#BlogchatterA2Z: V for ‘Viva Goa’ - you know you are in Goa when…

1) When instead of your daily alarm, you wake up to the sound of the local poder. 

2) When breakfast means eating pao/poli with mixed bhaaji from Tato or Cafe Bhosle. 

3) When the locals speak a Konkani interlaced  with a lot of Portuguese words which they have made their own.  Igorz (derivative of Igreja), Recepcao (from Recepção), Mezz (from Mesa), Kadern (from Caderno), sacrament (from Sacramento), Confessiao (from Confissão), Adogad (from Advogado), Dotor (from Doutor), Susegad (from Sossegado), and many more.

4) When your regular fisherwoman always throws in an extra fish, saying ‘tuna mhanun’ just because you talk nicely to her.

5) When your local shopkeepers, no matter who is waiting, will open shop late and close early, with a prolonged afternoon siesta in between. 

6) When xiit, hooman, and nuste is a staple in almost every non-vegetarian diet. 

7) When Christmas is celebrated with equal enthusiasm as Chavath (Ganesh Chaturthi) by everyone, irrespective of religion, caste, and financial status. 

8) When Shanta Durga and Saibaba are revered with equal devotion as Mary and St Francis Xavier. 

9) When you see romantic happy go lucky people who take joy in the mundane and comfort in the familiar. 

10) When you see the same locals grumbling about tourists littering and polluting ‘amche goi’.

11) When you can get a conversation going for hours on cutlet pao, urrak, ros omelette and the best places they are available.

12) When a walk in the lane beside the river Mandovi feels no less than a stroll down the Seine.  

13) When you find people who will watch a tiatra with the same interest as they will attend a jazz concert. 

14) When you start seeing everything as a celebratory event…from something as small as the arrival of the Mankurad and Panas to as large as IFFI and the Goan Carnival. 

In the last six decades, ever since it’s liberation, Goa has carved for itself an identity of its own. Good food, music, dance, & great people—Goa is content in itself. 

Perhaps it’s this ‘Viva Goa’ vibe that makes it so attractive to people the world over. 

And it is for this very undying enthusiasm, bonhomie, and cheer, we say, ‘Obrigado, Goa!’

Stick around for tomorrow’s topic, featuring a brilliant aspect of my lovely state. 

Until then,

Mog aasu di.

(Let there be love!) 

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I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. 

My theme for the challenge is ‘Obrigado, Goa!’, under which I’ll be writing 26 posts on Goa (April 1-30th, excluding Sundays), each post corresponding to the letters of the English alphabet. You can read more about it in my theme reveal post.