But over the years when those who run those islands of delight, their restaurants and bars which give you solace and sustenance, become friends, you realise that the mythical off season is when they are the busiest.
August is that point when they come “home”, and work on their homes and shops, getting the furniture and the wood in,getting the carpentry done and getting dressed for season. The “industry” is at work in a manner seldom seen or spoken
about. At buddy Chandrashekar’s office tons of mails must be flying thick and fast between him and his suppliers of all
kinds of meat which is brought in a cold chain and kept in cold factory for suppliers to various hotels, Mariketty is now a
true convert – from Greek to Goan, having become a Goenkar lotus eater, who is so much more than the owner of one of
Goa’s best Greek restaurants. Swing to the south and to the land of Miss Monkey- Spanish child of the wilds, a roamer
and drifter from bilbao to Barcelona, who moved to Calcutta
five years ago and took the same route- hence the affinity- to
Goa and got stuck in Agonda. She goes back to native Spain,
spends time working on farm in Italy and then gets back
before the rain recedes in Goa, to reopen her designer store
called what else – Miss Monkey her nom de plume.
Among the returnees is also Rahul Sen, the scion of
the legendry Shunu Sen, ad guru to many who followed
advertising and an equally important figure in the field of
branding and communication. He lives by the sea in Agonda
for most parts of the year, during which he teaches at the
BITS campus near the airport, a friendly music loving guru
who makes campuses come alive.
Folks like these add to Goa in ways that are unimaginable,
bringing with them quirks and experiences which they in
turn pass on and share with those who visit and those who
live here. As hardnosed commentators, looking at trends and
downtrends and tourism policies and investments, we ignore
the real foot soldier ambassadors of the Goa brand who are
beyond campaigns and slogans and ambigram logos. They do
their thing. And Goa is richer because they are here.
A huge load was added to this experience when Guarav
Jaswal’s office called last week to spend an hour in the
afternoon with a group of people from all over, professionals,
businessmen, writers and so on. It’s a regular chat they
have with folks they feel, whose stories may be heard. Yours
truly humbly spoke of anecdotes and experiences from
bunkers and battlefields at Synapse. Gaurav came here
a little under a decade ago, alone to set up what has now
become a prestigious business communication company
with International clients. But he hasn’t quite stopped at
that. This first generation entrepreneur’s new baby Junoon,
which incubates budding entrepreneurs with angel funding
and nurturing, helps many young people of Goa build on
their dreams, which policies and promises of the government
never. He himself is a product of that dream coming from
a non-business family with no training, but flushed with
ideas with the first big one at 19. That afternoon at Synapse
was one of the nicest in a long time, in a room full of lovely
people. Gaurav is now looking to make Governance work in
Goa by becoming a bridge between people who need solutions
and the government that needs to deliver them.
What do you call such people? Insiders or outsiders?
