GOA


THE Mean Club
2005, A Spaced out Sea
The Rules - from the Origional Score
The Pact
 
 

The Trip by Raghav Kapur - As published in The Write Stuff

Nobody thought they would, but boy! Did they pull it off! A fantastic 7-day trip to GOA with a noisy, crazy and wild group of First Years, the President of the HPS of SRCC & the G.Sec. of SRCC single-handedly (!) managed to make the tour a phenomenal success and etched it in the memories of each and every one of us.

A chilly 18th Morning saw Platform four of the Nizamuddin Railway Station buzzing with anticipation and enthusiasm. The passengers of the train were given a hard time as our excitement was let out in shrieks of joy & tuneful(less?) songs which lasted for the entire two days of the train journey. Junk food galore, mindless chatter and a chorus of "GOAAAA" every few minutes alongwith several trips from coaches S7 to S2 (there were so many, that we were known as the noisy, mad group to passengers in all the other coaches including the pantry car), and the two days were gone in a flash.

Arrival at "Margao" provoked comparisons between the International Airport of Delhi and the Margao Railway Station! The weather was delightful and the first night spent in Goa passed uneventfully.

The next day, it was on to Calangute, and, the beach where a perfectly clean and dry group of twenty was transformed into a sand covered, bedraggled (and soaked to their skin through their clothes) bunch of ragamuffins!

An entertaining morning was followed by chaos at the Calangute Tourist Resort as we discovered (to our joy) that our rooms were along a single corridor (which of course meant that nobody would stay put in their respective rooms - day or night). A quick trip to the beach (again!) and then a fantastic cruise aboard the Santa Monica in Panaji followed.

That night all the rules, painstakingly put together by our trip leader - "maintain discipline and decorum", "stick to XYZ time limit", "be back in the resort by 10 p.m." - were thrown out of the window. Our corridor acted as all of the following - railway tracks, race tracks, casino floor (as we decided to play cards), pillow fight arena, gossip area...

The following morning was spent shopping and at the beach (yet again). The afternoon was spent sampling Goan cuisine (which was excellent) and the (in)famous 'Fenny' (which was also excellent!) at small restaurants on the beach.

Day Three began with a visit to Anjuna Beach's Wednesday Flea Market famous for its hippies, artists, mild crazies et al. A bit of History was in store for us when we visited the famous Basilica of Bom Jesus Church - the most famous building of Old Goa which contains the tomb and mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier. Next on the agenda were water sports at Dona Paula - an idyllic picturesque spot followed by a visit to the Cidade De Goa Casino.

The long day concluded with dinner at a quaint restaurant on the beach. And one would think that we would get some rest before boarding the train the next day for a long journey home, but we had other ideas!! The night was spent "bonding"(?) and packing !! Early the next morning the sleepy lot was bundled, bag and baggage, into the tour bus and taken to the Vasco Railway Station to board the Goa express back to Delhi.

Two looong days in the train followed where the mindless idle chatter continued long into the night until our fellow passengers got tired of us and insisted we sleep and let them sleep! Sampling train food & cold coffee (yes - specially made COLD COFEE) , fever, upset stomachs (!) and some bad throats later we finally arrived at a chilly Nizamuddin Railway Station and bade tearful(!) good-byes (even though we would see each other in 2 days' time!!)

It had been a memorable trip. Hats off to Muku D. (!) and Bhutu (!) for bearing (and surviving) a wild, enthu. And crazy lot & letting us have the time of our lives!! Thanks guys!! GO HPS!!
 
 


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