Goa....again!

The first time was with Kris, Griz and Ash...it was truly, one of the most memorable trips I've had...The perfect place at the perfect time with the perfect people. Granted we didn't go to Tito's (which I heard was so not worth it...the entry fee, in off season, is apparently 1000 bucks JUST to get in and after u're there, its not all that great...sour grapes maybe but well :D ) or the cruise n to the other dazzlin stuff in North Goa, but we had some super good fun our own style....I can still remember flashes of amazing moments...its like a mental picture...'click'!

This time around though, the setting's different!

* Office colleagues (most of whom I don't know very well, and the others I've only had partial personal interactions for just 10 months)

* Friggin 30 of 'em !!!!

* South Goa!!!

Potential for disasters u think? U haven't heard the best part yet...I was travelling on the train as someone else! Yep that's right...I had to suffer MPD, atleast name-wise to get to paradise...If caught, the fine for impersonating somebody is...well thankfully I still don't know aye?

After travellin for close to 20 hours (one looooooooong train drive and another seemingly long bumpy bloody bad bus drive), we get to Colonel Jose Menino resort, Varca. Place looks like a dump. We look like a dump. Since another colleague n I decided to join the gang later than others, our room...isn't there! In a gang of 30, miscommunication is just way too easy I guess...

15 mins later : The fan's running on full speed...Two males, avg age 25, are lying sprawled on the bed.

No this post is gonna become too long if I do it this way. Change. Okay got it.

When you're in the company of ppl u barely know or "ppl u do the 'raised-hand-smile-nod' thingy with day in and day out but don't expect to spend a vacation with them" , u can do several things. You can struggle hard to blend in, fit in. There, u're competing with ppl who've been together for the past 5-8 years and read each other like an open socket. Or you can be the broody, silent guy who's taking it all in, waiting for an opening.

Both of these approaches become rather taxing when you're up against a set of ppl with a rather quirky sense of humour, with a dollop of sillyness and a generous serving of perversion. For instance, if I'd said, in front of few of the gang "...the broody, silent guy who's taking it all in, waiting for an opening.", several of them would've burst out howling, and while u were wondering whether u'd made the most inane of statements or whether ur pants were down all of a sudden, one of them would say:

"Opening? Wow whose opening are u waiting for? And u're taking it all in? I didn't know u're used to swallowing man!" (For those who didn't get either or both of those puns, leave personal comments please).

You see the point? If you wanna blend in, you've got to stoop to a level which you'd rather not visit. If you wanna be the silent brooding guy, they let you be. Its just that the jokes will wanna make you find a .45 and shoot yourself.

Oh and oh oh...while we're at silly, perverted jokes, here's another one which never got boring, through out the trip:

Stupid silly IQ in negative bitch colleague : Hey I'm feeling sleepy ya!
Smart highly pervert colleague : Wow...who's sleepy?
(Sleepy the elf? "Feeling" sleepy? As in groping? aaaaaaaaaa there u get it...MAN! I had enough of that though!)


The silver lining
--------------------------

As a colleague of mine said, "The problem with South Goa is that there aren't enough good places to eat, but the beaches are gorgeous".

True, true and very true.

As I walked down the road to Varca beach, I realized 'hey! what else is there in Goa maga?'

1. Food (whoa the variety in sea food...)
2. Beaches (different ppl, different attractions ;) )
3. Cheap booze (several ppl might scowl at me for putting this at number 3)
49. Water activities.

The beaches ARE gorgeous...I can still hear the roar, the rustle, the whisper, the sigh....mmmmmmmmmm :)

To summarize:

It takes patience to blend in with a gang of ppl u're trying to blend with :) If running low on patience, you can use the following:

1. A swimming pool (nothing like half naked guys in the water trying to outsmart each other...u just admit they're good, and have a nice time in the water :)
2. Alcohol! Nothing breeds camaraderie better than good high spirits! :D :D Enough on that topic eh? ;)
3. A colleague letting it slip that u manage to sing more decently than others...Somebody who knows how to sing gets respect. Phew that helped!

If you can think of other things to add to that list, yee mayl me...

The End. (Yawn)

P.S : I watched a memorable Manchester Derby in the world's worst cable tv setup ever. Adds to the variety of the trip ashte.