Goa green!

LET'S TORQUE

Went to Goa for a week in the rains. Original charm? The off-season prices "" you can haggle zeroes off every number presented to you... cabs, rickshaws, hotel rooms, rental two-wheelers. Actual charm? It's empty. Stopped at Calangute beach, saw three people. Stopped at Colva, saw twelve souls. Plus it's a hundred shades of green.

I hired a Honda Activa (reliable, waterproof underseat space for rain suit, shopping and wallet/phone) for Rs 200 a day and rode 350 km over four days at a steady 40 kph. Which, come to think of it, is more than halfway from Mumbai to Goa.

But you don't really come to Goa in the monsoon for the rain itself, or for the beaches. Monsoon Goa is a place to ride along the empty interior roads and get a few churches, some temples and all the forts sorted.

All the forts are on hills, and sport spectacular rain-swept, storm-cloud filled views of the ocean. Just be careful where you step "" they say there are snakes, but most often you're likely to step into a cuddle.

Chapora (remote, quiet, lonely), Aguada (well-kept, busier, beautiful) and Reis Magos (deserted, spooky) were the ones I went to. Didn't go to Cabo da Rama, and they tell me I missed something seriously beautiful. And no matter what they say, spend a day dawdling along in Panjim. It's just a state capital and all that, but what a state capital! It's leisurely, sparkling, Portuguese-looking and very, very colourful.

How good is Goa in the rains? My rented Activa got a name fifteen minutes into the first ride. If you ever see a grey beat-up Activa bearing the number 1913, remember, she is Sofia.

shubhabrata@business-standard.com