A London-based Gujarati tourist MONISH PATEL writes about the charms of his family’s recent visit to Goa….
By Monish Patel
MY family recently visited Goa for a family wedding, which was thoroughly enjoyable and very special. I have been to Goa three times previously, all for weddings. This time the experience was slightly different for two reasons. It had been nine years since I had travelled back to India and the first time visiting Goa with my daughters aged seven and four.
It was interesting to be visiting Goa again as a family, I felt like this visit I really did pay attention to the various places in Goa which we visited from the tourist’s point of view, and predominately to be better equipped to answer questions raised by my two children about Goa and its colonial history and various tourist spots.
One of our highlights of our holiday in Goa was a visit to the Big Foot Museum, which few seem to know about when travelling in Goa. I had not visited this museum before. I think it is a brilliant museum and wish more museums would be so engaging with audio-visual presentations to explain various exhibits to visitors. The museum took us back in time to the Portuguese era and walked us through what society was like, explaining heritage and influences the European’s brought to the beautiful state of Goa.
This museum really put into perspective the value of explorers and what we were seeing elsewhere in different parts of the state. A visit this time to the famous churches in Old Goa was even more spectacular. Our children were in awe of the magnificence of the site where the cathedrals and churches still stand as witnesses to bygone history. The magnificent churches were also a welcome sanctuary to linger in to save ourselves from getting blistered by the searing heat outside in the month of April!
DOWN COLVA BEACH
ANOTHER highlight of our Goa holiday was spending some time on Colva beach down south where with my seven-year-old we participated in a garbage and litter collection spree. We managed to fill half a bin bag, and while we did receive some curious looks from onlookers, we also managed to attract the interest from another London family, who kindly joined us for a bit. It was an extremely satisfying experience inspired by our daughter’s interest in the environment. I hope we may have inspired some others to try litter picking along the lovely beaches of Goa, it is surprising how much difference we can all make.
As we were getting ready to leave Goa I did spend some time reflecting on what our two taxi drivers had to tell us as we visited places. Our first driver we met at the impressive, newly built Mopa airport close to the Maharashtra border. He was a local resident, but seemed to have moved to Goa for earning a living. He sounded happy and positive about life, his job and the politics of Goa…as he was interested in the parliamentary elections coming up.
Our other taxi driver was a south Goa native and very friendly and reserved too, a bit of a cautious personality. He sounded a little anxious about the future, having taken note of the exodus of Goa’s original Portuguese- speaking population, particularly in north Goa. The changing identity of Goa was much more noticeable on this trip, perhaps because we were better informed and hopefully not full of pre-conceived views after picked up during previous visits to India.
RICH GOAN HISTORY
GOA offers a unique experience in India. Its charming, rich history is filled with diverse religious cultural festivals which one may not get in other states of India. In this sense Goa is very different with its cosmopolitan ambience of East and West influences.
I hope the next time we visit Goa it will still offer us many of its wonderful traditional experiences. There’s no perfectly content moment than winding up the day in Goa watching one of the most stunning sunsets every day without fail…we will come back to Goa!