Goa - Welcomes Me Back
MOn Dec 16, much as I swore I would never take one of those buses back to Goa, I did! This time I took a sit-up lounge chair Volvo bus, not a rock'n'roll sleeper. Amit assured me this would be a better ride.
We took this bus ride because there were no train seats available, nor any plane tickets so the bus was for us. Oh there were scalpers outside the train station in Mumbai who were asking a fortune for train tix, but no dice.
We set out on the trip at 7:30 pm and arrived in Goa at 9am. Very late arrival. And even though the bus was much more comfortable than the last one I took where I was banging around in the back of the bus with no shock absorbers, for as many hours as we were in it, it was simply not comfortable. I feared the driver was going too fast on those mountain roads. I had a thought we might plunge to our deaths over the side of some mountain.
People's mobile phones were ringing all night long and I don't know if you know this or not, but Hindi is a very loudly spoken language. Many people think New Yorkers are loud, but they have nothing on Indians.
At some point really early in the morning when all the passengers were asleep, someone's cell alarm went off. Unfortunately when he finally turned it off, he only hit snooze. So off it went again and again and again every ten minutes or so. I have been very surrendering on this trip as I must be in India, but this really pissed me off. I lost it. I could not believe that the other people on the bus were just tolerating it and not saying anything to the person who obviously was the guilty culpret. So I started speaking up about it. I said, "Please turn it off." Then, "Turn that phone off." Then "Turn that damn phone off!" And then all the Indian people around him started poking him awake so he finally turned off the phone!
Upon arrival to Mapusa, we discovered that Anil (who works for Amit) had failed to make hotel arrangements for us. I got to look at my old reliable friend, anger. It showed right up. I expressed it calmly to Amit and then we carried on finding a place to stay for the night in a shitty hotel in Anjuna. It came complete with a poisonous frog living in the bathroom.
I noticed that I don't like to express anger in India (Amit is connected to me enough to just "get it.") It works much better to surrender. So many cultures and countries have invaded India over thousands of years, but none of them took over the Indian culture. India was big enough to absorb all their cultures and make them part of India rather than the other way around. So why should I try to change anything here? Expressing anger to Anil or even prefering that people not talk on their mobiles while on the bus is a complete waste of time.
Once we moved to a better room in Vagator, things began to change for the better although we had some interesting challenges.
The news came that the Israeli government issued a warning to Israeli people hanging out in Goa for the holidays that there would be an Al Queda attack. What to do? Goa which is usually filling up from December 15 on, was empty. The Indian government issued a counter statement assuring Goa was safe, not to worry. Who to trust? Israel? India? Government in general?
During the early evening before dinner, Anil was driving Amit to pick up a motorbike we could use to get around when he missed seeing a speed breaker. They both went up in the air and landed on their asses. Anil's head and arms got bloodied up. Amit received a huge gash on his right knee and many minor bruises everywhere else. What a mess! Luckily I had a first aide kit. I knew being a girl scout long ago would eventually pay off.
Despite, Amit's injuries, we two went to the Saturday night flea market and there were many people there from all over Goa. This market is even more wild than the Camdentown Market in London. I noticed I had the thought that if I were planning a terrorist attack, I would do it here. This did not give me a warm feeling.
The next day we heard that there would be no more open flea markets in Goa for the rest of the holiday season. Evidently the government officals of Goa were thinking like I was. The question remained should we stay in Goa or move further south?
We took this bus ride because there were no train seats available, nor any plane tickets so the bus was for us. Oh there were scalpers outside the train station in Mumbai who were asking a fortune for train tix, but no dice.
We set out on the trip at 7:30 pm and arrived in Goa at 9am. Very late arrival. And even though the bus was much more comfortable than the last one I took where I was banging around in the back of the bus with no shock absorbers, for as many hours as we were in it, it was simply not comfortable. I feared the driver was going too fast on those mountain roads. I had a thought we might plunge to our deaths over the side of some mountain.
People's mobile phones were ringing all night long and I don't know if you know this or not, but Hindi is a very loudly spoken language. Many people think New Yorkers are loud, but they have nothing on Indians.
At some point really early in the morning when all the passengers were asleep, someone's cell alarm went off. Unfortunately when he finally turned it off, he only hit snooze. So off it went again and again and again every ten minutes or so. I have been very surrendering on this trip as I must be in India, but this really pissed me off. I lost it. I could not believe that the other people on the bus were just tolerating it and not saying anything to the person who obviously was the guilty culpret. So I started speaking up about it. I said, "Please turn it off." Then, "Turn that phone off." Then "Turn that damn phone off!" And then all the Indian people around him started poking him awake so he finally turned off the phone!
Upon arrival to Mapusa, we discovered that Anil (who works for Amit) had failed to make hotel arrangements for us. I got to look at my old reliable friend, anger. It showed right up. I expressed it calmly to Amit and then we carried on finding a place to stay for the night in a shitty hotel in Anjuna. It came complete with a poisonous frog living in the bathroom.
I noticed that I don't like to express anger in India (Amit is connected to me enough to just "get it.") It works much better to surrender. So many cultures and countries have invaded India over thousands of years, but none of them took over the Indian culture. India was big enough to absorb all their cultures and make them part of India rather than the other way around. So why should I try to change anything here? Expressing anger to Anil or even prefering that people not talk on their mobiles while on the bus is a complete waste of time.
Once we moved to a better room in Vagator, things began to change for the better although we had some interesting challenges.
The news came that the Israeli government issued a warning to Israeli people hanging out in Goa for the holidays that there would be an Al Queda attack. What to do? Goa which is usually filling up from December 15 on, was empty. The Indian government issued a counter statement assuring Goa was safe, not to worry. Who to trust? Israel? India? Government in general?
During the early evening before dinner, Anil was driving Amit to pick up a motorbike we could use to get around when he missed seeing a speed breaker. They both went up in the air and landed on their asses. Anil's head and arms got bloodied up. Amit received a huge gash on his right knee and many minor bruises everywhere else. What a mess! Luckily I had a first aide kit. I knew being a girl scout long ago would eventually pay off.
Despite, Amit's injuries, we two went to the Saturday night flea market and there were many people there from all over Goa. This market is even more wild than the Camdentown Market in London. I noticed I had the thought that if I were planning a terrorist attack, I would do it here. This did not give me a warm feeling.
The next day we heard that there would be no more open flea markets in Goa for the rest of the holiday season. Evidently the government officals of Goa were thinking like I was. The question remained should we stay in Goa or move further south?
posted by Latihan at 5:22 AM
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