Go Goa Gone!

I haven't actually seen the movie but I am going to shamelessly steal the title for this post just because it's catchy :P  

I am currently on a vacation with my family in Goa and this place never ceases to amaze me. I have been here twice before but this was the first time that I saw Goa in the monsoons. We arrived here on a Wednesday afternoon and the heat wave that hit us as soon as exiting from the airport gave no indication of what was to come in the next few days. The car journey from the airport to the Club Mahindra resort was very pleasant because of the dazzling views all around (my mom and I were sharing a chilled beer which certainly helped matters). I decided to use the time exploring the various camera options in my new phone, got some very interesting clicks thanks to that! We aren't an energetic lot like a lot of people I know who would explored Goa from one end to the other in the 3 days. Unlike them, our holiday was spent at the resort was mostly lazing and chilling with a few walks on the beach and swimming thrown in. The highlight of the trip came on the second day when the monsoons set in. My brother and I had taken a walk towards the sea and sat down on of those wooden benches with a thatched roof attached when the rains came down. Well down is the wrong word since the rain literally flew in every direction. I was hard pressed to keep a huge yellow umbrella open in front of me to shield me from the worst of the sprays but that was about it. It was a maniacally beautiful sight: the trees swaying like they would be ripped out of the ground, sand and rain flying about everywhere, umbrellas getting bent over backwards, the roar of the wind and how could I forget, the sound of thunder. In that moment, while I looked around in awe at the wonder of nature, I suddenly felt the true insignificance of my life in the larger canvas of the universe. Who were we anyway, to defy the laws of nature and seemingly uncover its secrets? Mankind may have progressed far beyond what it had imagined it would but there are moments when the universe asserts its supremacy by showing us exactly what it is capable of. But I digress, the sight was a beautiful if slightly scary one and we spent close to an hour sitting there just waiting for it to pass over. And when it finally did there was a calm in the air quite different from before. Nature had eproved its point with its little show, it didn't need to show us more. It rained again at night but it wasn't quite as fantastic, just your usual moderate winds and heavy rainfall, it was a good lullaby to fall asleep to.  

 

The rest of the vacation was spent mostly lazing, reading, eating (a lot!) and watching the final season of 'Lost' (there is something about the series that just fascinates me). All in all it was a very pleasant and peaceful vacation and repeating this a few times a year is all I need to keep me going. Alas tomorrow it shall be back to the daily grind, which brings me to the other thing that I thought of while lazing around doing nothing: The human spirit is indomitable, definitely stronger than the human body and stronger even than the human mind. If you keep your spirit fuelled (not necessarily fuelled with spirits :P), it can get you through everything, even the drudgery of everyday living which is small fry compared to what all the human spirit has had to bear with throughout history. So the next time you feel stuck in the rut of your life, just close your eyes and go to your "happy place"; it can be anything, an actual place that you have been to and liked, an imaginary place in your head, a moment, a memory, the lyrics of a song, a tune, a scene from a movie or play or book; as long as it makes you feel happy. And then after a moment when you open your eyes, you shall be happy and your spirit fuelled up to get you through the next battle and charging towards victory!   

Cheers!