I was lying on a cozy mattress, peeking from
underneath my warm blanket. The curtains were draping down, swaying with every
gentle breeze passing through the windows. Again and again, mama calls and asks
me to have the delicious recipes that she has prepared only because I am home.
Dad asks me to go for a ride around the city, mentioning with pride that he has
personally serviced the bike. Little sis starts complaining that I haven’t
brought anything for her and insists that we must go out for dinner before I
left. Neighbors plunge in to look at ‘their kid’. They come with sweets and
they never forget to mention how lean I have become even though I know that I
look like carrying a child in my belly! Of course, mama never mentions that
when she puts a piece of homemade cake in my mouth. Dad just smiles and says
that you need to exercise to keep yourself fit.
It is not always that we think of our management
school during our term break. But this time it was different. I was thinking of
the fun that I was missing out without my friends. I would be returning on the
second of January and I thought that Goa would be as dead as before when I left
in the early December, devoured of its energy after the engrossing Christmas
and New Year Street Carnivals that had turned Goa into a city of ‘divas’ and
which of course meant no more to us than a cluster of colorful juicy fruits
dangling at the perch of a tall tree, which we could only see but could not
touch. End terms had caused this havoc and the resolution for Twenty12 was made
back then. Explore Goa; Tours; Night outs; More Tours!
It didn’t take us even a day after we came back on
campus to decide that we were going to Palolem the very next Sunday. There was
some commotion about who should and who should not be a part of this touring
group. It was settled that nine of us would be going together and the others
could arrange for their own transport. Words spread like wild fire and within
two days, we could make out that we were not alone on our quest to South Goa
and its sublime beaches. We booked a car in a hurry and packed our things well
in advance. The anxiety could easily be felt when you see many groups talking
about Palolem and other nearby tourist destinations during their dinner and
occasionally during group meetings as well. We were no exception and Palolem
had become the ‘In-Thing’ in GIM.
