Our quest for exclusively vegetarian eat-outs took us to "Palolem". There are none. Vegetarianism will soon be just as extinct as the animals people feed on! We settled down for pizzas at a shack leading to the beach- at least one meal can be paid in Indian rupees and not in Euros... as at the Lalit!
Doubts assail the vegetarian at every step. The owner was truly dumbfounded with some of our questions- "Do you use the same oil to fry fish and finger chips?" He vaguely nodded his head one way and midway changed the direction. It appeared prudent not to try anything extravagant. Pizza was good enough. If we are still hungry, we can always dig into a Baskin Robbins ice-cream across the street.
We've never heard of Palolem. But word of mouth has made this place famous- especially in UK and USSR, we're told. Tourists have taken over the place. Shops sell curios of every kind: T-shirts -with "om" and "I love Goa" across them, jute bags with garish images of Buddha and Ganesha, Indian wear and other trinkets.
I asked for a book on Goa with Mario Miranda's illustrations and never found one. It would have made perfect business sense to sell Mario's works now (Mario passed away two weeks ago and was best known for his cartoons on Goa).
We like to observe foreign tourists- we wonder what brings them to India, how they manage in places which are not tourist friendly and above all, how they put up with the lack of restrooms! Here we are, having used the restroom for the last time at home in Bangalore; we plan to hold it all..packed nicely... till we get home in a few days time! Just kiddin'..but you get the drift. You obviously need a different strategy if you are coming from say.. the UK, especially if it's a long holiday and you are going to be on the move constantly.
One such tourist sat at the next table. He fished out two things from his backpack- A Lonely Planet book on India and this huge plastic bag.. filled with about 30-40 garlic bulbs! Curiously, he proceeded to remove one full garlic bulb, placed it in another plastic bag and pounded it patiently. Once the food was on his table, he took the garlic slivers, spread it on the side-dish and was soon lost in the meal and the book.
Garlic is known to keep ghosts away all right, but with so much of garlic, he's sure to scare the daylights out of most living people!
We did go to Baskin Robbins and had a tough time picking the right flavours for 8 kids now. If you're wondering how the count increased, we were joined by a fourth family at the Lalit. We ordered litchi, changed it to black currant, corrected it to pista and changed our mind back to litchi.
A foreign tourist arrived with a child strapped to his back. He unstrapped the child, placed it on the chair and got her a cup of ice-cream. To our horror, the child-probably about 2 years- had no clothes at all. Can I try this stunt at Disneyland Paris? I agree that this is India and enough and more people go without clothes. But that's not by choice. Next time you go to Baskin Robbins, not only do you need to sanitize your hand, but be sure to squeeze a blob of the sanitizer on the seat as well!!
Foreign tourists drive around Goa in two-wheelers, with no helmets. They are at ease, blissfully at home....driving on both sides of the road, cutting lanes (they are imaginary of course!) and snaking through traffic snarls.
This is not a rant against foreign tourists in Goa. We are curious about them and we like them. I'm sure there are enough and more foreign tourists who follow rules by the letter and are an object example for the rest of us in matters of hygiene and courtesy!
In a narrative such as this, we look for oddities to make it an interesting read. You have to look at the above citation in that context!
More later...!
Doubts assail the vegetarian at every step. The owner was truly dumbfounded with some of our questions- "Do you use the same oil to fry fish and finger chips?" He vaguely nodded his head one way and midway changed the direction. It appeared prudent not to try anything extravagant. Pizza was good enough. If we are still hungry, we can always dig into a Baskin Robbins ice-cream across the street.
We've never heard of Palolem. But word of mouth has made this place famous- especially in UK and USSR, we're told. Tourists have taken over the place. Shops sell curios of every kind: T-shirts -with "om" and "I love Goa" across them, jute bags with garish images of Buddha and Ganesha, Indian wear and other trinkets.
I asked for a book on Goa with Mario Miranda's illustrations and never found one. It would have made perfect business sense to sell Mario's works now (Mario passed away two weeks ago and was best known for his cartoons on Goa).
We like to observe foreign tourists- we wonder what brings them to India, how they manage in places which are not tourist friendly and above all, how they put up with the lack of restrooms! Here we are, having used the restroom for the last time at home in Bangalore; we plan to hold it all..packed nicely... till we get home in a few days time! Just kiddin'..but you get the drift. You obviously need a different strategy if you are coming from say.. the UK, especially if it's a long holiday and you are going to be on the move constantly.
One such tourist sat at the next table. He fished out two things from his backpack- A Lonely Planet book on India and this huge plastic bag.. filled with about 30-40 garlic bulbs! Curiously, he proceeded to remove one full garlic bulb, placed it in another plastic bag and pounded it patiently. Once the food was on his table, he took the garlic slivers, spread it on the side-dish and was soon lost in the meal and the book.
Garlic is known to keep ghosts away all right, but with so much of garlic, he's sure to scare the daylights out of most living people!
We did go to Baskin Robbins and had a tough time picking the right flavours for 8 kids now. If you're wondering how the count increased, we were joined by a fourth family at the Lalit. We ordered litchi, changed it to black currant, corrected it to pista and changed our mind back to litchi.
A foreign tourist arrived with a child strapped to his back. He unstrapped the child, placed it on the chair and got her a cup of ice-cream. To our horror, the child-probably about 2 years- had no clothes at all. Can I try this stunt at Disneyland Paris? I agree that this is India and enough and more people go without clothes. But that's not by choice. Next time you go to Baskin Robbins, not only do you need to sanitize your hand, but be sure to squeeze a blob of the sanitizer on the seat as well!!
Foreign tourists drive around Goa in two-wheelers, with no helmets. They are at ease, blissfully at home....driving on both sides of the road, cutting lanes (they are imaginary of course!) and snaking through traffic snarls.
This is not a rant against foreign tourists in Goa. We are curious about them and we like them. I'm sure there are enough and more foreign tourists who follow rules by the letter and are an object example for the rest of us in matters of hygiene and courtesy!
In a narrative such as this, we look for oddities to make it an interesting read. You have to look at the above citation in that context!
More later...!
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