Vasco – Facing the reality of the myth!
February 18, 2009 | 1 Comments | Travels
This is an old tale..about 7 years back. Then i was an engineering student and we were going Goa on the Sem 5 tour. Me being a bachelor with out any girlfriends at that time , joined forces with like minded individuals. People joining me were lijo (the not so famous but most naughty dude), Aby(need any explaination?), Dany (well he has his days) and we had expected HL (who was down with vomiting due to his unprecendented frenzy of drinking) and Rinu (who was cautioned by his girl friend). But from the lot of more than 50 ppl only 4 had the guts to actually do what we had planeed to do.
The tour party was going to see some churches (i forgot which) and we planned to follow our plans. we took 2 bikes, dani and lijo became the riders anf me and aby hopped on the back. The place we were heading was the red lit area in Goa – Vasco! No one knew anything about it, all we knew was the earlier week one of our batchmate from cusat was killed on the way back from there. So it was a dangerous trip..but then we had decided to see the place. Although we never had any plans other than to see the place all were afraid and no one really had the courage to ask ppl for the direction. Atlast when we asked an elderly man he told “Its not a very good place to go..you can go to another beach here which is beautiful..”. Well we were asking about the Marina beach there..But after asking some very serious looking ppl we found out the place
It was parallel to the beach and the main road was going straight. We needed to take a right turn but ppl were all looking at us and hence we missed it the first time. THen we came back and after some tries up and down we atlast made our turn right. We reached a road which was parallel to the main road. Now it was time to be afraid..what we saw ahead really made us rethink about the whole plan. We decided we had better run back. But it was too late…The moments that followed are considered one of the accomplishments that we all made in our lives…
Four of us were looking ahead the road we just came in. It ran parallel to a beach which cant be called a beach any more. It was the toilet and playground for all the children and elders alike. A vast open toilet! Some one has created a concrets barriar on the road so that no vehicle can move on but people can walk just through it. To our right it was the ocean and the filth and to the left it was a slum. AN advanced slum, can be called even a settlement. The road divided the ladies and the gents. Gents were there to the right on the sheds, some quarelling, some lying down..all looked like local gundas. THis was time to retreat!
To left some coir beds were laid in front of some house and all those houses had elderly women standing on the door steps. Some were sitting on the roads and all were calling out and talking loudly.. We never understood what they meant. A young boy approached us, he is the pimp. Well he staight away asked us if we were mallus. We denied it upright, but he told us that he was certain that we were.(so much for all those mallus coming here) We told him that we just wanted to see the place and have some beer. He told us to follow him and started wlking. We looked at each other and started following. Our knee was shaking with fear…we were walking closer to the slum. There suddenly became evident some small path between the huts. He entered and disappeared..we followed reluctantly. Ladies were talking loadly and screaming something..we walked in a brisk pace not to get lost. It was like a labyrith and god knows how deep we went it. The path was tangled like a huge serpent. Atlast we reacher a beer parlour in the middle of the settlement. All were scared to death by now. None of us knew the way out or how we reached there.. On the way here we had to make way for ladies to pass and they quezed us out pf th path even when we had made enough room for them. One even squeezed dan, like to check him..not so funny for him. So there were 3 tables and four chairs each. We sat on them and ordered beer. I never had more than a glass of beer. What was about to come made me drink one full bottle like water.
The boy has disappeared…what will happen now?
There was a bartender for namsake and he was just tuning the radio. I never had the guts to look upto his face. We gulped down some beer and waited. If girls come what should we do? We had decided that no matter what happens no one is going to succomb to temptations. We had to be back before our friend returned from their trips. No one should actually know about this feat unless and untill we disclose this ourselves. So we had this pact to resist all services offered!
The boy came back, he was followed by a lady who seemed veteran in the field. She looked good but only stood at the door. She had with her 4-5 girls. Small girls it seemed we were just looking at each other like we were not there in the scene. The lady was talking to the girl about how to canvas us or something. All girsl were nodding and acknowledging what she was telling them. She looked like a military commander giving orders..Me and lijo were on the exposed side of the table. The girls came to our table and began talking. We made negative ex-pressions, and told them we dont need any company. I kept on gulping down the beer. All were afraid and under the table our knees were shaking.
From the dialect they were talking we understood parts of the speech, also the body language helped us understand bits and pieces. They were telling wus what all we can do with then..menawhile they were massaging our shoulders also..i couldnot look upto the girl standing at my shoulder. All others told me that she was the most beautiful one. I was not feeling any urges for that matter, at that time i just wanted to get out of that place as soon as possible. ALl were thinking on the same lines and the boy approached. He asked for the last time if we dont need any company. We affirmed it and suddenly dani made his move. He told the boy that we had other friends waiting and once we get back we will come at night. The boy became happy and we became confused. We had no idea what dan was talking abt. Then the boy became more supportive. We asked it it was possible for him to take us around the place. He reluctantly said yes. We were customers for that night no? So we paid the bill and followed him. He took us to the end os the street and we had our day. On the way back we gave him a 50rs note and said that we will be back by 10 at night. His face lit up and he told he will be waiting for us…
He is still waiting..
NB: The area was closed down recently and ppl have moved to other location like vysag and mumbai.
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