By Akriti Singh (Class 9th)
Allen House Public School, Ghaziabad
Goa means gazelle. Its meaning reflects the attraction of that place. Goa in my opinion is a unique place having scenic beauty like heaven. What all have we not discovered in today's world through the internet? I too had discovered Goa virtually in the past years as it was the talk of the town. Lucky for me, I recently saw the natural beauty of Goa with my own eyes.
DAY-1
On the morning of 14th I woke up to some commotion which was uncommon at this time of the day. We, a family of six soon boarded the car. The six people included me, my mother, my aunt, my uncle and two of my brothers. I was at the time brimming with excitement and sure enough they all were too! At 7:30 am we reached the Indira Gandhi National Airport. Delhi. We checked-in, had breakfast and boarded the plane. After two hours in the air we finally set foot in Goa. After a long drive, we arrived at the ‘The Sterling Hotel’. The infrastructure was commendable, especially the swimming pool. There were various activities for kids like archery, air hockey, trampoline but woefully, they were all chargeable. After a long tiring morning we sat down for lunch at the hotel itself. In the evening we enjoyed ourselves in the pool followed by dinner at the hotel restaurant.
DAY-2
On our second day, we explored southern Goa. We rented a car and went to Palolem beach. Being my first time at a beach I was taken by the grace of the sea. I went into the water. The sensation of water hitting my skin was indescribable. The water had never seemed so mesmerising before. Later, we went to a restro, Bella. Munna uncle as I would like to refer to him, served us. We all ordered different dishes from various cuisines and he was happy to serve us. Mama broke a glass by mistake but he didn't seem to mind and just cleaned it up. The drink we ordered had a hair strand in it, we demanded it to be replaced. He seemed unfazed and just brought another one. Majority of people there were like this. They were calm and were enjoying their life to the fullest without any fuss I really admired this quality of theirs. We also visited the Agonda beach. That too was stunning. Afterwards, we had dinner at a nearby resort called Club Mahindra. I had Dum aloo with Naan. That curry was one of the best ones I've ever had. It had the perfect amount of spice, creaminess nutiness with this absolutely delicious dinner and a short drive back to the hotel; day-2 came to an end. We also played bluff in our hotel room which was very fun.
DAY-3
We started early. There was a short walk to the Varca Beach. There we stood in the midst of the dancing tides and soon it felt like we too were a part of although I didn't feel like going back I had to. We jumped into the pool at the hotel and swam for a bit before setting out to explore Goa again. We drank tall glasses of sugarcane juice on the way to the fisherman's wharf which is a restaurant situated just beside a water body. We sat on a table on edge just where the water body begun. We could view various fishes, eels and crabs in the water, we also tried feeding them. That was quite hilarious as before throwing actual food at them which we threw pieces of tissue they eagerly swam to only to be disappointed. We drove to to Cabo de Rama. The sunset point and the beach seemed out of this world but, alas, we could not go down to witness the beauty and grace of the sea as the staircase leading there was menacing. We viewed it from the top. We were at the sunset point watching the sky when the sun suddenly hid behind the clouds. Since it was only 5 we took it as sunset for us and decided to go back. This turned out to be a great decision as it soon started raining heavily. On our way back the lush greens dancing in the rain looked even more alluring the plastic sheets people covered the homes with now made sense. Afterwards, we had bread butter for supper.
DAY-4
We set out for North Goa via Panjim. We walked through the streets of Panjim personally; I did not find this commercialised region that pleaseable. Further, we went to calangute beach. It broke my heart to see such a beauty ruined by trash all over the beach. After seeing the crowd, we turned back towards the market. I bought handicrafted boxes and bracelets for my friends as souvenirs. I also purchased a sculpture of 3 laughing monks. The fact that it was carved out of coconut was impressive. We further went to Donapaula. From there one could view the city from afar and see the lights twinkle. The sea's waves and lights of ships were also visible. It was like everywhere we went there was one place prettier than the other. For dinner, we again went to a restaurant in club Mahindra. We wished for Mr. Zubair who served us last time to serve us again but upon arrival we got to know that his shift was at a different restaurant there. So, we went to meet him. I few of us were able to but not me "unluckily."
DAY-5
Being our last day here we went to Varca beach again followed by taking a dip in the pool. We checked out of the hotel and had juice again. We then went to Panjim. There we had chaat from a Gujarati restaurant and also dived in Sher-e-Punjab. After this, we bid farewell to Goa and flow back to Delhi
This trip introduced us to the idea of a different kind of lifestyle and such places that I only imagine in my dreams.
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