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Waves lap the shore of Vagator Beach<br />
Vagator Beach is one of the most<br />
scenic beaches in Goa<br />
Goan seafood curry is traditionally served<br />
with kokum juice and small prawns<br />
beach-shack bar for a sweet-salt lime<br />
soda; perusing the Eurasian-fusion<br />
bags and espadrilles sold by Yashu,<br />
the nut-brown-tanned Sardinian, who<br />
was part of a low-key community here<br />
for six months of the year. ‘Morjim,<br />
Arambol, Ashwem… This northern part<br />
is hippie-chic Goa now,’ she told me.<br />
I said it was all terribly chi-chi,<br />
which may have sounded like a<br />
bad thing — she searched for a<br />
response. ‘You will like the south<br />
of Goa. Amazing. Cola Beach.’<br />
Barefoot hippie beauty? I took note.<br />
Anand, who picked me up the next<br />
morning for a few days of discovery,<br />
was the calmest guide a grown-up-<br />
Goaseeker could wish for, and the<br />
most informative: ‘Back in the ’60s<br />
the hippies first found their ‘natural’<br />
uniform, here,’ he explained, as we<br />
motored off past waterlogged meadows<br />
of listless buffaloes. ‘Even in the ’90s it<br />
was a trend for Indian people to come<br />
to the beaches and “sightsee”, as it were.<br />
They’d never seen white people like<br />
that before.’ In 2001, the phenomenon<br />
propelled Goa to Bollywood fame in<br />
the coming-of-age drama Dil Chahta<br />
Hai (What the Heart Wants).<br />
‘And the much-loved Chapora Fort<br />
was a key location,’ he said. ‘Which<br />
really added to the film’s popularity.’<br />
I told Anand I’d climbed up to it from<br />
W Goa in the silver dawn light that<br />
morning. I’d loved its worn rust-red<br />
walls; I’d looked north to Ashwem,<br />
south to infinity — there was no<br />
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