Overdressed in underdressed Goa

Trip Start Mar 03, 2008

Trip End Mar 31, 2008

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Where I stayed

Cozy Nook

(Goa hotels)

Flag of India Goa, India
Saturday, March 15, 2008

Pranesh was accompanying his sister back to her home in Karwar, 3 hours away, to help her take a sewing machine up there, so he picked me up as we were getting the same train. There was the usual banter on the train between passengers after we'd all fought our way on there and got a seat. I got off an hour after them at Canacona, where I ended up sharing a tuk tuk to Palolem (supposedly one of the less developed resorts in Goa) with a crazy Italian guy who had been living there for 18 years. He was on his way back from hippy Gokarna with some Russian bird in tow. There are a lot of Russions visiting and living in Goa and the locals say there is a mafia/black market problem emerging as a result. We went for a drink at this guy's house with the tuk tuk driver and some guy from one of the beach resorts. The Russian girl instantly whipped off her t-shirt revealing her skimpy bikini. Now I'm sure the tuk tuk driver was used to scantily clad westerners around the place, but my sensibilities were still tuned into Indian culture after two weeks there and I found it really offensive on his behalf

Cows on Palolem beach

! The Italian guy pulled out a joint and I took that as my cue to leave and find a place to stay on the beach.

Sweating profusely as I hauled my back down the long sandy beach, I headed for the last set of beach huts as I thought it would be quieter there. The beach was heaving with Westerners, not too different from Thai beaches with huts nestled on the edge of the beach under palm trees. I felt very overdressed as I plodded along in my salwar kameez and very out of place. I really felt like I'd left India behind.... there was nothing Indian in sight apart from the staff in the little resorts and the ubiquitous cows sunbathing on the beach! I got a hut at Cozy Nook which was a kind of hut with a big tent in it. The best thing about it was the really comfy bed under a big mozzie net. The bathroom was rather makeshift with a bucket and a cold water tap instead of a shower.

I changed into my t-shirt and cotton trousers, the only western clothes I had, which were still not really appropriate next to the bikini clad women. When it got cooler, I took a walk along the beach front - Palolem is less built up than in Northern Goa but the local authorities make a lot of baksheesh (bribe money) from the guys who own the beach huts so that they can stay open for the season

Cow sunbathing

. At the end of the season they force everyone to dismantle the restaurants, bars and beach huts and bulldoze what's left. This gives them the rights to use the land for development if they choose to in the future.

The prices of everything were triple that of 'real India' and very westernised... I had dinner in a western place and get fed up of hearing tourists moaning and groaning about stupid things like - 'the cockerel woke me up too early this morning', 'I've been waiting for 10 minutes for the bill' and generally being unpleasant to the Indian waiters. Most of these people were just in Goa for a beach holiday with no concept of the life and hardships of most Indian people who rarely are heard complaining. I was also struck by the contrast of how overweight we Westerners look next to the skinny, muscular Indians.

I spent the next day over at Patnem, a smaller much quieter beach and hung out in cafes and bars reading the most brilliant book, Shantaram. It's an epic read based on the life of the author, who escaped from an Australian prison and ended up in Bombay in the early 80s where he lived in a slum, sets up a free clinic there, gets thrown into an Indian prison where he is brutally beaten, then sprung from prison by the mafia boss in Bombay who he then works for before joining him on a gun-smuggling trip into war-torn Afghanistan

Sunset on Palolem

. It's a total page-turner and the first four chapters especially capture the sights, sounds and idiosyncracies of Indian people and culture so well that I'd encourage everyone to read it.

Being Sunday, there were lot's of Indians on the beach. The contrast of the women bathing in the sea in their saris and salwars and the men in long shorts with the western tourists was marked. That night the stormy weather in South India continued and a torrent of rain fell all night and the electricity cut out as often happens in India (most nights!).

I relocated to Benaulim on Monday to be nearer to the train station in Madgaon for my early morning train the next day. Benaulim is a long sandy beach that stretches for 3-4 km down to Colva beach and full of slightly older tourists. I sat and read and drank sweet lime sodas most of the day and at one point watched a girl in a bikini in the sea getting upset with some young Indian guys who were taking photos of her swimming. She started shouting at them and some other Indian guys came over and started a fist fight with the first group. If I'd been close enough I would have gone over and told the girl she asked for it really... nudity of any sort (just simply having bare shoulders is offensive to Indians) is disrespectful to Indian culture and for the young guys who are not used to seeing bare flesh, of course they are going to be curious and not know that women exposing flesh is not meant to be an invitation to oggle!