Driving through Goa

Roads in Goa can be pretty confusing, probably not so much like some other places in India, but still. And it's not the highways I am talking about - like those from Margao to Panjim or Vasco but all the lanes and by-lanes which join these highways from all the villages scattered all over the place.

Typically only a single narrow road passes through an entire village before joining some other road from some other village and that finally joins the highway. And it's not the scenery around which I am complaining about. Mind you, that is always a pretty sight. Roads usually pass through the forest, or by a church (when you're passing through a village) or by large water bodies - by which of course I mean ponds. rivers or the sea.

So if you are a simple man, you'd love to drive through Goa. But what I was really trying to tell you was that since these simple narrow village roads typically all look the same, it's very easy to get lost and end up in some other village with a very similar sounding name. Your best bet then is to retrace your path back to the highway and find the right turn to the village you intended to go to. Highways on the other hand are pretty neat, long and wide (unless they are forced to go through some village) with signboards at regular intervals. So they help you cover the greater part of your journey with considerable ease.

By now you must have some idea that if you were to get lost in some village in Goa, you'd take a lot more time finding your way through the village to the right place than you did on the highway. And if you're wondering why I am taking so much effort to educate you about the roads of Goa, it's because I learnt a very valuable lesson yesterday on my way to my friend's house for his birthday party.

I bet you're thinking that all that I'm saying telling you is gibberish and that I must be a terrible driver with no sense of direction whatsoever. Sure it can't be that tough. But that's exactly what I thought. So take my advice and always consult Google Maps before you go around in Goa, especially if you haven't been to the place a couple of times already. :)

Epilogue

How does it feel?
To be back home...
With all that gold.
And no school to go.

School's out. Finally. Life's not very different from how it used to be when we used to come back home for vacations. But some things have changed forever...

Final year was a lot different from what I had expected it to be. It was very liberating...

The only thing on everybody's mind when we entered final year was getting a job. And the first few months in final year were pure madness. Everyday somebody was getting placed. For some, jobs were available on a platter. And the exultation after getting placed... was like popping a champagne bottle, with all that fizz ready to pour out and fill our empty hearts with happiness and joy.

Some had many dress rehearsals. The diligent ones would iron their shirts and polish their shoes the night before. We, on the other hand, used to beg and borrow whenever the situation called for it... take shoes from the guy next door and put a lot of deodorant on a shirt worn already... once, twice or whatever... :)

And even though we all had different experiences (and let's not forget about how frustrated we used to get when there were rumours that somebody 'screwed' the interview), I guess we all felt the same when we had landed jobs... ecstatic as we'd probably never been in our lives.

Second semester was the best. Always found a reason to celebrate. And even if all those we knew were placed already, we'd go out on a binge - and that was really a lot, every other day. It really seemed like nothing could ever stop us again...

Sail on into that horizon,
With joy in your heart,
And a smile on your face.
Nothing's going to stop you now.

And final year was a lot about things we'd never done before - poker, binge drinking, riding like crazy on highways, or just getting drunk and crying on each others shoulder or just getting drunk and dancing like crazy... any occasion we had always called for a round of drinks - the only way we knew how to pour our hearts out to each other and mean every word we say...