My native Goa (Goa)

Member Name: maroli-gal

Product:	Goa
Date:	22/11/08 (332 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It is still so natural and idyllic

Disadvantages: it is bound to change

If there is one place in the world that i do not mind visiting year after year, then it would easily be Goa.I love this place and i am going to write about it the way i know it.Not the glamorous part of it with 5 star beach resorts, the beaches filled with hippies and tourists and the bustling and busy parts of Goa.It is a little known village that i am going to write about.

When i visit Goa , i stay with my grand parents who live in a little village town called Mapusa, which is at a distance of 32 kilometres from Panaji, the capital of Goa.Mapusa is a fishing village and has river and sea in close proximity.

My grandparents live away from the town of Mapusa by the sea side.They have a little boat which they rent out to fisher folk at Rs 50 a day( One dollar)and get plenty of fresh fish in return .Grandpa is a retired teacher and has a small pension.Life is very simple in their little village which has a population of about 400 odd people may be a little more than that.There is a primary school and a government run clinic which used to be shut most of the time before, because the doctors refused to work here.They preferred working in cities.The locals got together and have now formed a co-op, running some basic services needed for the village by donating money and collecting some funds.Now there is a visiting doctor coming twice a week for 3 hours, and a small post office which is run by my grandpa and my grandma.There is a church as nearly 70% of the people are Christians and the rest like my folks are Hindus.There is one Muslim family.They all live in complete harmony.Everybody knows everybody here, and nothing remains a secret LOL.
For all other facilities they have to go to Mapusa town which is 3 kms away.There are buses to go to Panaji from there and to other parts like Madgaon and Bardez.

Al the vegetables are grown here, and there are paddy fields too.So everyone is self sufficient.Many houses have livestocks , so milk and meat is in plenty.
I love visiting this place , which i do at least twice a year .I get the best of both worlds, get to stay with my favorite grand parents and go off to visit the swanky part of Goa with my friends.
All the people in the village lament about the good old times when Goa was unpolluted , not so many tourists and no drug menace etc; etc;
I love all the little markets in Panaji, where i buy a lot of junk jewellery and other stuff like jute bags, hats .Goa is a great place for shopping.Not too expensive.
Mapusa has a friday market which is a lot of fun.It gets very busy on that day and people sometimes wander into our(grandpa's) little village too.Some of the Foreigners are amazed at what they see, because everything is so basic, including the houses and there are no proper roads, just narrow paths .
There is everything sold on the market day- i mean just about everything like spices, terracota stuff,clothes, fruits, vegetables, dry fish,papads- all that is grown and made in our village too is sold at this market.

This is the real Goa, how it was before it became one of the most popular tourist resorts in India.i am not sure how long the village is going to last in its present simple form, because many youngsters want to change and modernise it!

I am sure this may not seem as interesting as the other more glamorous side of Goa which is known by all tourists and written about everywhere. But i love this part of Goa a lot more .

Summary: a place one can visit again and again