"Goa is famous for three things: powder beaches, all night parties-and susegadho"-meaning taking life e-e-a-s-y!" So says Salvador "Sonny" Carvalho. He pauses, and adds, "Also feni, sorpatel and vindaloo."
Sonny and his wife Deena are old friends, and I'm lolling on the verandah of the family's sprawling hacienda, sipping pre-lunch drinks. Sonny's right on all counts. Feni is a potent country liquor made from coconut palm sap, or from fermented cashew juice, and sorpatel and vindaloo are Goan specialty dishes served on festive occasions.
All three grace our lunch table this afternoon, but after one sip of the fiery "caju" (cashew) Feni, I opt for a shandy (Indian Kingfisher beer and lemonade) instead! After the main course, the family's chef beams as he presents a traditional dessert - Bebinca, a seven-layered cake which takes several hours to prepare.
The Carvalho family's lifestyle is typical of Goa's affluent middle class. Their Roman Catholic faith, and culture, derive from their Portuguese heritage and like many of their 40-plus generation, they are gregarious and fun-loving.
Over the next few days I'm invited to lively shindigs where everyone grooves, the music ramps up several decibels and booze flows freely.
As the evening progresses, guitarists strum pop songs and guests break into vigorous renditions of Goan folk songs accompanied with rhythmic clapping. Parties rarely shut down before 3 a.m.
But if Goan joie de vivre hasn't changed, much else has. On my first visit 25 years ago, Goa was a little tropical paradise: miles of sun drenched beaches, palm groves, paddy fields, and small residential communities. Country roads wound past whitewashed homes with colonial Portuguese style balcãos (balconies) where folks would sit out in the cool of an evening.
Such neighbourhoods are rapidly vanishing in North Goa, giving way to concrete apartments, multistoried hotels and time-share enclaves. South Goa, for the most part, still retains its bucolic tranquility.
The open air market at Mapusa, is a must, and when I arrive mid morning, everything is at full throttle: bright colours, seething crowds, and the sun beating down from a brazen sky. The smell of overripe fruit lies on the dust laden air and the roar of traffic and the beeping of horns are like hammer blows.
Urchins with matted hair and runny noses offer me gaudy trinkets, bony cows chew the cud dreamily as they saunter through the crowd, stray dogs sleep under the shade of awnings and rotund sari-clad matrons haggle vociferously with fruit vendors.
Later in the afternoon, I stroll from my B&B to nearby Baga beach. Families frolic at the edge of the rolling waves. Bollywood film music playing at top decibel level wafts across the sands. And, as the evening closes in, parasailers glide across a purple and crimson sunset sky.
No visit to Goa would be complete without seeing Old Goa. This is where the Portuguese held sway from 1505 until India forcibly took over in 1961. A dock at the water's edge, where a succession of Viceroys would have arrived to great fanfare, opens to a wide road leading under a triumphal archway.
Today the road is empty except for myself and a couple of school kids sauntering homewards. Colonial mansions once occupied by court grandees have crumbled into ruin and stand ghost-like amid tangled creepers.
What has endured, however, are Goa's splendid Roman Catholic churches modelled after the style of European cathedrals. The most renowned is the Bom Jesu Basilica with its dazzling gilt altarpiece and majestic statues.
Completed in 1605, its main claim to fame is the "uncorrupted" body of St. Francis Xavier, a deeply venerated Jesuit missionary who died five centuries ago. Remarkably, despite Goa's intensely humid heat, the body (never embalmed or mummified) hasn't decomposed over the centuries.
A lesser known gem is the 17th century Church of St. Cajetan, with its white Corinthian pillared façade and a dome fashioned after that of St. Peter's in Rome. The three altars, the pulpit and paintings are exquisite and unlike the crowded aisles of the Bom Jesu Basilica, this is a haven of serenity.
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IF YOU GO
Goa's international Dobolim airport is accessible by air from points across India, as well as from Britain and Russia. Several trains run daily from Mumbai.
Where to Stay:
Accommodation runs the gamut in Goa, from the five star Lemon Tree Amarante Beach Resort (http: //www. lemontreehotels.com/goa/ amarante-goa.aspx) and the Bougainvillea Guest House (http: //www.bougainvilleagoa.com/) to shacks on the beach for intrepid budget travellers.
We stayed at the modest, but comfortable B&B guest house, Baga Villa, within walking distance of Baga beach and the main shopping strip (http: //www. bagavilla.co.in/ or info@ bagavilla.co.in).
