Wanting to slow down in Goa is a
classical oxy-moron. How do you freeze a sunset, crawl on wide expanses, get
boxed in by the waves lashing against expansive shores. And yet in the 14 years
of the Goa existence and around the 12 years that Business with Pleasure
has been undertaking countless journeys to get Goa closer to Goa, there is no
greater pleasure than slowing down what can’t be.
From impromptu musical gigs on
Tuesday afternoons in a village home of a friend, driving through the
labyrinths of by-lanes in north Goa in the dead of the night to drop a pal,
experiments with crazy cocktails and other drink combinations, first tried a
decade ago in the restaurant of a buddy of that same vintage, to cracking up at
the same stories and jokes, slowing down is also reliving the slow times,
frame by frame.
And yet, there should be time to
watch Goa silently. Not speak a word for hours, nestled in a spot by the river
or the ocean, taking in the horizon and the unification of the sea and the sky,
and even after so many years, pinch yourself for living here. The naivety of
feasting on the simple, in a Goa which is fast getting complicated, has its own
thrills.
In a shack at the junction of
Babolim and Siridao, a village which lives in England, a village of empty homes
and a sprinkling of elders at Church for Sunday mass, waiting for the children
to come home, there is the emptiness of melancholy within. But in the woods,
the hills and the narrow road which twists its way above the ocean, till
it reaches Bambolim, there is beauty at every meter. All along the forested
narrow road, there are cuts in the vegetation to allow you small jungle paths
to the sand and the sea. This road goes past the Bambolim beach
resort and then at the junction which turns toward the road which goes
into the Grand Hyatt and then to the highway to the University, a sharp
sandy path cuts through the woods and takes you to Cajetan’s shack,
completely hidden in the foliage and almost impossible to find. But Cajetan’s
shack isn’t a new discovery, the manner in which a mid week afternoon spent
there was.
A journalist turned writer buddy
whose inspiring investigative work on famous murder cases which makes him
a bit of an Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes rolled into one, except
that his works are all fact and no fiction, wanted some down time.
Cajetan’s shack was the pick by
reflex. On a table by the pebbled stones with steps leading up to the shore, we
spoke a bit and eased into our own word of thinking and glorious emptiness. The
cove at Bambolim nestles the sea. In the cocoon lay our thoughts. Some sailing
boats eased into the water, their sails fluttering. Over yonder were a couple
of ships on the outer anchorage of the port. The gentle breeze from the cove
came into season the experience, which was no different from many similar ones
and yet unique.
While Cajetans’ meals are consistent and perhaps the freshest on Goa’s
coasts, he does magic with his signature – pork amsol. For the uninitiated, the
pork is cut into cubes and marinated with garlic and ginger paste, peppercorns,
vinegar, sea salt and a dash of sugar. Once it starts cooking, sautéed onions,
cumin seeds, red chillies and then finally kokum is tossed in. Its cousin Pork
Solantolem, which has a bit of gravy is best to be eaten with rice. For both
solantolem and amsol, the trick is to get the right amount of salt and the
presence of pork skin. As the afternoon wore on and plates of amsol rolled on,
there was a moment of epiphany in the haze and a realization that this is what
pigging out meant.
Cajetan’s shack is spartan and
functional with very little coming in between man and his nature. With his
mother omni present and smiling in her kitchen, the lines between home, shack
and restaurant blur.
This is what pulling back, is. This
is what looking inward is and as much as Goa changes, she still gives us so
many reasons to like her and love her again. All you need to do is slow down,
walk through the woods and the tucked away pathways, spend afternoons by the
sea in the company of vintage friends in whose presence silences talk.
What ties up all this is music away
from the glare. Small genuine music collaborations are taking place which can
be enjoyed and loved without the backdrop of events, gigs and parties. This is
music of and for the soul. A collaborative music workshop between traditional
musicians of Goa and Swiss musicians led by Ingeborg Poffet just
got over in Ravindra Bhavan Margao. Another new friend and music organsier
Ranjit Pais got together some eclectic musicians like Ido from Israel on the
tabla, Mansoor from Goa on the Sitar and Madhav from France on the bansuri,
together in Saligao. Between the music of the waves and the simple
collaborations like these, we are indeed in a simple happy space.
