Griffs in Goa

Monday 26th

The weather this morning is very cloudy with a heavy dew and what appears to be mist. The humidity is rising and the sun feels a lot hotter. Tomorrow is forcast to be 37 degrees. We have new neighbours. An Indian family moved in a couple of weeks ago. The woman must be pregnant because her morning wretching reverberates through the complex. They are loud and have a strange annoying habit of washing all the daily pots and noisily hang them out in the communal back yard at or around midnight. Since they have moved in the back yard is becoming a litter bin. They did not really initially ingratiate themselves to us by using our washing lines without having the courtesy to ask. I feel the rubbish problem will only get worse. As I have highlighted in previous blogs,the disposal of rubbish is a continual problem here.

Wherever you go here you will come across Indian males urinating, particularly by the side of the road. It seems to be a national pastime. Anytime night or day they can be found watering there surrounding area. It really is unnecessary and rather disgusting. There seems to be perverse double standards at work here. I have never seen a woman do this, in fact, women are not allowed to show much flesh at all, when they go for a swim in the sea most are fully clothed, yet a man can strip off to his ‘Y’ fronts when he wants to, go for a swim and then piss wherever he feels like. 

Sunday 25th

We went down to Agonda with Den and Lin on scooters. It took about an hour and three quarters including the ferry crossing. Some of the road has vastly improved since our last visit six weeks ago. A very visible indication that elections are imminent. The local papers especially ‘The Herald’ report every aspect of the forthcoming elections, last week it highlighted electoral roll irregularities with the headline ‘Voter demands to know whether she is a man or a woman’.  The road from Assolna to Betul had been resurfaced to an unusually high standard, most of the time everything is done in a cheap, shoddy fashion.  Sometimes it is downright dangerous! Another item of news in ‘The Herald’ which caught my eye was the disastrous outcome of a road widening scheme in a village in South Goa. They had widened the road but failed to move the electricity poles so that they were now in the middle of the carraigeway with the consequence of multiple crashes. There is no such thing as coordination between agencies here and no-one knows when the poles will be moved to the side of the road.

Agonda is a very, very quiet place. Some of the bars are already closing because of the lack of tourists. The locals blame the lack of tourists on the possible threat of Al Queda terrorists in South Goa issued by the Israeli and Indian governments back in December. It is apparently, a favourite place for Israeli conscripts to come and relax after their six month stint in the army. Agonda is the place if you want tranquility. The 3kms bay is surrounded by hills of Cashew, Almond and Coconut trees. I have been told that every morning there is an unrehearsed acrobatic display by dolphins in the bay. This is very much an unspolit part of Goa and long may it remain. A strong northeast wind got up in the afternoon and we spent a rather pleasant couple of hours in a very basic but friendly shack which served very cold Kings beer and tasty vegetable dishes.

Last night we all had the best fish dish that we could remember ever having. We had a Red Snapper at the Seaview shack. It must have been two foot long, it was cooked to perfection and it only cost 600/- (7.10p).