Goa with Pao 🍞

For Naqu’s first birthday as a married woman, I wanted to do something “extravagant” for her. Some aspects of her birthday I could have done better, as per her feedback later ¹. But this trip was a huge success in terms of birthday celebrations as well as bringing Naqu and I closer to each other.

I had booked afternoon flights, coz I didn’t want the jhanjhat of a morning rush, nor did I wanna waste Naqu’s birthday night in travelling². We still managed to reach in the nick of time 😂. But ‘twas still fun.

The flight was okay. Air India flights I usually book coz of the recent Maharaja points I’ve started to collect. I’d taken premium economy seats, which had nice legroom and got us free hot towels 😅. But I shoulda spent more and got us business class seats. Mighta been overkill coz just an hour ka flight it was.

वाडदिसाचीं परबीं नकिया ❤️

We landed at Dabolim airport, and got the first and only GoaMiles Taxi of the trip. Cost us a Lil bit, but tbh nothing compared to the loot the other taxi drivers will do us ahead on the trip.

Reached the hotel by 4, and true to fashion, both of us slept ❤️. The plan was to go to the nearby beach, but we were a little exhausted coz of less sleep the past night.

Our intro to the hotel was very nice though. Got a welcome drink, the staff took us to our room and told us room details. Fairfield Benaulim has a private beach entrance³ , and a very sexy pool. It has a decent Gym that we checked out later at night, and also an area with 2 PS4s 😁.

The room was also… Decent⁴. I mean I paid nothing for the room, technically. It was small, firstly. And the bed was queen sized, so Naqu and I had some issues with placement. Also, no fan 🙈.

Post our nap, we relaxed a bit and started getting ready to go to Mama Miso for Naqu’s Birthday Dinner. In hindsight, maybe we shoulda got a scooter that night itself. But instead we got a cab from the hotel, that was the first Taxi-loot we underwent. 2200 for a 15 min drive and back. GoaMiles we couldn’t rely on coz they were not allowed near our hotel (Goa Taxi Mafia op). Anyway, taxi dude dropped us off at Mama Miso, which was just as I had gone ages back with Harshesh.

We had some nice and wholesome-ish food. Naqu had veg, coz the meat there was not halal. I had the beef sliders, but couldn’t finish more than one coz I was too full for some reason. The veg food was amazing though, even better than the beef. The folks at Mama Miso had even decorated the table area with some balloons. Near the end of the meal, when we were finishing our gelato, the staff brought a small cake with “Happy birthday” written on it. SO CUTE AND NICE. They had dry ice in the base of the cake dish, and poured water to give an awesome feel to the whole cake cutting experience. And that’s how we cut the actual birthday cake for Naqu.

We attempted to go to the nearby Utorda beach, but it was so so dark and both of us got scared while walking on the path, and came back to lights asap. Overall, it was a great start to the trip, and a nice end to the birthday, if I say so myself⁵.

The Poi-gnant Goa

So TODAY, we thought we’d go to the nearby Benaulim beach jiska entry was in our hotel. We didn’t. Coz true to form, I woke up very late. Naqu on the other hand, had woken up, went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, ironed her clothes, and was already chilling by the time I was stable enough to speak.

I quickly got ready, and in the meantime Naqu called the scooter dude⁶ to rent a scooter for the next 2-3 days. Scooter we got was an Activa which seemed to be made for Goa, on account of it’s stronger headlights. At least that’s what Naqu deduced.

As soon as we got the scooter, we left on our way to Da Tita. Was a roughly 20 min journey from our hotel, and we had to take a highway to get there. The highway WAS SO GOOD. Both sides of the highway had great views of the greenery of South Goa, and the highway itself was made very well. The roads were smooth af. Initially Naqu was riding the scooter, which was a good idea. Coz just 5-6 mins into the ride, we were stopped by the local cops for a routine inspection. Lucky⁷. Nice system these Goa cops have. Once inspected, all nearby cops would be alerted to not inspect us. And if they did, we can show a QR code that will let them verify that we were already checked.

Had nariyal paani once we got off the highway, and then we reached Da Tita by like 1pm-ish. Our Life of Pao workshop was gonna start at 2:15, so we had some quick snacks while waiting. Halal Chicken being available was a bonus, and their panini was really nice. Couldn’t finish it, but it served us well back in hotel. The vibe of the place was also mast, so we took some cute pictures there :D

Just as we were done eating and clicking pictures, got a call from Medora, who was our guide for the Life of Pao workshop. Met her there, quite a nice person she seemed like, and off we went to Majorda station on our scooters. Our workshop was to be done at this century old bakery where Poi, Loni, and other Goan breads are baked still with the original recipe that was used back then. The owner, Mr. Godinho, hadn’t arrived yet, so Medora was telling us the history of the Goan folks, how the Portuguese came, how long they ruled, etc. I bloody loved listening to all the history and having pieces click into place about my experiences in Goa and it’s people. It was a refreshing experience from just to going to places and hogging. While we were waiting for Mr. Godinho, Medora also took us to a nearby church that was built by the Portuguese and the history surrounding it. Also some titbits about Goan culture, how it’s like a mixture between Portuguese flavored Christianity with GSB or Hindu sensibilities.

Soon, we got into the bakery for our workshop, and it was a cute modest bakery. Exactly where you’d expect real good food to be made. In our case, bread 🥖🍞. Medora introduced us to Mr. Godinho, who was a chill 80 year goan uncle. Exactly how you’d imagine. Doesn’t speak much, but says something funny usually. He took over the bakery when he was around 40, and before that it was his grandfather who ran the bakery. This is like the local bakery everyone around Majorda (and other parts of South Goa too) comes to at around 4pm to take ekdum freshly baked pao. He has 2-3 helpers who do the whole process of baking, while Uncle oversees them.

Medora went into a good level of detail into Poi, their equivalent to everyday flatbread. Turns out, I’ve not had proper Poi at all. Poi is made using toddy, which most folks don’t use now coz it’s a hassle to get. But Uncle uses toddy only. Also, most Poi now is made using maida, while here it’s made using atta. Interesting. We also got to know about Loni, which was the bread that I usually had here. It’s more commonly called as Cutlet bread, coz things are usually stuffed inside the bread to be had. We saw the whole process of how Poi, Loni is kneaded and kept for rising, how the clay oven is heated and cleaned, and how the whole baking process is done.

While the dough was being readied, Naqu and I got to making our own Poi and Loni. Obviously, Naqu did a great job, while I sucked. BUT it’s the effort that counts. And the dough was sooo fluffy. Anyway, we got our breads ready, and at the end of the real breads ka baking, our breads were put in. 4 mins later, and they were ready. This clay oven thing is quite badass haan. Mine came out… okay. While Naqu’s looked like it was made by Uncle himself. We joked around with uncle a bit, ate garam garam Poi (not ours) with some butter and lime soda, and then made our way back to Da Tita for the final part of the workshop. Which I had no idea about.

Back at Da Tita, Medora had got some fresh Loni (again, not ours) from the bakery and we were tasked now with filling up the bread with whatever stuffing we want and the restaurant will bake whatever we give them. I think Soul Travelling had some tie-up with Da Tita, coz the stuffing options we had were awesome. The idea was to actually make a panini with Loni as the bread. But Medora told us her technique which was quite cool, that is to make an incision in the top of the bread and stuff the fuck out of it. Da Tita had provided us with tons of ingredients, like pesto sauce, mayo, sundried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, fried aubergine (baingan), caramelised onions, parmesan cheese, etc. etc. Both of us stuffed as much as we could into the little Loni, and then they went into the wood fired oven of the restaurant to get baked. AND IT TURNED OUT SO MAST OMG. Can’t believe something from my hands was tasty.

All in all, this Life of Pao experience was a 9/9 for us. Lotsa good memories, tons of knowledge we got in the few hours we were with Medora, and GREAT PAO.

Yes I have a horn in my hand.

Since we were in South Goa only, we thought we'd go to some nearby beach randomly just to chill. It's been a day we were in Goa and hadn't gone to a proper beach, hence. **Spoiler alert** , we only go to this one beach in this trip. Went to Colva beach, and just walked on the beach. Lemme tell you, It's a nice feeling walking on the beach with the girl you love (and bonus is she loves you back!). We went ahead and sat in a nice place overlooking the sea (duh) and some kids playing football nearby. Stayed there till sunset, talking about life, how the day was, etc. etc. Just… peaceful.

This was already there on the beach. Kasam se.

Once we got back to the hotel, we were kinda tired from the walking around we did. But we ordered food into our room from Kava, and chilled inside only. Tried watching Raanjhanaa, but tbh I couldn’t see too much coz I started feeling very sad for Dhanush.

Funnily enough, on trips I usually sleep early. Idk why. At home I stay up quite late.

Kayaking gg

THIS TIME we ordered breakfast in only, to avoid my late waking up and being lazy and not having any breakfast. Today was a heavier day too, so good thing we had proper breakfast before leaving for the day. Got a taxi from the hotel so that we could get scammed again. 5000 for a day man… I mean we were going across the state but this was a little too much. Sigh.

Anyway, we were supposed to go to this small locale in North Goa called Arabo where our Host, Atul, would meet us. We got there early⁸ and we’re clicking some cute pictures by the time Atul came along with his senior, Royston. We were to do the Kayaking experience with another couple who were a bit late. We did small intros and got to talking about where we’re from and all. Also bitched about the Taxi mafia 👍.

Soon, the other couple came along. Kunal and Meghna, their names were. Both were pretty chill folks, and had a similar Goa story to us. I (and Kunal) have come Goa many times to party, but the both girls have never come here. Both were earlier based in the US and now reside in Indore. That’s about all I remember about them, but warm vibes they had.

Atul started telling us about the Arabo area, and the castle/fortress that was our gathering spot. I (very randomly) guessed that the place is called Arabo is coz maybe Arab sailors and traders would come here frequently. AND I WAS CORRECT. Hence Arab-o. The fortress there was made by these arab folks as a way stop for them and to guard their ships and port. This fortress was then given to the Desai family (some prominent folks there) to keep. They had some condition for keeping a particular “cloth” in the house only, which the Desai family agreed to. Very sweet. Since then, during Moharram is when The Desai House is opened to villagers where they offer namaaz keeping the “cloth” as something sacred. So bloody cool. It’s why I feel Goans are very integrated regardless of religion.

We walked through a small gully in the village, leading from The Desai House out into a tiny port with a small boat on it. This boat took us to a private island in the middle of the Arabo River called Sai Island. The island is owned (currently) by some doctor fellow, and has a few house-stays, and some cute river activities that can be undertaken there. Also there’s a bar, coz Goa. The boat journey was mast, and I could see Naqu had a nice time too.

At the island, we had a welcome drink of Kokam Sherbet and were briefed on the island and it’s facilities, and then how to do the actual kayaking. Seemed easy at first tbh, but when we actually got in the kayak is when we realised that fuck bro this ain’t a cake walk. Thank god for Gym coz I doubt we’d (rather I) would be able to go even a few meters ahead. Full back and arms ka exercise happened in the entire 1 hour we did the kayaking. But oooo it was sooo funnn. Watching the mangroves, and literally being in the middle of the water just sitting was very… relaxing. Despite the sweat. I was a little scared of putting my hand in the water coz I am darpok, but Naqu was toh full on relaxing with everything going around. Full water baby, my wife is.

Near the end, when we were getting off the kayak, I sprained my knee quite badly. But at that moment, I was more engrossed in getting the mud out of my feet. Weird. We sat down in a small tent-y place, both couples with our hosts. Atul then got out some Pore, a Goan version of a dosa. It was sweet, filled with jaggery and coconut, so takat aa gaya mast wala. We chilled for a bit, Royston gave us some recommendations for food spots to try (he a big foodie), Atul explained more about the history, and yeah. We got on the boat again soon, and back to the mainland 😁

We coming home

The one benefit of being a semi-organized person is that the night before a trip at least 95% of everything WILL be packed. That is what Naqu and I are 👍. So it was a nice morning with little to no ghai. Only irritating part was taxi, again. They literally seem like scavengers at times.

Footnotes

1. The gifts I could have given in one go with proper packing, I coulda decorated the hall on her birthday eve, those sorta things ↩

2. Plus waste a day. ↩

3. Which we never used 😞 ↩

4. In normal prices, I don’t think I’d stay here I guess. ↩

5. I feel Naqu might say the same. idk. ↩

6. Rosario, his name was. Such cool names man. ↩

7. Since I didn’t have a license, and if I had ridden, we’d have been troubled quite a bit by the cops. ↩

8. We’re awesome that way ↩