-Brian Mendonça
Almost every morning as I travel to work, I cross
the Kadamba bus with the broad signage proclaiming MARGAO-MALVAN.
Why not? I said to myself. With three days in
hand, we set off on a Saturday at 12 midday. The Goa section of the road till
Banda is fine but getting to Kudal could be rock and roll. As you get nearer to
Malvan the quality of roads is colour-coded on Google GPS. Blue is good, grey
is bad and red is pathetic.
After doing 100 kms. we found ourselves in Malvan,
Sindhudurg district by 2.20 p.m. At Hotel Shirgaonkar a prawns thali was
Rs.320. I opted for the mutton thali. After the delicious Malvani food, we set
about finding a place to stay. The meagre 20 huts at MTDC, Tarkali, 7 kms. away
from Malvan city were full.
We chanced upon Blue Water resort which looked
clean and inviting. We opted for a 2nd
floor room which afforded a gorgeous view of the beach, a stone’s throw away.
The host was kind enough to give it to us for Rs. 3500 per night (breakfast
included).
I was determined to see dawn rising from the sea
from my bamboo chair on the balcony. In the dead of night the roar of the sea
sounded terrifying. An unseen force was pulling me, pulling me into its watery
locks. Grieving over loss, the darkness signified death itself. One act could
end it all.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the quality of darkness
began to change. Shades of grey revealed
forms where earlier there was a wall of black. Dawn was breaking. I had
survived kalaratri - the dark night of the soul.
The next day we went for the 8 a.m. Sunday Mass in
Konkani at St. Peter’s church. It was a little distance away from our resort
and on the way back we pressed on to the boating point, sangam – where the sea meets the river.
After breakfast we set off for Sindhudurg fort.
The fort was commissioned by Shivaji in 1664. You approach it by boat for it is
built in the sea. Sadly the sprawling ruins have no historical information or
signages to guide the tourist. As we neared the docking point we saw scuba
diving enthusiasts dipping over the boats which were anchored midstream. Against
a deposit of Rs. 100 visitors to the fort are given a jute bag to put their
waste. This UNDP initiative was however met with scant regard by the visitors.
We bought six.
The rock garden was not enjoyed very much since it
was well past 3 p.m. and we were hot and hungry. After lunch at Shirgaonkar we called it a day
and returned to Blue Water. Onion and potato pakodas waited for us with hot tea. After a restful night we
returned to Goa on Monday at 12 midday – but not before Queenie picked up her
masalas from Deulkar Kirana stores in Malvan. Dwayne also had his pockets full
of shells from Tarkali beach.
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Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, St. Inez, Goa on Sunday,15 October 2017. Pix taken by the author from Blue Water resort, Tarkali beach, Malvan at 8.21 a.m. on 2 October 2017.
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