get over and we didnt want to miss the moment... We got passes to a place that displayed match live on a big screen...before reaching there I thought it would be a nice club/pub (as you would expect in Goa) but it was a mandap built in the premises of a temple... the mandap would have fallen if the winds were a bit heavy... we left the place only to come back in India's innings... Meanwhile had some relaxing time at the Calangute Beach.... When we reached back, the place was packed with people... everyone shouting and clapping... At times I wondered, if those appreciation reached the players playing in Mumbai !!! With different kinds of people experiencing those majestic moments, undoubtedly, the Josh & Junoon of cricket unites the country. After every boundary / six, everyone would shout and applaud but there was this one person who would stand up once everyone stopped and shout,"Jeetega bhai jeetega, Indiawala jeetega..." Till MSD hit the winning six in his own renowned way of ending a match, Hardik, Prashant Bayeti & me, didnt even move from our seats (lucky charm...) Superstitions are a part of Indian culture and we were no exceptions... !!!
The next day we hired bikes and went to the Aguada Fort and Baga Beach. Though beaches are my favorite spots to relax, water always terrified me with its power... I always liked to be at the beach and not in the middle of the ocean...!!! but looking everyone enjoying the water sports, I somehow managed to gathered courage and was ready for watersports. 1st Jetski... the speed with which the ski moved was just amazing... I did it with ease... no probs... "Bring it on" I told to myself... Next was a Banana Ride... a Banana shaped tube is attached to a motor boat and they take u on a ride and in the middle of the ocean, they turn it upside down... !!! Ok ok... I can do it... !!! We tried climbing on it and failed for the first two attempts because the waves turn upsidedown the tube, but when the third time it came down.... gone... the tube was on me and I was in the water... felt like drowning...even the life jacket not working... ghosh that terrified me to the core...and I said I quit... whatever one may say... but for me, it was doing it for my pleasure and not to show-off anyone...still two more rides to go... I went out of the water for sometime took some breathe... saw people doing the third ride... seemed simpler and "safer" than the banana, it was round tube this time and two people would go on a ride in that with a motorboat... but without turning the tube upside down... So I made my mind to go for that... and it was indeed a fun ride... And the last one was Parasailing... a parachute ride in the middle of the ocean !!! I always liked to see the view of the earth from top (I always take a window seat in an aeroplane, liked the spot on Chamundi from where the whole Mysore city is seen, even the view from terrace of my building and the 16th floor of my office) The view of the beach and the ocean below when you are in middle of the air hanging on rope and a parachute is both thrilling and enchanting... !!!
Once these were done, everyone was dead tired and we hadnt had proper lunch/dinner since we had landed in Goa due to some or the other reason... !!! So we went back to our room and on the way Hardik & Prashant ordered for Dominos... 1 Large and 2 Double Burst Medium Pizzas and a couple of garlic breads... !!! yum yum yum.... !!! Took some rest and went back to Calangute Beach...(walking distance from our rooms)... Sitting idly watching the sun setting and the beautiful ocean and waves... We made sand home (which didnt look like one though)... Prashant made one and Rakesh Agarwal & I made one... we joined both of them via tunnels and then called it Roller Coaster Ride cos of the criss-crossed tunnels...!!!
Come late night, we moved for dinner and then went to couple of beaches in search for some parties for Rastogi... ;) but to his bad luck...nothing... It was 2:00am in the night and I had never seen any street as buzzing as the Baga Beach road... there's the famous Tito's bar and disc and so many pubs all around packed with people... !!!
The next day we had planned to go to Palolem Beach 70 odd kms from our place... We booked a self-driven cab for that... the owner of the car told us to not to go so far as it was jst a beach like others in Goa and would be tired of driving also because of the ghat section on the way. As he suggested we went to Colva Beach in Margoa 25kms from Panjim. We went there with all hopes of seeing something different... but there also was a beach and watersports... but like the other beaches, the water there was crystal clear... !!! Bought some clothes for my nephew...(had received a threat call from home to bring something for him and his bhua, my sister ;) ) but couldnot find anything for Rakhi though... !!! From there we decided to go to Old Goa to see some churches... St. Anthony's church and Our Lady Cathedral are well known places... the cab didnt have a music system, but who cared, we all started singing and one after another classics came... Hardik, Janab, Rastogi and me too... :D :D :D
We spent some time in Old Goa and went to see the Miramar beach in Panjim...then to the Our Lady church in Panjim... went to Kamat for some tea and snacks and then bought the very famous Cashew Nuts from the local market...
We reached the bus station as this time IRCTC didnt work in our favour... Handed our the cab to the owner... but what we see is a dent on the side of the car... All of us wondered when and how it would have happened... and the owner started asking for damages... Rs.1500/- :O ... Per day rent for Cab was Rs.700/- and this dent cost us Rs.1200/- which we bargained for... !!! and we were sure these 1200 would go in his kitty and not for the damages... but what to do... we had to catch our bus !!!
In Bus:
I have intentionally separated this section...
Our bus was scheduled to start at 7pm which started at 7:30pm and reach Mumbai (Sion) at 7:00am which reached 9:15am at Chembur... !!! This is not the reason though for separating..... There was this group of people coming from a part of country (let's call it Part A)and among them was another person from different part (say Part B).... Most of them were drunk and seemed to be out of senses... They started talking about each other’s states and the growth and good things happened to their states and also the bad things about the other states.... It went on... and at times it became a heated discussion making other passengers worried... Then suddenly one of them told the reason of other state's growth and that touched me... He told the other state has progressed more because they valued their parents and respected them...while his state didnt... !!! This was unexpected from a gang of drunk people... !!! A sentence like that wouldnt be easily heard from people in best of their senses and here these people drunk and lost said such a huge thing... !!! Just give it a thought... !!! Parents are the key to success... !!! Their blessings, their well-wishes, their sacrifices etc...etc...etc... countless .... Everything is for their children... and today what their children are giving them... !!!
JAM
