Travelogue: Goa

13th April
Sightseeing tour around Goa. I saw the oldest church in Goa, Bom Jesus built by the Portuguese in the 15th century. I know very little about churches. Ecclesiastical terms like altar, parish, church, cathedral, steeple confuse me. Hopefully with time Christianity will not be so recondite to me. Anyways one interesting thing was the body of St. Francis Xavier. The body is for display and one can clearly make out the features even after 300 years of his death! He died on his way to China, was buried there. When his coffin was opened the body hadn’t decayed! The tour guide also mentioned a folklore which says even blood came out from his dead body. The remains were then taken to Malaca Malaysia and finally brought to their final resting place Goa.

14th April
I cant swim. The sea is very rough. Its already high tide. And I decide to take on the sea! I negotiated with the local guys and bargained for a Rs 250 ride of the water scooter. For once wiser sense prevailed and I decided to ask the trained local to drive while I restrict my exhilaration to clinging on to dear life. And my! the first wave and NaCl on my tongue, burning sensation in my eyes. Then I lost it completely … puri tarah phat gayee! Once I got so scared I left my hand hold and pressed on the local’s hand.. further accelerating into the incoming wave!!! I kept screaming dheere, dheere mujhe tairana nahi aata .. I guess the 800 cc machine was already at its minimum speed. Anyways he turned and on the way back I enjoyed thoroughly since we were with the waves. All in all … if you cant swim, and the sea is angry the balls in the ass need to be a little bit more humble :-)

Later I was admonished for my temerity. I admit it was a bit too risky. But isn’t it better to flare up than to fade away. (That’s from Cobain’s suicide note)