Goa...of Mical Bar & Mario Miranda

I have been trying ways to put this across gently. Without much damage to my reputation, you see. What the hell...I'll take the risk..label me crazy but I went to Goa and did NOT step on a single beach and yet came back having a fantastic experience of an altogether different side of this tiny, green, crazily warm place called Goa!!

I was in Goa for work-related stuff and the frenzied schedule did not spare much time for respite. May be that was an excuse and I could have really spared some time had I wanted to. But Goa in a hurry? Sounds like a stale fish curry! Not my thing...I preferred not visiting any beach rather than rushing through them without appreciating..simply to tick them off my list. You see...appreciating Goa needs to be a leisurely, slowly intensifying experience...like gentle love.. 

The hotel where I stayed had a small store dedicated to this guy. Mario Miranda.  

The Mario Miranda
- the man behind those popular TOI cartoons...
- the man behind those quirky Bombay portraits... 

- and most famously, the man behind the popular walls of equally popular Cafe Mondegar in Mumbai. 

Needless to say I stole time from work, sometimes even wee hours in the mornings to go through the immense treasure-hold of books by Mario Miranda in that tiny little souvenir-cum-bookshop in my hotel lobby. Reading and understanding Goa from the seasoned eyes of a local...his portrayal of the life in Goa gives a rustic and all-new perspective quite different from the touristy stereotypes..

Mario's Goa

Goa..of the Portuguese and the Konkanis...

Goa...of the Sunday Churches and Kunbi marriages...

Goa...of those lively and colorful markets and colorful lives of the simplest of humankind...

Mario Miranda makes one realize that there is so much more to it than the sun, sand and beach-shacks...

Oh...and I HAD to buy this. (2 copies!!) 

Finally, I have come to believe that everyone has a favourite in Goa...the beaches, cheap booze, flea markets, relaxed-afternoon-naps-under-the-beach shacks-with-chilled-beer-in-hand, Zante's cashewnuts (:P)! Do you have a not-so-obvious Goa favourite? Come on...share along. We can always do with one more reason to love Goa, can't we?