Gigs goes to Goa
dear usam,
am very much alive. actually have only one extension cord which i was using for my pc
but nowadays have attached it to the cooler as the sun is beating hard on rkl
the skies have gone cloudy since yesterday and the temp has come down to sensible levels
guess have to buy one more extn cord. but u know how long i take for such activities.
here is a brief account of my even briefer visit to goa.
the scene set up by my friend, r k gopal, had taken up a job at goa in a firm called sesagoa
as the guy was working in hr when he found an opening for my kind of job profile i got the
the call. with the inflation and steel cos. going to the dogs financially i decided to give it
a try. as the fat co. was willing to pay air fare, got to fly after a really long time.
moved from rkl to ngp on the 9th of march; "celeberated" holi at ngp on the 10th;
spent some time at my place in ngp and a meal at my in laws;
my pa in law was once posted in goa. he was in the indian army, now retired.
so the layout of panaji, goa was told to me as last seen by my pa in law.
a very good place to spend ur time almost retired lifestyle,
of barges and jetties to reach from the airport at vasco to panaji.
one barge will take two cars, about five mobikes, some cycles and lots of goan characters.
anyways got drunk on the night of 11th with ngp pals and reached home at 1 in
the night to catch the next morn flight to mumbai at 7 am.
man the checkin time in the airports is really absurd- one hour before
the white crow flies. so hardly had my eyes winked that i was shaken from the stupor
to the reality of going to goa; reached mumbai by 9.30. called up rk (of h9 fame),
he had been digging wells all over mumbai, navi mumbai, thane, kalyan et al the previous
day and naturally refused to come over to the airport. we agreed to meet
on the 14th on my way back. guess rk will leave a cratered surface all over mumbai as water
refuses to ooze for the parched mumbaikers.
so all alone in mumbai and nothing to do. come out of the airport check my luggage
in the cloakroom and ask an auto chap - kyon bhai sasta beer kahan milega. all he
says is chalo. reached a bar called 'hindu hotel'. me thinks i will be the
only one at 9.30 am. but bombay being mumbai, two other guzzelers had beaten me to it.
the waiter sang out all the familiar brands' names which i am unable to find in other places
settled for couple of london pilsners and topped it with a can of kingfisher.
being on a lone trip really makes u observant as there is really nothing else to do.
got lost in checkingout the colourful kingfisher on the can, what with the red, green, blue bird.
the cashier was busy squaring up the last evenings earnings in a huge register
the other customer was recounting his failed trip to nasik. it seems as soon as he landed at
nasik, some communal crap had taken over. naturally the propogators of the nuisance were
unscathed, but a bystander got hit by a stray cop's bullet.
so our man had to make good his escape from nasik on the next train and here he was back
in good old mumbai drinking away.
the crowds seem to increase every time i see mumbai. am unable to understand how any more
can be packed as the island won't grow by much.
reach the airport again and board the flight to goa. the phirangs are every where
and i had thought that i will have the crow to myself in the off season.
the good thing about the airlines are that they insist on feeding u even for a 50 minute flight.
the afternon saw goa. the co. had sent a taxi and there was this guy holding a placard
reading 'mr. gautam goswami sesagoa' am in a car from vasco to panaji.
there is one thing about being received in this fashion, u miss all the slime, grime and crime.
a warm afternoon, dense tree cover, hot breeze and apparently a newly constructed short
cut from the airport to panaji. asked the cab owner when do we sit in the barge
he brought me up to date regarding the various bridges which have sprung up all across goa
long time back i had heard that the mandovi bridge had collapsed on the day of opening
itself. cabbie told me that the bridge had later been patched up and is now working fine.
i remember the bridge across river wain-ganga on way to bhandara from nagpur the brits
had built it for. i was those days in my previous job at bhandara. during the monsoon
of '94 the bridge was submerged for about six days. nobody was sure wether the thing would
be there after the deluge washed away. lo and behold after six days the bridge is still there.
the bridge had come with a 100 year guarantee from the then builders, of course we tested
it for another 10 years after the century. the bridges of yesteryears are quite grand,
the present structures some-how lack any identity and seem to be built with the sole
purpose of getting people across.
back to goa, the roads are clean, low dust levels and some how all the automobiles
seem almost brand new. it hardly appears to be a resort. the cubes have
engulfed the old style houses, big adverts for cell phones dot the road i was on.
the greenery appears only for split seconds in between the adverts. its like
the commercials have taken over the prime time and the prime time isnt able to fight back.
this was my first time in goa. every body i know seems to visited this place.
the co. put me up in hotel called - nova goa. okay for a two day stay at somebody
elses expense only. breakfast(on the house) will be at the poolside informs the receptionist.
me thinks why do u need a pool isn't goa by the sea-side. guess the chlorine in pool is what
every body wants and the salt in the sea cant entice nowadays.
anyways the interview was the next day and my friend dropped in after finishing his
office time. now what to do. he expected this to be at least my second trip to goa if
not more than 2. u remember venugopal and vinod yadav the chaps u had beer
with in ngp and when free entertainment had been provided by a surd with strange intentions on u.
well this venugopal has done well for himself and got a job with oracle at hyderabad.
venu had during the job-switch over decided to travel a bit. first a trip to tirupati
to thank the lord for the escape from rourkela steel plant, rkl and then to goa just
before joining oracle. with his hectic schedule he left goa on the morning of the noon
before i arrived. our man r k gopal (dont mix up the two gopals, rk gopal is the man on the
inside of sesagoa) had been for the last two days acting as the tour operator for venu and
another of his friends. naturally he was in no mood to repeat for me.
by the time we moved from the hotel to his flat the dusk had settled in. after he freshened up
we were back in the main town. since i hadnt checked on my mail both of us on gopals yamaha
searched for a internet cafe. the one we found had these small cubicule and for the first time
i saw that not only was the monitor screen behind a glass the thing was set flat under the
glass top table. fortunately the keyboard was in the right place. it was at this place
that i was able to read ur accounts of the trip to goa. vinento had to be visited, gopal
agreed to check up the location with the half breds at his office the next day. while
biking across town, stumbled on a folk festival going on. naturally as there is no
ticket, walk in apart from the odd trinklets which can be found in any mela across
india, folk dances were being presented. my disappointment grew when i found that
'bhangra' the panju's aphrodisiac was being presented. after the bhangra got over so did
the dances for the night. i think the only way to see an authentic folk art of a place
is not be in the same place. for authentic konkani folk dances dont move south of new delhi
the matter of dinner had to be resolved, we went to this sea side restaurant and then due
to the recent ban on smokin in public places had to shift without even the first drink.
saw this huge neon kingfisher ad which i think can be seen from everywhere in panaji.
it was then that i saw a barge on the water, so brightly lit that only if a person is
an exhibitionist he can board it. loud music could be heard even across a large distance.
this it transpired was the boat ride - a must for every tourist. the only way i could
have boarded this apparition was if i got paid handsomely for this goan torture.
went and had a couple of screwdrivers and a rich meal and crashed for the night.
the next morning was the d day. i had hoped to show off my feathers for the interview
but the director corporate supply an iit-d character was on a hard sell trip.
the cos. history - in 1954 baron ludovic toeplitz landed in goa(india)with the financial
backing of an enterprising italian, alessandro vassalo, he acquired the orosso dongor
mining concession in north goa and started a co. called scambi economici s.a. goa.
in 1955 co. renamed sesagoa limitada was bought over jointly by gewerkeschaft exploration
e bergbau, represented by eugene plotzki, and by ferromin spa of italy, represented by
paolo tradardi. the co. has been for the last fifty years moved into different hands
and with different collarborators not less than seven to eight times. presently
the co. is in the hands of the mitsui group of japan with shareholdings in india
and under professional management.
ate my teeny weeny brains for more than two hours and finally agreed to take me in
after the hr chaps were to make an offer. had a heavy punjabi lunch sans drinks as the
meeting with gm-hr was in the afternoon. the whole sham took up the entire day and
at the end of it all the co. offered me peanut shells while i had been expecting
cashews. i rejected the offer there itself but the gm-hr asked me to consider their
offer and reply after i reach rkl. the evening was spent driving around for some time
and finally to ur recommended hotel vineto. the place has maintained its old world
charm, but the new(at least twenty years) electric meter stood in sharp contrast.
the wooden floor, menu said, is built from a sunken ships wood. there was this
picture of a bird, hand drawn, on this wall where our table stood, the ambience
some how reminded me of phukus' room at h4. white skins occupied the place, the
only thing lacking was a bit of quite. am unable to bear commotions as in small
hotels, the thinking track somehow gets disoriented with too much noise. had a couple
of beers and some continental stuff. the only thing i missed in my short stay was
the rice with fish curry, goan style.
the night was spent in gopal's flat and the next day was the departure. just bought
some trinklets for my wife, and took the cab back to the airport. this place needs
to be explored well at a later date when resources are available.
gopal tells me that most of the goans still have a romance of portugal.
the chaps are allowed to have a work permit or something for easy access to portugal
do the house hold menial chores across the seas and return back with pots of money.
the social structure of the converts is still based on their superior brahmanical
ancestorage. some body or else couple of generations back has held a senior court
standing in the portugese regime and the pride of it stills kindles their hearts.
reached mumbai by about 2.30 pm, our man prakash bhonde of h9 was there. rk and him had
planned to be there, but rk had been delayed for some reason and was expected shortly.
prakash bhonde went and called up rk from a public booth. rk with the mobile answers
that he too has arrived at the arrival terminus and asked bhonde to search him out.
bhonde looked around the whole place for two rounds and still was unable to look up rk.
he finally gave up and asked me to do the searching. still no result. bhonde calls
again and both discuss the position. there were three phone booths on the left side
and a pepsi and a cola counter on the right side. both of them agreed. again the search for rk
continued. enough was enough. this time i called up rk. asked him to ask any uniformed
character for directions to the arrival counter of indian airways. pronto in five minutes we
see rk lugging it out on the hot afternoon from a distance. he had basically been standing
at the arrival of jet airways and sahara airways all this time. indian airlines has
moved to the new terminus and the old one has been handed over to the private operators.
i dont know why the two of them are made to look alike though.
the three of us spent the next couple of hours updating the news of people.
chia of h8 and about seven/eight of other ex-iit chaps including bhonde have opened
up a shop for networking lan/wan at mumbai. lets hope fortune smiles on these enterpreneurs.
was back in ngp the same evening and the train to rkl was the next evening.
i hope u have survived the ordeal typed above.
bye for now
------------------------------------ gigovvsski