Karwar to Canacona (South Goa) is an hour by bus (about 26 km). Any bus to Madgaon should take you to Canacona. Like other places in Goa, Canacona is spelt and pronounced in different ways- as Kankona or even Kankon. It all depends on how anglicized.. sorry how Portuguese you want to sound.... or have a Konkani ring to your language. I wouldn't be surprised if Cancun, that favoured destination on the South Mexican coast is also of Konkani origin... and now twisted out of shape in Spanish!
A rather uneventful bus-ride except for the motley crowd around us. The language changed over the bus and more people now spoke Konkani and Marathi and less of Kannada. We stacked the luggage on the last seat and settled down.
A little chirping from time to time at close quarters pricked our ears up- initially, it looked a novel ring-tone for a cell-phone. To our surprise, we figured that the person on the next seat carried a cloth-bag actually stuffed with live birds!
A lady was curious which "gaon" (village!) we were from. To say that our city pride was hurt and wounded would be an understatement! More questions came my way- why were we in Goa, how long do we plan to stay, where would we stay and when would we go back to our gaon! It appeared the round of questioning would never end and I had a sudden impulse to nip it in the bud and come clean- My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist! But when you are in good humour, as you normally are..when on vacation, you don't fire salvos back! "Get down at Chawdi.. pudhe ahe, the second stop..! The place you want to go...should not be too far way!" she informed and got down from the bus.
The Lalit at Canacona is beautiful. "It's like the hotel at Disneyland!" exclaimed my daughter, rolling her eyes. The comparison is appropriate- the hotel is spread over several acres, the Portuguese style buildings are charming and the hedges and lawns manicured to perfection. The lobby has a Christmas tree with bells and whistles, an imposing staircase at one end, a memento shop at the other.....everything polished to a shine! A "buggy" (12 seater vehicle) takes you from the lobby to the main-gate or to the Rajbagh beach in case you are too lazy to walk.
The rooms are pretty and open out to lawns with a neat sit-out area. It is all tastefully set up, with the foreign tourist in mind. Little wonder, that droves of them flock to the Lalit and seem completely at home.
"There's even a window in the bathroom! Look! I can watch TV from the bathtub through this window!" my daughter squealed.
"Haven't you heard the Zen proverb- "When you walk, walk. When you eat, eat!"? 100 % attention has to be focused on the task at hand...that's Zen meditation for you! And you very well need to extend that proverb to other bodily functions too! Whoever designed that window in the bathroom? This is absurd...!" I stopped short when I found that I was talking to myself and the kids had drifted off to some other activity.
In a strange way, opulence and extreme courtesy in India makes us uncomfortable. We don't know how to deal with it- it constrains us and we feel restless. Coming from that Majali resort, we felt our hands tied up- now that we didn't have to carry that bucket around to get hot water anymore!
The food was pricy at the Lalit, but there was little choice- we couldn't find our Adigas and Udipi hotels for some wholesome vegetarian food nearby. Also, serving a cup of strong, "degree", filter coffee isn't their cup of tea, neither is tea! We tried multiple times and eventually gave up.
The kids had a great time at the swimming pool. I tried floating, but unlike the sea at Karwar, the buoyancy to prop you up just wasn't there. I needed a float and found one. My reverie was broken with a rough voice- "Sir, that float cannot be used. It is only for emergency!"
"Dude! If I leave this float now.... trust me, we will have an emergency!!" I protested.
A rather uneventful bus-ride except for the motley crowd around us. The language changed over the bus and more people now spoke Konkani and Marathi and less of Kannada. We stacked the luggage on the last seat and settled down.
A little chirping from time to time at close quarters pricked our ears up- initially, it looked a novel ring-tone for a cell-phone. To our surprise, we figured that the person on the next seat carried a cloth-bag actually stuffed with live birds!
A lady was curious which "gaon" (village!) we were from. To say that our city pride was hurt and wounded would be an understatement! More questions came my way- why were we in Goa, how long do we plan to stay, where would we stay and when would we go back to our gaon! It appeared the round of questioning would never end and I had a sudden impulse to nip it in the bud and come clean- My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist! But when you are in good humour, as you normally are..when on vacation, you don't fire salvos back! "Get down at Chawdi.. pudhe ahe, the second stop..! The place you want to go...should not be too far way!" she informed and got down from the bus.
The Lalit at Canacona is beautiful. "It's like the hotel at Disneyland!" exclaimed my daughter, rolling her eyes. The comparison is appropriate- the hotel is spread over several acres, the Portuguese style buildings are charming and the hedges and lawns manicured to perfection. The lobby has a Christmas tree with bells and whistles, an imposing staircase at one end, a memento shop at the other.....everything polished to a shine! A "buggy" (12 seater vehicle) takes you from the lobby to the main-gate or to the Rajbagh beach in case you are too lazy to walk.
The rooms are pretty and open out to lawns with a neat sit-out area. It is all tastefully set up, with the foreign tourist in mind. Little wonder, that droves of them flock to the Lalit and seem completely at home.
"There's even a window in the bathroom! Look! I can watch TV from the bathtub through this window!" my daughter squealed.
"Haven't you heard the Zen proverb- "When you walk, walk. When you eat, eat!"? 100 % attention has to be focused on the task at hand...that's Zen meditation for you! And you very well need to extend that proverb to other bodily functions too! Whoever designed that window in the bathroom? This is absurd...!" I stopped short when I found that I was talking to myself and the kids had drifted off to some other activity.
In a strange way, opulence and extreme courtesy in India makes us uncomfortable. We don't know how to deal with it- it constrains us and we feel restless. Coming from that Majali resort, we felt our hands tied up- now that we didn't have to carry that bucket around to get hot water anymore!
The food was pricy at the Lalit, but there was little choice- we couldn't find our Adigas and Udipi hotels for some wholesome vegetarian food nearby. Also, serving a cup of strong, "degree", filter coffee isn't their cup of tea, neither is tea! We tried multiple times and eventually gave up.
The kids had a great time at the swimming pool. I tried floating, but unlike the sea at Karwar, the buoyancy to prop you up just wasn't there. I needed a float and found one. My reverie was broken with a rough voice- "Sir, that float cannot be used. It is only for emergency!"
"Dude! If I leave this float now.... trust me, we will have an emergency!!" I protested.
No comments:
Post a Comment