What brings you here is the crowded casinos or peaceful beaches, Goan sea food
or season’s special sweets, rocking clubs or karaoke at beach side restaurants.
Goa has a lot to offer for visitors. The festival season means a surge in
visitors from all over the country and parts of the world. Many have come to
see the year out and enjoy themselves. For many of them Goa is undoubtedly a
state of mind.
Walking around the streets of Panjim city,
Ryan Fernandes says, “I am a Malyali from Bhopal. I just love the decoration of
the city. The vibe one gets here cannot be matched in any other place.
Decorated streets with fairy lights and hanging stars have compelled me to
spend more time in Goa.” He further added that his initial plan was to leave
Goa soon after the Christmas celebration but now it has been extended till the
New Year.
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People love partying in Goa, no surprises and one such person is
Jitendra from Gujarat. He said, “The amount of fun I had here is immense. It is
one of those nights which I will never forget in my life. The service provided
by the casino staff literally made me feel like a king. I spent around four
hours there and not even a single minute could I stop dancing.” He added that
it should be a must visit place for anyone who is visiting Goa for the first
time. An entirely different viewpoint was presented by Jayesh, another resident
of Gujarat. He said, “We did not like the parties at casinos. It was very
crowded and we could not even hear our own people. The songs which were played
over there were very annoying and this finally resulted in us leaving the place
within an hour’s time.” He further added that they were a group of ten friends
and looking for a better place for the New Year celebration.
There are quite a few families also who have come to Goa to
celebrate. One such is the Bhalla family from Mumbai, Risabh Bhalla said, “I
personally love spending time with my family. Goa is a perfect celebration
spot, where we get a package of all kinds of fun. We were looking for a place
which has it all and the only option which came in our head was Goa.” Chitra
Bhalla, daughter of Risabh said, “I am not as boring as my parents. They wanted
to party around, that’s the reason they came here. My reason for coming here
was to just sit on the peaceful beaches at midnight and listen to the sound of
the sea. The amount of calmness you get at that time is something which can’t
be expressed in words.” Simar Bhalla, mother of Risabh said, “I would love to
do water sports here. Unfortunately, in Mumbai we have more options but the
water and the area surrounding the sea is not that clean.” She further added
that she already did Parasailing and now she was preparing for a visit to an
island in a boat.
There are a few foodies as well, who have been travelling
throughout Goa just to taste special food items. Varjeet Singh is a chef by
profession, she said, “This is the perfect time to hog. My instructor used to
say, we just do not put particular ingredients to cook food, instead we use our
culture to cook food. I Have been observing the same, within these few days in
Goa. The cake which I am having now at this bakery itself is very special. I
will never get this taste in any part of India because it is literally baked in
a special oven which I have never seen in any part of India.” She added that the
smell which she got while entering the bakery located in a galli drew her back
to an imaginable fairy world of cakes.
Tirikovela Sridhar from Andhra Pradesh said, “The karaoke at
this restaurant has been attracting me for a long time. I have been visiting
this place for the last three years. The vibe of this place is unbeatable.
People here are very sweet because they give me a chance to sing on the top of
my voice without judging me or throwing rotten tomatoes at me.”
Whereas the tourists from across the nation have been enjoying
here, the Goans are also not on the back foot. Ronnie Fernandes from Majorda
said, “I am happy seeing everything getting back to normal again. I went out
with my family to an open air party hall and enjoyed it there. Mahesh Dessai
from Nuvem said, “I went out with my friends to Panjim and roamed the whole
night.” There were a few people who preferred staying indoors as a
precautionary measure of the pandemic situation. Jayson from Seraulim said, “We
went for mass and returned from there. It is very important for us to
understand the seriousness of the pandemic. Staying indoors with family is also
fun.”
Goa
has something for everyone and that is the charm of this place.
