We looked around the cathedrals and churches. The amount of gold and other riches in these places made me feel slightly nauseated. I must admit I have difficulties with Christianity at the best of times. (It's the religion that most informs my atheism), especially with hierarchical and sexist versions. When so much wealth is wasted glorifying a deity that doesn't exist while all around there is poverty, I tend to get very annoyed. I think I better avoid South America and the southern US for the rest of my days. Ajeesh and I had a long talk about our reactions to people we'd met in Goa. He told me some about some things he'd discussed (in Indian languages) with people there. They didn't seem to square with the snippets of English that had been in those conversations: I felt depressed and confused because I'd received different impressions when talking in (admittedly very broken) English with these people. I don't like being split between people: this feeling continued to dog me for the next few days, on top of my ongoing feelings of loss about my ring.
We bussed to Panjim: there was no need to stay any longer in Old Goa and the room was still unappealing. At the local tourist office, we asked a guide if she could recommend somewhere within our budget. While she was sorting this, we were bothered by a piss-head who used to be PA to the former tourism minister and now comes to the tourist office to mourn his lost job. We went to where the guide had said she'd booked us: this turned out to be piece of dilapidated street with no sign of a guest-house or hotel. A stall-keeper beckoned us and asked me in reasonable English if I spoke English. I'm sorry to say that I replied 'better than anyone else in India, mate: it's my mother tongue and my profession demands perfect English'. The stall-keeper replied 'I doubt this' and then went on to say that he was a local person and had never heard of the guest-house in which we'd been booked. He beckoned his mate, a motorbike/taxi driver: he took Ajeesh around looking for potential guest-houses. This seemed to work: we got a room for Rs250. H'mm: I'm sure the owner was being racist against his own country-folk when he said that he only rented to us when he saw me. Maybe I'm wrong: maybe he could sniff a fellow journalist.* Whatever, the room was clean, had its own mozzie nets, a TV, almost non-flaky electricity supply, a balcony, separate beds and a clean bathroom with a flushing squat toilet.
*yep, I'm a paid-up member of the National Union of Journalists, for whatever that's worth!
Just in case you're ever in Panjim, here's the details of the guest house:
Vincent Residency
behind Tourist Residency
near Secretariat
Panaji-Goa 403001
phone 0091-832-222-3928
email vincent5552004 @ yahoo.com
proprietor Vincent De Souza.
We ate at a restaurant that's apparently run by high-caste/Brahmin folk from Karnataka. It was clean, the service was fast and the frankincense they used frequently was beautiful. Ajeesh was interested in trying to build links between the different states by bringing Keralan children here (and letting them experience trains and boats), so he negotiated with the restaurant owners about packages for feeding his 'tourists' and got a good potential deal. Just in case you need to eat in Panjim, we ate at:
Kamat Restaurant
1st Floor
Dr. Joao-De-Castro Road
near Tourist Hostel (Panjim Residency)
Panaji-Goa 403001
phone 0091-832-242-2077.
© (except the blatantly ripped-off bits) Random Bozo 2006