And Then It Was Over

After almost 2 weeks of planning, hectic trips to Panjim and back, 7am wakey ups and 1.30am crash to the beds, it's finally over.The Gagged by the Bag exhibition was finally over and all in all, it was a job well done.

This monday was my sunday, and i spent most of it sleeping away and catching up on my missed sleep. Woke up late, checked my mail, and had a nice relaxing evening by the beach with a Swede friend. Tomorrow's another day and I will be back to normal work tomorrow.

A Wedding On The Beach

Last night, I was at Charlie and Nicole's wedding. Charlie’s a Goan from Kananguinim, while Nicole from Basel, Switzerland and they live close to my place in Benaulim. It was a refreshing change from the usual weddings I've attended. For starters; I was dressed in a t-shirt, jeans and sandals! The entrance was lit up with candles in paper bags...hundreds of them formed the driveway to the shack called Zeebop at Utorda beach. The atmosphere was multicultural and uncrowded and most of all uniquely fun!

We had the customary toast, but no silly wedding march. We had a ‘wedding special’ newspaper for sale which was filled with info about the bride and groom, funny pictures and cartoons too. The money from the sale was given to a home for special children. For entertainment we some of the foreign guests double up as performers and had cross dressers perform an Abba song in costume, a typically Swiss ‘Heidi-Dance’, and a martial arts demonstration.

At one side was a huge canvas and some paint for all the guests to leave their comments and cartoons and I put my palm impressions on and left a message ‘I had so much fun! C&N, do get married more often –Clinton’ Also met a few friends, Prashant Maurya and Sanjit (who talked to me about the Chaka-Chak Campaign much to his wife’s displeasure). Food was great and I went for a second helping.

We ended by going to the beach and setting gas balloons free. The gas balloons had sparklers attached to them so as they went up they also sparkled into the sky. What a nice way to end a perfect wedding!

2.54am, 130kmph, and 13 turtle hatchlings

Thought i'd pass the blog phase in my life but i guess i was wrong. Got persuaded by a friend that blogs were worth trying out. Perhaps that it is 2.54 am in the morning and i don't know if i'm sleepy or not, but i won't put too much thought into that...

I've just returned home speedily from a beach in North Goa, called Morjim. So what was a benaulikar doing 70 kms away from his hometown at that ungodly hour you ask? Watching turtles hatch and crawl to the sea ofcourse!

Well it's not everyday that you see such a happening, so armed with a camera and a 4 wheeler, i made my way to Panjim for dinner and then to Morjim where i would witness this for the first time in my life. Sujeet, one of those in charge had informed me earlier that i would be just one of the 5-6 people that night, and you can perobably imagine my horror when i saw over 150 people at a desolate beach close to midnight.

It's a sad sight to see people jostling with each other trying to get a better view perhaps, a better camera angle and this special moment becomes just another touristic sideshow. At birth, hatchlings make their way upwards, crawling through the sand with their flippers. Instinct tells them to follow the moonlight towards the sea. But with so many meddilng tourists, and flashing cameras, they get disoriented and move in circles, wearing themselves out even before they enter the sea. It was a disa pointing experience as I could not get a picture in a natural setting with the crowds milling about, nor could i enjoy the sight.

At times like this I wish we ddin't have so many tourists or perhaps these hatchings should be kept secret, at least for the sake of the turtles. This night just 13 turtles made it into the sea. I wonder how many will survive till they return back to Morjim to lay some more eggs. Probably none, but by then i guess Morjim would probably be another Calangute.

Clinton..
klintvaz at gmail.com