Those 6 days at Goa

[Drubyu]

“Mumma, when will we reach Goa?” I asked my mom while looking out of the window of the flight. It had been 2 hours since we boarded the flight from Delhi and I was too excited to go to the beaches of Goa.


“Approx half an hour” I heard my mom. She was sitting next to me on the aisle seat.


I turned my head and glanced at her. She had Femina magazine in her hands and she was reading or looking at the pictures of the models with great interest. 


“Nani told me you did modeling while you were in college ” I wanted to know whether it was true..


“Yes,” She replied and sighed.


“Then, why did you stop doing it?” A question instantaneously shot out of my mouth.


“Because I got married to your father and he didn’t like me to model. So I had to leave it and then join this software company” She said calmly. I felt she was not happy that she had to leave her favorite activity. 


“I’m sorry, mom,” I told her as I felt so much sympathy for her and I didn’t know what to say.


“Why are you sorry, hon?” She chuckled and gently tapped my forehead with her hand.


“Nothing,” I said as I started to gather my things and put my headphones in my bag.


I was studying in *th standard and my annual exams were just over the previous day and it was the start of the vacation in the school and my mother and I were headed to Goa for a week,  for six days to be precise. My mom worked in a very well known MNC and she had taken leaves for a week.


My dad worked in a construction company as a senior architect. Although his company was based in Delhi, they were having a big project at Goa. And he had been deputed to Goa for the last three months. So he already was in Goa and we were going to join him for a week. 


Although almost every day we video called him, I was going to meet dad for the first time in two months. It also added to my excitement.


Finally, after a few more minutes, the flight landed at Dabolim airport. Mom put our bags in the trolley and we came out of the terminal.


We saw dad weaving his hand at us. So mom happily moved fast towards him and along with her, I. I had to literally run to catch up with her. She immediately left the trolley and hugged my dad cheerfully. I had to catch the trolley to stop it from moving.


“Heyy…how you been?” Dad was excited and roamed his hand on my head and played with my hair. Then he put his hand on my shoulder. His other hand was around the waist of my mom.


I hugged both of them. Then he took our bags and put them in the trunk of the car. Mom sat on the front seat beside dad and I was in the back.



“So, how was the journey?” Dad asked while driving the car.


“Fine. It was smooth.” My mom replied.


She looked at dad for a few moments while he was driving. Then she asked,


“Did you buy a car in Goa? “ 


Dad giggled and said,


“No, It's provided by the company. We have to move a lot. ”


“When will that project end?” She asked dad annoyingly.


“It will take another three months,” Dad replied nonchalantly. 


I saw her face and I could say she didn’t like that. I too, didn’t like that.


“Was it necessary to come here at this time? Project is in an important phase and it's a lot of work now. ” Dad briefly looked at mom while changing the gear.


“Don't ask me. Ask your son. Even before starting the exams, he was insisting to go to Goa.” She replied to dad. 


I saw in the mirror, dad briefly glanced at me. I felt suddenly guilty. She was right. Mom had promised me that she would take me to Goa in vacation but I had insisted on booking the tickets on the very next day of my last exam. I was excited about the idea of visiting Goa and dad both.


“It’s ok. Now you are here. I fear I might not be able to spare enough time for you guys. It would have been better if you had come after a few days. But it’s ok.” Dad said.


“Where is your project situated?” My mom asked for the sake of talking.


“Near Panjim.” Dad replied.


“So we are staying at Panjim?” Mom asked, looking at him. She looked disappointed.


“Ha Ha, no. We are provided staff quarters in Panjim but I’ve booked a resort for you guys in Candolim.” Dad replied smiling.


“I can’t put my beautiful wife in a staff quarter. What if mosquitoes bite her and ruin her beauty?” He further said while putting his hand on her knee.


“Dear Husband, someone is here,” She said while moving her knee so his hand slipped from her knee. Dad again put both of his hands on the steering wheel.


After a few more minutes of the drive, we reached our destination. It was a four-star nice looking resort with a swimming pool and other amenities situated in the Candolim area of north Goa.


 Our room was on the third floor. There was a lift in the middle of the lobby. A staircase was just opposite to the lift. There were four rooms on the right side of the lift with the doors of two rooms opposite to the doors of the other two rooms. The same situation was on the left side of the lift. So total there were eight rooms on the floor.





Our room,301, was on the right side of the lift. It was very spacious with a king-sized bed in the middle of the room. There was a wide couch across the bed, attached to the wall of the room. 






“Dad, Let’s go to the beach.” I was so excited, I asked my dad as soon as he dumped the bags in the room.


Both of my parents looked at me and started laughing. Dad took us to Candolim beach which was within walking distance from our resort. I was overjoyed. I was seeing the sea for the first time in my life. It was all the water until my eyesight reached. Its waves created a soothing rhythmic sound when they collided with the shore. My mom was also very excited. 


It was a fun atmosphere on the beach. There was a sea of people on the shore.Some people were swimming in the sea.There were a lot of beach huts or beach shacks, beachside makeshift restaurants lining up the shore. There were loud songs and music playing in the loudspeakers of these beach shacks. Some people could be seen dancing to the tunes of this music. 


There were mostly Indian people but there was a good number of foreigners also. I noticed one difference between Indians and foreigners. Almost all of the Indian women were wearing their traditional clothes like salwar and Kameez, some even wore the sarees. Some girls were wearing T-shirts and jeans or skirts but that was the limit. Most of the men wore vests above and rolled their pants till mid-calf. Some men or boys were wearing the bermudas too. 


On the other hand, almost all of the foreigners were wearing proper swimming /beach attire. Girls were in the two-piece bikinis and men only wore a Bermuda. 


There were a lot of people on the beach. Some sitting on the beach and chilling while drinking beer, some reading a book while relaxing on the beach bed. Some simply lying on the sand. Some were just sleeping on the beach bed, enjoying the view or reading a book with a beer bottle in one hand while relaxing on the beach chair.


Some guys were busy taking the vids and pics of the beach.There were lots of speed boats and other boats in the sea. People were enjoying themselves and nobody seemed to give a damn to anybody else.


I was so lost and awestruck in the majestic view of the sea, I almost forgot I was not there to look only. Coming to my senses, I started running in the soft sand till my feet touched the cold seawater.


“Aman, don't go too far.” I heard the voice of my mom but I decided to ignore it and went further down in the water till the water was up to my knees. 


I wanted to go further down but I felt hands around my waist and suddenly it became stiff around my waist so I was not able to move further.


“NO. Don't go too deep.” I heard the loud voice of my mom in my ear.


She dragged me out of the water until only my feet were under the water. I hated my mom. My mom stood behind me with her hands on my chests, making sure I don't run out of her reach and dad stood beside her. Our feet were under the sea. I didn’t have much height. My head reached her chest.


“It’s so nice na.” Mom was talking with dad.


“Yeah.It’s awesome.” Dad replied.


“Dad, Let's go there.” I pointed a finger to a place in the sea where a lot of young people were bathing and having fun.


“No, it’s too deep. Look, water reaches to their necks. They know swimming. We don't know so we can’t go.” Dad replied.


“Yes, your dad is right.It’s too risky.” Mom also supported him.


Then suddenly a huge wave came and it completely drenched us. It was fun. Then dad threw some water on my mom and me by his hands and we did the same to dad. It was fun.


We then had some coconut water and simply walked on the beach. We stayed there till the sunset and then returned to our room. 


My mom sent me to the washroom to clean myself and take a bath. After I was done I tried to open the door but it seemed locked. I shouted for my mom but she didn’t reply. After a few minutes, she opened the door and said that it was locked from outside mistakenly. Then they became refreshed.



We decided to have dinner at the restaurant of the resort.


My mom and I stood in the lobby while dad was locking the room. There was a family, a couple in their twenties and their little kid, standing near the door of the lift and another man, who looked like he was in his late forties, was locking the door of room no.308 which was adjacent to our room. 


“Hi” said the man to my dad as he caught up with him while walking towards the lift.


“Hi” Dad replied as we all entered the lift.


My parents and I stood silently in the lift while all the other people were talking with one another. From their discreet conversation I guessed, they were related. 


Dinner was awesome. It was a buffet dinner with a variety of food items. Food ranged from Goan style prawn curry to North Indian Dum Aloo. There were quite a few people in the hall. All had a dish in their hands. They were eating, talking and laughing in the groups of their friends. We were standing in the corner, eating silently.


“Hey...Are you new here?” That older guy whom we met in the lift approached us while dad was away, having a phone call with someone from his work.


“Yes.” My mom briefly looked at him and again started eating food. He was standing beside me and in front of my mother.


He was wearing a tight navy blue t shirt and black track pants. His hair was short. His chest was broad and its muscles created bumps on his tshirt. His stout biceps could be seen from the sleeves of the Tshirt and his arms looked strong and stiff.He was clean shaved.


“Let me guess, you’re from Mumbai.” He said while holding a dish in his hand and taking a bite of some salad from it.


“No.We’re from Delhi.” Mom flatly replied.


“O teri, That’s why I thought why were you looking so familiar. I’m also from Delhi.” He said looking at my mom.


“But you guessed we’re from Mumbai.” Mom smiled a little at his bluff and replied while mixing rice with dal on her plate.


“Yeah. I did feel you’re from Delhi but then guessed you must be from Mumbai as you are very pretty and fair. Mumbai has bollywood na.” He tried to justify.


 I found his logic weird and looked at my mom while chewing the food. I expected her to show disgust at his flawed logic but instead, she kept mum trying to hide her smile.


Soon dad also joined us and they started to talk while mom and I ate dinner silently listening to their boring conversation. From their chatting, I came to know that his name was Pratap Singh. He was a retired colonel of the army. That couple were his son and his daughter in law. His son’s name was Sumit. Pratap’s wife had died a few days earlier and he took his only son and his son’s family to take a vacation in Goa so that his son might come out of the grief of losing his mother. 


While sumit and his family went to the lift, Pratap asked us to climb the stairs instead of using the lift as some exercise was necessary for health, he told that. Both Pratap uncle and dad lead in the climbing while my mom and I followed them. Dad and he were talking all the way. I also came to know that Pratap uncle had booked two rooms in the resort. One , 308, for himself and 307 for his son and wife.