It's goin' on in Goa

At last!! I find myself at a computer able to sit and write a blog, to calm the fears of my family and friends that I may have joined a hippie commune and taken the new name of 'Moon child'. Really, if the slogan of my time spent travelling with Dave is "South America....it'll do things to you", then my time in Goa with Claudia is "Once you come you never Goa". I just made that up right then, gosh I'm quick under pressure. The amount of times in the last week I have been at a computer and just gotten through the emails in my inbox, only to find an hour has passed and my body is covered in a thick film of sweat and I'm in no mood to write. I am my mothers daughter, we are both completely useless in humidity. But as this Internet cafe has fans I'm sure I'll come off sounding rather witty. Even though it was only a week in Goa so far I need to divide this time into sub-sections.

ANIMALS:

I have mentioned before the massive variety of animals I see every day on the streets in India. Cows, boars, elephants, camels, monkeys, dogs, cats and our friendly bathroom geckos. But what happens when interactions go horribly wrong? My story involves a cow...oh yes, those docile holy animals! I left the beach early because I needed to use the bathroom, telling Claudi I would meet her at our room. So I began the amble back to our place, about five minutes from the beach. I look up at one point to find I am very very lost. "I don't remember walking past a shrine?" I continued on thinking all roads lead to Rome. A little further on through the bush I stumbled upon a small cottage standing alone and I immediately thought it looked like the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel. For one insane moment I expected an old crone to jump out and force me to eat cake till I was good and plump. I continued on and saw the main road in the distance, just before there was a little white calf eating the leaves of a low hanging branch. It had eaten all that it could reach, I lowered the branch for it and it munched happily. I stepped back to bathe in the warm glow of doing a good deed when the little bugger lowered its head and charged me. It caught me completely off guard. I ran backwards holding my hand outstretched in front of its head as it cantered lopsidedly for me. I needed to go to the bathroom before, but then I nearly wet my pants from pure shock! The calf stopped, thinking it over I took a breath and turned towards the road...in my peripheral vision I saw it charge again. When you are lost, alone, need to pee, wearing only swimmers and sarong and have 100kg charging you there is no time to think, only react. Wanna know what my reaction was? I turned, held up my index finger and yelled "ENOUGH!!!" I was as shocked by my own words as I was that the calf stopped dead in its tracks. It is just like me to have a brush with death story involving not an elephant or rabid dog, but a fluffy baby cow.

After a particularly big night Clauds and I shuffled down to the beach to swim and relax and basically ease the queeze of our stomachs. I lay down on my comfy beach chair, took a deep breath and smiled at the dog that came to lie on the sand in front of me. The dog promptly threw up and went to work making a meal of it again. About an hour later, when my stomach had stopped clenching in revulsion, I thought a quick dip in the water would be the perfect thing. Walking down to the water I look up just in time to see a dog doing a poo right in the water where I was about to swim. Hysteria took me and I couldn't get off the sand for laughing. This is India for me, it's all out in the open. The filth, the beauty, the honesty and hypocracy. It is the most living and thrumming culture I have ever been in, and of course I love it.

To conclude this animal chapter I will end on a positive point that baffles me. The dogs of India are not pets but they are loyal to houses. I find them more affectionate and with bigger personalities than loved pets that I have seen anywhere else. When I go walking at night these dogs come out of the darkness and trot in front or beside, staying with you for a length of what I presume is their territory. They act like escorts, making sure that you pass safely and with quiet companionship. The most remarkable experience happened last night. Clauds, me and another friend enjoyed looking at the stars at the beach after meandering down from the club. The climb down proved difficult in the dark as it is only rough cut stairs of earth. As we headed for the steps to go back up two dogs trotted out of nowhere and silently took up their positions, one in front and one in back. One moved slowly leading the way and the one at the back patiently waiting for us to take the next step with confidence. They trotted with us till we were safely on the road and then slipped back into the night. Only in India.

PEOPLE

The people in Goa are the friendliest and most laid back Indians I have met so far. For me Vagator, the beach we are staying at in Goa, feels like a cross between Fiji and Southern American plantations. Go figure. And of course the people have inspired and delighted me. One of the ladies who strolls up and down the beach selling her wares plopped down under my umbrella for some shade, it is a common practice and I gave her a smile. I noticed that she was snacking and conversationally asked her what she was eating. She opens her palm to show me rocks.
"It's rocks" I said, stating what was the obvious but insane. She nodded and pointed to her seven month pregnant belly, "Yes, it's good for the baby".
"But....it's rocks...."
She smiled indulgently at me, the kind of smile that you give when something very obvious has been misunderstood.
"No, not hard rocks," she giggles, "soft rocks, see...?" She easily crumbled the bits of rock into a powder.
"So it's dirt?"
"Yes!" she exclaimed, happy that at last we were on the same page. "Very good for the baby". She continued to pop these little dirt/rocks until she had finished a good gram or so and waved cheerfully as she walked off.

Only in India.

For my birthday this year I had high tea followed by a free astrology reading. One thing he said that I've become more and more aware of is how much I see and absorb from people and things around me. He added that this is the reason I enjoy spending on my own, so I can process and digest all this information. But in India there is no escape. I found after spending two days hanging out with a rockin' bunch of Poms that I had picked up a British inflection, including the use of the greeting 'Hiya!' But by far the most significant absorption has been from Indians. I.....I have begun...to head waggle. I didn't even know I was doing it! It started with a waggle of the hand and has developed into full blown head bobbling!!! Now every order of chai finishes with a head waggle, a smile on the street gets a head waggle, if I ever met that cheeky calf again I would probably head waggle at it too!!! ever watched an Indian film or cheesy Bollywood production where the characters talk animatedly with hands and head movements....that's me!!! God help me, my neck even hurts a bit on the left side. Maybe I should invest in a neck brace..

Remember how I joked before leaving that I would fall in love with a Maharaja's son? The universe has a sense of fun for sure. I met a great and stunning man who is heir to a Bombay fortune. I didn't realise this at first but he said something that caught my ear.
"Did you just say that you have to maids?"
"Yes, I have two maids"
"But....but....why do you even have two maids? Your on holiday?"
"Well they're my family's maids, I am staying in one of their holiday houses here"
"But...why do you have two?"
"Well", he says calmly with no hint of snobbiness or arrogance, "You know, I'm not there that much, you know? I am out visiting places and doing things and I didn't want one to be lonely so I got two so they can be happy and have company in each other"
I love when people blow your concepts right out of the water. I thought to have a servant would entail oppressive servitude and a holier than thou approach. In fact it runs in the opposite direction here. If you have the wealth you employ more staff, they are able to have better quality food and live in a nice neighbourhood. There childrens education is paid for and quite frequently, he tells me, families adopt servants children as their own. It's like one household becomes a little community with benefactors who will take care of you as you take care of them.
An Indian man in Jaipur told me that he wants to come back as an Indian woman in his next life.
"Simone", he says looking hard into my eyes, "There is no love like the love of an Indian man. You must be loved by an Indian man before you die, whereas I will have to wait until my next life".
It's true, they love here with an open heart. I have had three Indians that I have had the pleasure to meet say they love and adore me. Acknowledgments pour from them with passion and poetry , I listen for the hint of sleaziness or duplicity in their words but can't hear it. They weren't raised to save face, they don't bully you with their emotions. They lay it out with honesty and accept whatever may come as meant to be or the way of the universe. I have seen romance reach levels of novella proportions...

"Come with me to the mountains, we will go trekking on the goat trails of Himachel Pradesh and relax in the hot water springs!"
"Let me take you horse riding at my ranch!"
"I'll cancel all my plans to come travelling around India with you!"
"You have left a footprint on my heart!"
And my favourite which produced such good laughter from me,
"Marry me and I will give you three servants!!!"

Everything is such a pleasure to listen to, and yet in that moment I was acutely aware of how different Australia is to India. The process of love is so different, the tells I look for are subtle. In the face of such honest emotions I felt my sharp wit and confident opinions being silenced. I noticed myself biting back such pre-pubescent remarks as "wow.....yeah....aw, that's sounds nice" to each statement. In love, be it romantic or generosity, Indian's have it in spades. They are generous when they have nothing to give, they smile with honesty and they laugh from their belly.

Holy moley, what a spiel! I'll let you have a break while I continue with my musings...

xoxo
Sim