Bangalore To Goa

In 2006 we visited Goa during Christmas time. It was a memorable trip as it was a great get together of our old college buddies. There were two gangs, one headed from Bangalore and another from Pune, both the gangs united in Goa. From Bangalore we were some 8 guys and we booked a qualis for our travel. It was a long journey and we started at around 9 PM. It took almost two hours to pick everyone from their residence and by 11:30 PM we touched the highway. Our driver seemed to be little arrogant and damn care kind of. He strictly told us not to have cigarettes and alcohol inside the vehicle. We were little surprised with the kind of attitude from a driver.

Now, as soon as we touched the highway we realized that we were going at a speed of around 40-50 kph and sometimes the speed came down to 20 kph and suddenly it would gain some momentum and after sometime became steady at 40-50 kph. We discussed in our own language “what the hell is happening?” It continued like that for half an hour and out of frustration someone said to the driver “I think you can drive a little faster” The driver was silent on that and without any reaction he continued to drive. After sometime the vehicle almost stopped at one place and at that moment we all started to argue with him “what happened to you? Why are you driving like that?” He replied “actually I am feeling very sleepy as I didn't sleep last night” One of my friend said to him “It’s OK, you can sleep for some time and for the time being let me drive” He replied “No, I can’t let you drive, I will not take that risk” We started to lose our patience and said to him “if you are going to drive like this, you will definitely hit some vehicle” Our driver got angry and replied in some high-tone “What are you saying? It’s my vehicle and how can I just hit someone like that? “That moment we realized that he was actually the owner of that qualis. He started his engine and the same drama continued for another half an hour.

We stopped at one Dhaba for tea; our main intention was to let our driver sleep for some time. It was around 1 AM and it was quite cold outside, after tea we simply waited for an hour. We came back to our car and found him sound sleep. We had a hard time to wake him up. He was not ready to drive and said he needs to sleep for few more hours. We had to struggle a lot to convince him that one of us can drive the night and he could continue from morning. For few minutes he anxiously watched my friend driving his vehicle. Once he was convinced about his driving skills, he went to deep sleep.

Next day morning after breakfast our driver took charge and we really experienced some of his good driving skills.


Everything was going fine and all of a sudden in the middle of a forest we encountered a minor accident with a bike. There was a minor scratch on the headlight of the qualis. Our driver was not in any mood to forgive the biker just like that and asked money for the damage. Even we also supported him and asked the biker to pay him some money. But the biker literally had no money with him, he opened his purse and he had only 30-40 Rs with him. Our driver wanted to make a police complaint. We asked him “where the hell you will find a police station in the middle of this forest?” But he was determined to launch a police complaint. Now there must be someone to look after the biker as he might escape, also we couldn't send our driver alone to look for a police station. So, few of us went with him to find a police station and few waited in the middle of that forest.

The biker looked very tense and was looking into the sky; he must have wondered “what the hell?”

We waited almost an hour in that forest and finally the qualis came but our driver couldn't find any police station there.  Their argument continued and one of our friends came up with a solution. He said “It’s OK, each of us will pay 100 RS to you for the damage. Now just leave the biker and move on” Our driver agreed to that and we were on our way to Goa.

Our Pune gang already booked some lodge near Anjuna beach.  Once we reached Goa, it took us almost an hour to locate the lodge. For the first time when we inquired to a pedestrian about the lodge, he replied “you will have to go straight on this same road, the lodge is around 3 km from here” After going about 3 km from there, again we asked someone else about the lodge and he replied “you came in the wrong direction, you guys will have to go back on this same road, the lodge is about 3 km from here” We had to repeat that to and fro motion quite a number of times that day and everyone was literally frustrated. Finally we were able to locate our lodge and all our frustration was gone when we met our Pune gang after such a long time.

We stayed in Goa for 3 days and enjoyed a lot. Goa is just amazing during Christmas and New Year time, although it's quite expensive. There’s music, light, carnival and beer all around the place.

One can simply lie down at the Baga beach and relax the whole day.

One day we wanted to visit the “Dil Chahta Hai” fort, to be honest we didn't know the actual name of the fort. So we asked people about the “Dil Chahta Hai” fort and they showed us the direction. When we reached near the fort, we saw a signboard where it was actually written “Dil Chahta Ha Fort”. The view is just stunning from there.



One can visit Goa every year and definitely won’t feel bored at all.