This is a journey of breathtaking sunsets.
When the briefest of winters hands over its baton of magnificence to spring and
Goa has its last run of the season, the land, quite clearly is at its best. The
sands are pristine, the waters clear and the every vast expanse of the horizon
has magical sunsets.
For many, all this should have been a
given, the sheer consistency of the experience should have dimmed the charm,
but it is in these slivers of nature’s benevolence, in patches of Goa’s
coastline, that we find our moments of epiphany.
For years, the villages of Siridao and
Bambolim, were almost off the map, as they branched away from the main roads,
but in the last two these places have been home, the route of least one journey
everyday. Siridao remains a lonely little village with most of the youngsters
in England or elsewhere leaving their folks in large homes, built on the
foundation of their foreign earnings.
But the village clearly is handpicked by
someone up above. Past the narrow little road leading from the main highway,
past its church and the junction on the sea, the road bends uphill, thro ugh
the wooded forest, hugging the coastline towards its journey to Bambolim. It is
at the junction where the village road meets the sea, near the village high
mast, where lies arguably one of the best spots to watch a Goan sunset.
On journeys from South Goa to back home in
Bambolim, Siridao becomes a pit-stop by reflex anytime between 4.30 and 6 pm.
The sight of the sun as it moves south, dipping into the sea as the silhouette
of bobbing ships on the Vasco bay shimmer before the dusk settles in, is a
recurring chapter of Goa’s ethereal beauty. And if you move on and journey
through the woods of Siridao, towards Bambolim hugging the coastline, the
setting sun darts between the palm trees and you find it sinking into the same
horizon a little ahead.
From the road there are many entrances
through the trees towards the water and the craggy rocks, where the locals sit,
gossip and frolic. If there are some rare village beaches in Goa, with no sign
of tourist busloads, these spots must be it.
But the story of waiting and longing is the
story of the village. A little over a year ago, there was couple who ran a
restaurant called Sea Shells, where the village church roads meets the water at
the high mast. Ainuddin Hakim used to send out his fishing trawlers and then
send some of the catch to other fishermen and use the rest for his sea food
business. Aino, as he was fondly called lived by the sea, of the sea and for
the sea. And while he and his Goan wife Dumiana, didn’t quite have to wait for
customers to their beautiful popular restaurant, they did spend more time
waiting for their London based daughter.
As they waited, they carpeted and decorated
their restaurant in an unique way. Every two years, as the sea receded
exceptionally, it left a trail of seashells on the bed. Aino and his boys (as
we have reported in these columns in September 2016), used to go and pick up
five truck loads of sea shells and use them to a base for the floor of the
restaurant. The place got its name from the sea shells and was simply called
that. Today, the sea shells hang on the walls and outside the very swank
transformed restaurant it has become, called Leda sea-shells.
While the look is airy, expansive and
natural, we did miss the sea shells the floor as we dined by the water with the
sea waters almost lapping our table. What was also missing was the easy chatter
of Dumiana as she spoke of her life as a mother waiting for her baby girl in
London, and Aino’s stories of his journeys to sea and how he had carved a niche
and respect for himself. As he proudly said, “All politicians have their
special parties at my place.”
But today’s Leda Sea Shells has a different
laid back charm bringing fine dining to the shores of Siridao. Last week, we
tucked into baked fish in cheese and spinach and lemon chicken and each would
be as good as any of the best restaurant in Goa. It is drawing those who will
travel for food and is becoming a bit of a pit-stop for guests from the Grand
Hyatt which is on the other end of the woods, a 5-minute drive away.
The village though, will still be all about
gorgeous sunsets and daily pit-stops, to catch them.
