Goa Trip Travelogue

Inspired by a Bollywood movie “Josh” in the year 2000 AD, a group of three friends, Raju, Rustam, and Sumit wished to chill in Goa for a vacation. The wish soon turned to a wish-list and then a plan after watching the movie “Dil Chahata Hai” in 2001 AD. When they initially planned, I was in my intermediate. We although know each other back then, we became best buddies by the end of 2003. We lived lots of memories together from pranks to movies and trips, study, crushes, heartbreaks are just a few to mention. With the growing friendship, the eagerness of the trip also grew. We did a few planning, bookings, and cancellations due to the different circumstances we were facing. Our wish list soon turned into our bucket list, and we became busy with our career and responsibilities. Though, we never stopped dreaming and planning for the trip.

Finally, after 19 years of bookings, cancellations and planning, we made it happen in 2019 AD.

On a fine morning of October 25, 2018, I out of the blue got a call from Sumit, who asked me to mark my calendar for ‘Goa Trip’ in October 2019. Firstly, I thought it as our normal planning, which had canceled for so many times by now. Though, deep down in heart, I marked October 2019 to DnD mode.

The planning mode started with some hits and trials. We initially planned to gather at Birtamode and start the journey to Mumbai via Train. I was planning to reach Birtamode by 7^th October, but Raju called me to join on 6^th and to have a small party at his residence. Rustam had already booked the ticket for the 6^th. I got a booking on 6^th at the last moment, and fortunately, we were on the same flight.

I am pre-occupied with lots of thoughts, an ecstasy of doing the thing from a pending list, with your old buddies, a decade-old plan amidst of Dashain vacation is a big thing indeed. I picked up Rustam from Satdobato at 1:15 PM and then we left for the airport. The airport counter for Bhadrapur was not opened as we reached the airport earlier (we just didn’t want to be late). So, after taking the boarding passes, we headed towards the waiting room. We both were aware that there will be at least an hour delay because of some VIP movements. We decided to pass the waiting time with our chit-chats and coffee. While we were having coffee at the airport, Kishan called and said that he booked the movie tickets for 8:30 PM at QFX Birtamode.

After waiting for more than 3 hours, we heard the boarding announcement at 5:15 PM. Oh yeah, we also had another announcement earlier for the refreshment from the airlines (a cup of coke and a packet of peanut; one of the best refreshments, I ever had  LOL).

We finally landed at 7:15 PM, and our buddies (Kishan, Raju, Sumit and Madhav) were already eagerly waiting for our arrival. We had to shorten a party time due to the delayed flight. We went to the movie “War” after the party. The movie was quite interesting and refreshing after a whole day waiting. We headed to Raju’s den for the night. Coffee made by Raju well accompanied our never-ending chitchats, and before we could realize, it was 2:00 AM, and we had to get to the bed for some much-needed rest.

We were privileged to have the delicious delicacies prepared by Pushpanjali Bhauju (Raju’s better-half) on this morning. We then visited Raju’s Fish Farm, admired it and enjoyed our time with nature. Later that day, we had a refreshing tea at Kishan’s place.

I then handed over my luggage to my brother Khagen at Charali and left for Bahundangi. I planned to surprise Pritam (+2 mate) on his birthday. He was not at home, so I had to call him and we visited a few other places, had a few cups of tea and good food and relived our old days. I then came to Rustam’s house. We wished Pritam for his birthday once again before we left for Birtamode.

It was the day of Vijaya Dashami. After putting on tika and getting a shower of blessings from uncle and aunt, I left for Birtamode. Everyone already reached there, as I was a bit late. We then had a tea at Pawan’s place and then five of us (Pawan, Raju, Om, Sumit and me), left for “Kakarbhitta” to join Rustam for our trip. We were excited about the trip and sad since Kishan couldn’t join us for the Goa trip due to his personal works.

We met Rustam at Kakarbhitta and then took a taxi to NJP (New Jalpaiguri). We left quite early to save ourselves from unwanted traffic and vehicle issues as it was a festive season. We had a booking from NJP to LTT (Lokmanyatilak) via LTT express. I was super excited for my very first journey via train!

We reached NJP at around 7:30 PM, bought SIM cards with a month of the data package for all of us. And we had one of the horrible dinners in our lifetime there :D. As we had plenty of time for a train, we spent our time with chitchats, roaming, and coffee (it was horrible too); though, it worked in slightly chilled weather of the place.

The train was supposed to arrive at 11:50 but it was 5 minutes earlier on a different platform. We hopped into the train and it left at around 12:00 AM. We went to bed and had some much-needed rest after a long tiring day. I didn’t let my jacket off, as our compartment was quite cold as the AC was fully functional.

After the morning rituals, we had a cup of refreshing black tea (It tasted heaven after yesterday’s horrible coffee). We were expecting a great view from the window but, we could only see the heartbreaking scene of flooded Bihar. We had our mediocre breakfast and ordered lunch. We decided to pass the spare time on the train by playing marriage (famous card game). Playing cards and munching snacks in between, accompanied by a great group of friends and never-ending chitchats was real fun.

The Matka tea we had on that day was mesmerizing. Whenever we got a chance, we stepped out of the train, captured those moments in photographs, and tried some local foods (if available).

We had a little companion in our compartment: a cute and adorable little boy with his mom. Whenever we got something to eat, we offered him some too. This reminded me of the story I read during my school days “Mero Saano Sathi”.

This day went on perfectly, from lunch to dinner and the in-between snacks as well. We spent an awesome day on a train.

We started the day with Idli and Sambar at Itarsi station, took some photographs, and came back to our compartment. After giving the order for lunch, we started playing cards. We were again looking for Matka tea, but couldn’t find any. We continued card games after lunch as well. Oh, one more thing, we took a picture with Gabbar at Bhusawal Mandal that day. Yes! You read it right. Check the picture below

We arrived at LTT Mumbai at 8:30 PM. We hadn’t planned anything about this night in Mumbai.

We booked a cab after getting out of the station and asked the cab driver to take us to any nice hotel around. He took us to one of the hotels in Bandra, which we didn’t prefer to stay. We got off the cab and tried to find a hotel on our own, but the cab driver kept on following us. The reason was, a cab driver gets a commission if his passengers stay in a hotel they recommend. He followed us to the next hotel. We were so annoyed and have to shout at him for troubling us. The hotel we found was not taking our bookings as they have to pay INR 500 to the cab driver and we desperately needed a hotel. The hotel manager suggested we be back after half an hour, and we left for dinner. With all these uncertainties and tiring time, at least we got to treat ourselves with the delicious dinner. We had to be back to the same hotel to check-in after our 1 hour hard trying to find a good hotel nearby.

This night will always be remembered, for sure.

I woke up quite earlier at around 6:00 AM. Rustam and I went to have a cup of tea. The street-side tea was fabulous and was the only marvelous tea during our journey. I tried to book the cruise from Mumbai to Goa. Unfortunately, it was sold out and not available for the next two days.

Later, all of us headed towards the same tea stall to have another cup of tea. We left all the baggage at the hotel and booked a cab for Siddhivinayak darshan.

When we stepped into the cab, we did not think that the cab driver would also be so nice and humble (Last day’s experience was not that good). While on the way to Siddhivinayak, we booked the same cab for the entire Mumbai trip for that day and for the Mumbai to Goa trip for that night.

We started the day by visiting Siddhivinayak temple, worshipped there and after getting the blessing from Siddhivinayak, the cab driver (Pradeep) took us for the great street-side breakfast. He was a nice guy and we talked throughout the journey. Most interestingly, his girlfriend (Bharti) kept on calling him every now and then and he was trying to convince her on almost every call. He had a specific tone to address his girlfriend (Bhaaaaaaarti). Their discussion started with WhatsApp DP and then to several other kinds of stuff. We enjoyed their melodramas. During the entire Goa trip, if we find anything annoying or interesting we used to call Bhaaaaaartii. The plan was to roam around Mumbai throughout the day and leave for Goa at 5:00 PM.

We headed towards the Gateway of India, spent some good time, took the pictures and left for Marine drive, some gardens, Haji Ali dargah, and several other places. Pradeep also showed us the Ambani house and several other renowned buildings, houses, and hospitals on our way. Pradeep left us at the hotel at 4:00 PM and went for the regular checkup of his cab. We got refreshed, had some food, and were ready to hit the road trip from Mumbai to Goa.

The trip was quite fascinated and inspired by ‘Dil Chahata Hai’ movie (after all, the plan got life, after watching it). We also had a discussion and small conflict at the beginning and was sorted immediately as it was pre-planned. At sometimes I felt like it just added some spice to our journey.  We got into the cab at around 5:30 PM and the 600 KM by road journey got started. We loaded the cab with some snacks, water bottles, and cold drinks.

We had a very nice dinner at 11:00 PM on the roadside dhawa. We went through the Jungles, hills, and plain road. Few of us got asleep on the car but Om and I were awake throughout the journey.

At around 4:00 AM, we reached to an open place with a tea stall and took a power nap till 5:30. Got refreshed, had tea, breakfast and then, left for Goa. We had to wait for about half an hour on the RTO office for the permission.

We had booked a hotel in Panjim but we did not get any confirmation from them yet. Fortunately, two guys handed us a business card of their hotel in Calangute beach. We thought to try them and headed towards Calangute beach. When we called them after reaching in Calangute beach, they did not arrive for 5 minutes.

Another broker stepped in and asked that he will show us another hotel. We followed him till the hotel (500 meters away from Calangute beach). We found a hotel which could accommodate all 6 of us and confirmed that. We cleared all the bills with Pradeep and he left for Mumbai. After the refreshment, we went for lunch at around 12:00 PM and came back to the hotel and got some rest and went to the beach at 4:30 PM.

The first touch of the sea was fabulous and we felt it for a while, enjoyed it and came back after an hour. We walked around the Calangute beach in typical Goan style. We stepped into one of the travel agency to book our return ticket for 16^th October, as Rustam was flying to Manipur on the same day. We got the tickets from Goa–Banglore–Bagdogra via IndiGo.

While talking to the agency owner of Goa Trip Planner, he gave us some valuable suggestions and we saw a travel brochure with some amazing watersports, including Scuba diving.

We had our dinner and came back to the hotel. Few of us went to the beach again and returned later.

We woke up early as the trip was supposed to start at 7:00 AM in the morning. We had a cup of tea and were ready to dive into the sea. We reached at the pickup place 10 minutes earlier and called the bus driver and hoped into the bus. There were 17 people who booked for that trip, including us.

We had breakfast on the bus and left for Malvan (80 Kms north from Calangute) for the watersports. We reached Malvan at 10 AM. We had got briefings about the watersports and scuba by the instructors. After taking the token, one of the boats picked all of us and took us somewhere in the middle of the sea and we stepped into another boat for parasailing.

It was an awesome experience for all of us. (we paid extra for deep diving, which was not included in the package). It was ecstatic and we had lots of fun. After the Parasailing we went for:

• Jetski
• Banana Ride
• Speed Boat
• Bumper Ride

All of them were fabulous and enjoyed every bit of it. The last few seconds of the banana ride was marvelous and enjoyed the fall down from banana.

After experiencing watersports, another boat picked us from there and took us to another place which was aimed for scuba. As mentioned, the water was not that crystal clear because of the rain but it was good.

They equipped us with the weight and life jacket and we stepped into the sea. There, the trainers equipped with the goggles and oxygen mask gave some instructions and pushed us 25 feet down the sea. Initially, I found it a little harder to adjust underwater, but it was natural after a few seconds. I even tried to catch a fish underwater but couldn’t. The videographer took the video for around 1.5 minutes and the instructor behind me took me near the boat. The dive time was nearly around 3 minutes. This was something that we experienced which we had not included in our plan.

That night was Pawan’s birthday bash. So we went to Baga beach for celebration. We enjoyed the delicacies, songs, and chitchat over there for around 3 hours with the view of sea and returned to Calangute beach. Walking on the beach, feeling the seashore for 20 minutes was another experience we really enjoyed. We stayed at the Calangute beach for around 2 hours and came back to the hotel at around 2:00 AM and slept.

Rustam and I went for a morning walk early morning, had our breakfasts, and purchased some souvenirs. The shop vendor was a woman. We purchased some sweets, cashews, spicy cashews and left for the hotel, kept that over there. Other friends purchased the sweets and cashews from the shop nearby the hotel and then went to hire the scooters.

We hired 3 scooters to roam around Goa. We went to Candolim beach, but the outside temperature was too hot that day. We went to Chapora fort where the movie ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ was shot and stayed there for a while. Because of the high temperature, we had to come back to the hotel. Parking was too expensive there, we had to pay INR 50 per scooter.

We took some rest in the hotel and then headed towards Panjim beach in the scooter. We did not see the sign on the Mandovi bridge that two-wheelers are not allowed. The bridge was so nice and we enjoyed the entire view every second. After a while, a car driver took his hand out of the window and said something which we did not understand. When we got out of the bridge, traffic police stopped us and asked for the paper and said that 2 wheelers are not allowed. We showed our licenses and said that we did not see any sign. He charged us INR 1600 fine and left us saying that he was helping us because we are from Nepal. Then we left from there. But we enjoyed the ride on the bridge.

That was one of those another day, when Google Maps failed to show the correct path. After missing some paths and going through some good roadways we met again at the Panjim beach. We enjoyed the view over there and had the street food. As the street stall was well equipped for the digital payment, we were quite fascinated by the digitization over there.

After enjoying the night view in Panjim beach, we left for Calangute beach handed over the scooters. After dinner, we again went to the Calangute beach, stayed there for around 3 hours, and came back to the hotel to get some rest.

As Raju and Sumit had tasted the sweets they’d purchased, they came to know the taste was bad and it was already expired. Upon checking, we also found that the sweets we’d purchased earlier were already expired. So, we headed towards the shop for the purpose of exchanging it. It’s been difficult for us to find the shop as several shops had same name. Luckily, we (Rustam and I) saw the same vendor with whom we’d purchased the sweets outside the shop. We stepped into the shop and the first thing that she said “Tum log avi tak nahi gaye re dikra”.

We were quite surprised to know that she was aware of the expired items. We handed over all the items and exchanged plain cashews instead of those sweets and left for the hotel. Unfortunately, other friends couldn’t exchange that because the shop owner declined.

We went for breakfast and checked out from the hotel, booked a cab to roam around south Goa, and then, to the airport. The cab driver took us to Chapora beach for dolphins. We were lucky enough to see some of them.

South Goa was clean, nice and more professional than the north Goa. It was not in our wish list, but we were there and enjoyed the entire day roaming around south Goa.

We reached the airport at around 8:00 PM but asked the cab driver to take us somewhere nearby where we can have dinner. He took us to the Bogmalo Beach, we enjoyed the seashore again and had a nice dinner at the seaside and left for the airport.
We took the boarding passes, handed over the luggage and stayed there for a while. I was still in slippers and half-pants. After the security check, while waiting in the waiting room, I went to the restroom and changed the clothes. Some of us took power nap in the waiting room.

Finally, we got the announcement at 1:50 AM and got into the plane. It was too cold inside though I was wearing a jacket. We landed to Banglore airport at 3:40 AM and moved to the terminal 3. We separated from Rustam there, as he was traveling to Manipur at 6:30 and our flight was at 5:30 in the morning to Bagdogra. The flight was on time and we landed at Bagdogra airport at 8:30 AM in the morning.

We took a taxi from the airport to Kakarvitta and then took a bus to reach Birtamode. I met some of my old friends there, had the chit chat over the lunch and left to Bhadrapur airport. The flight was delayed for around 2 hours and I reached KTM by 7:00 PM.

And that’s the completion of our wish list we’d made 19 years back i.e. ‘Goa Trip’.