…Happily Hereafter!

Let us begin at the end! To be more precise, let us begin by my giving you news about the happy conclusion of the first episode of this saga that I have chosen to entitle “Living in Goa”. So ta-da…I am in possession of the apartment keys!!
So how did it go? Was it easy/difficult exhilarating/frustrating, slow/prolonged? I have much to write and so I have decided to do a series of short posts, otherwise, not only would I end up producing an extremely lengthy, past expiration date, insipid entry. Even worse it might also be incomplete - since the longer it takes to write the story, the more likely I am to forget many of the details. Now, ideally speaking, I should have been taking notes when this story was unfolding and should have used those notes to write it but given that I had a lot of running around to do I didn’t really have the time to write then and as I was carrying a lot of other luggage (more on that later) I left my laptop behind. So no computer - no notes – the good old pen and paper, somehow, did not inspire. But fret not, I do have a reasonably good memory and with the added benefit of the hindsight I am unlikely to leave out the important bits. So here is the story -

Act One: Before the Departure
 

I am not going to bore you with the mundane details of acts that go with the preparation of any journey but I think it is necessary to put on record the special preparations (including the thought process) that entails taking possession of an apartment especially when it is situated in a city far away from one’s primary residence and is likely to be used as a second/holiday home.
Lets begin with the easiest - the documentary proofs. Now these may differs in specifics in each case but the general drift would be the same. I would record here the exact documents I required in my own case – for a new apartment that falls under the municipal limits of Municipal Corporation of the city of Panaji, Goa.
The builder’s office informed me towards the end of December 2010 that my apartment was ready for possession and in addition to the last instalment due towards the construction cost I needed to pay the infrastructure tax, electricity meter charges and one year house tax to them so that they can forward that to the government. As far as the documents were concerned I would need to carry with me a notarised photocopy of my voter identity card, a recent passport size photograph and the income tax registration document- or, as it is known in India, the Permanent Account Number (PAN) card. A scanned copy of the last mentioned had to be sent by email ahead of my journey to Goa. Furthermore, I was required to give them an advance intimation of my willingness to visit Panaji for paperwork at least 8 days before arriving at their office in Goa.
Now first thing first - I needed a notarised photocopy of my voter’s ID card. I dreaded the thought of standing in long lines at my neighbourhood district court, but then I remembered that a mini-market near the court had many shops where the notaries sat, so it was not going to be that difficult, I tried to assure myself - though quite unsuccessfully. So budgeting for half and hour to one hour of queuing time I took the original and the photocopy of the voter’s ID card to this market on a Monday afternoon in the last week of December 2010. I had expected that after the weekend the rush would be more than usual and consequently I approached the market with some apprehension. It had begun to drizzle slightly and perhaps, the rain was my saviour, or was it the afternoon siesta hours, I don’t know, but when I reached the market I found no crowds there. I approached the first shop, a person sitting there wore a bored expression and I expected him to shoo me away to some other shop but when I told him that I wanted a photocopy notarised. He extended his hand, I gave him the photocopied page and he rapidly stamped it and made a pen mark on, which, only with some vivid imagination could be construed as his initials. I had in the meanwhile taken out the original card from my wallet, which I expected him to thoroughly inspect, but to my surprise or should I say, utter shock, he did not even glance at the original card even when I shoved it under his nose. He had still not declared his fee so I asked him and he mumbled – ten rupees. I handed him the money happily and a little sceptical of the authenticity of the document I rushed back home, the creases on my forehead had begun to vanish – the dreaded task had turned out to be much too easy.
The builder’s office had also asked me to transfer one percent of the value of the apartment to their account towards the stamp duty that would be payable towards the “agreement for sale.” This agreement had to be executed on my arrival in Goa. Let me emphasize here that this agreement between the builder and the buyer is the legal embodiment of the intent of the builder to sell and of the buyer to buy. It is often executed at the time when the initial booking to buy an apartment/house made, but on assurance from my real estate agent, I had not bothered about it as it would have entailed visiting Goa much earlier. Now this can be a fatal mistake, in the absence of an agreement for sale if something goes wrong one has no legal document that is easily admissible in court. Thankfully nothing had gone wrong in my case and I justified my (in) action by taking shelter behind the argument that all payments I had made had been through a cheque and had receipts from the builder acknowledging receipt of money towards construction of a certain apartment at various stages of construction. Also, I had a letter from the builder, which is often known as the “allotment letter”, wherein it is stated that the builder has provisionally allocated a certain apartment in the given project in my name and intended to hand it over to me on completion as long as I make the required payments. So in the worst case scenario, I had enough documents to prove that I had been paying instalments to my builder for the purchase of a house and if for some reason he is unable to deliver the apartment I should at least receive my money back.
Having cleared that up, I guess, I must also point out that the transaction with the builder is not complete till another document - the “sales deed” is not signed. If the ‘agreement for sale’ is the first step of legal interaction in the builder buyer relationship, to the best of my knowledge the sales deed is the final step, for it is the legally registered proof of the final sale and transfer of ownership. My builder told me that execution of that deed would only be possible once a residents (owners) cooperative society is formed for my apartment complex. The transfer of ownership can actually be made in my name only as a member of that society. Now that sounds logical since technically speaking the land on which the apartment complex stands is jointly owned by all the residents. So as of date while I do have possession of the apartment the sales deed is still pending and in all probability it would take a few more months before the final agreement can be signed (which would also entail payment of more stamp duty to the government).
Getting back to my preparation, the builder’s office forewarned me that I required 8 clear working days to effect the agreement for sale, which meant that I needed to be in Goa for at least 10 days (as 8 working days was bound to include a weekend). I scanned my probable dates in mid January to check for any upcoming public holidays, there were none till 26th January; so keeping a liberal margin for contingencies I decided that a 15-day trip inclusive of travel time was warranted. Despite this cushion of extra 5 days I was, nevertheless, apprehensive that some glitch will develop (what do you say – paranoia of the highest order?!) Somehow, I had misgivings about the state of readiness of the apartment. My apprehension was that on inspection I would not find the apartment to be fit for possession (some construction/repair would be found pending) and I would be forced to postpone taking possession for some future date. I guess, I had heard/read enough horror stories that once the builders gave possession of an apartment he washes his hands off all responsibility relating to construction related faults including structural ones. The internet and newspaper linked real estate advisors always counsel us not to take possession until we are completely satisfied with the papers including but not limiting to the plans for electricity, water, drainage, flood control, earthquake, alien insurgency and many more important ones that I don’t recall now. We should also double checked all measurements inside out, checked the roof for leakages, bathrooms for skidding, walls for their tendency to bend over backwards no to please us but to displease us etc.! Yes, I guess its all very fine now for me to make fun of it all when I have the possession, but the fact is that at that point I had asked the builder’s office to send me some photographs and they were taking their own sweet time in doing so and believe it was not helping my paranoid brain one bit. On the other hand, another corner of my brain, I presume where optimism is stored, was assuring me that this was only an apprehension and everything would go as planned and I would get possession a couple of days before the end of the trip. Keeping this scenario in mind the rational part of my (not so split) personality started planning and day-dreaming as to how should I go about equipping the apartment to bring it in a ‘liveable’ state. Now, liveability is not an easy concept of define and it can mean very different things to different people in fact it can mean different things to the same person in different circumstances. It is an issue that I would love to discuss at length and would do so in this blog sometime but in December 2010-January 2011 this subject, more or less, entailed gathering and carrying with me some basic minimum household stuff which included kitchen stuff, bedroom stuff as well as toilet stuff.
I was not planning a permanent change in residence but rather creation of an additional residence from scratch, a residence which would be left behind without anyone to maintain it for months with the date of next visit being subjected to a significant level of uncertainty. So I had to define to myself what I thought was the basic stuff that I and mine would need to set up the second home. What is it that is a ‘must have’ for the modern day living in a second home? Clearly this stimulated the creative juices in the brain but the misgivings that I had mentioned earlier were putting a lid on the excitement that usually accompanies the aforementioned chemical reaction. The doubts continued to linger - what if the paradise stayed illusive – how silly I would feel carrying all sorts of ‘useless’ stuff with me? The majority of ‘to be acquired’ stuff was slotted in the ‘to be bought in Goa’ category but there was still some things that I was planning to carry with me. Stuff that either one did not find in Goa (for example a nice chakala-belan – the basic equipment one requires to make a roti) or which had already been acquired and marked ‘for Goa’(e.g. an induction cooker, that I had brought home in my scientific enthusiasm, was unceremoniously rejected by the kitchen authorities at home, and had been promptly branded as something that was ‘fit for Goa’. Another category of goods that was ‘Goa bound’ belonged to either the ‘duplicates and triplicates’ category or ‘unfit to be presentable’ category. Not surprisingly as everyone at home was trying to help out in this endeavour even collecting the rejects generated some controversy. One of the shareholders (read - family member) at some point found my excitement for even this stuff a little too churlish and annoying and remarked that my gathering stuff at home was giving an impression of someone planning a division of family property. Another stakeholder felt that the most logical course of action would have been to wait until the next time when uncertainty about the possession would not be there. On a rational level I agreed (though our reasons differed substantially but to be honest I was also a little excited about equipping the new apartment and didn’t want to postpone everything for the next time on the basis of unfounded apprehensions. It seemed such a waste of time, energy and effort to plan a trip already compromising on its principal objective.
The dilemma was not just about whether to equip the apartment at this stage or not but also about how to equip it. If the décor of ones house is a physical expression of how one wants to live then one surely needs to take into consideration both the dreams and the constraints one has. One of the predicaments that my daydreaming world had to resolve was whether to go for cheap and functional or the minimalist elegant aesthetic and probably expensive given that the second house by definition is sparingly used. Of course, if elegant and aesthetic could be wedded with inexpensive and functional the dilemma would resolve itself but in my experience this fortuitous combination seldom occurs.
Somehow, grappling with the above stated dilemma I couldn’t and still can’t help but think about this in terms of what does a man really need for living at both the prosaic and the sublime level. There is almost a stereotypical (natural?) middle class guilt built in my system relating to the luxury of a second home. In some perverse way, I cannot help thinking about one of Lev Tolstoy’s story – how much land does a man need? As the story goes, at the end of the day all you need is 6 yards (and if one believes in cremation not even that!) In other words the ‘business of living’ throws up many issues, which forms an inherent theme of this blog. I would soon enough have more to say on that.
I wish to cover one last issue in this entry. Before I left for Goa, I had to arrange for a place to stay in Goa – hopefully for the last time. Of course, the easiest way would have been to search the net for hotel-deals and pick up one that was reasonably priced and close enough to the apartment. But clearly we all know arranging for accommodation is never that easy. The auto generated M.C.Qs began to test my brain and my patience once again! Should I book close to the apartment or close to the registrar’s office, where I feared I would spend a disproportionately large time, or still nearer to the builder’s office? The location was not the only issue for me to look into; I also dreaded the thought of eating the hotel food, 3 meals per day for 15 days. Now a 15-day sojourn by my standards is not too long but not a short one either. I have done it before when I was forced to, but I am not getting any younger and somehow could not ‘stomach’ the idea of surviving on the hotel food for my entire stay. To add to the degree of difficulty, I am a very poor cook and can make very limited dishes (if I can dare to use that word for my concoctions at all), but still, I felt the need to find an apartment or a room with would, at least, give me an option of using a kitchen. Suddenly the future – a second home in Goa – seemed to somehow more than compensate for the troubles I was dreading to face during (hopefully) my last stay in Goa outside ‘home’ for a very long time to come if not eternally. So I began to scout the net and the entries in my own diary that I had built up over the last 6 months in anticipation of the builder’s invitation. I began to send out emails; amongst the many misses one hits had potential. Although it was not located close enough to the apartment it was at a bus-able distance both from the business centre of Panaji where the builders office as well as the registrar’s office were located and the apartment. It was a 2 bedroom flat with an equipped kitchen and thus understandably came with a price tag higher than what I wished to pay. I bargained a little and decided to electronically transfer a token payment on the Sunday night about a week before I was to leave. But a technical glitch stopped me. Next day I got a reply to one of my initial scouting emails – once again it was a 2 bedroom apartment but it came with the right price tag. So for Rs. 500 per day I was able to book a 2-bedroom apartment situated in the business district/market of Panaji. This deal also made one of the stakeholders at home doubt the sagacity of buying an apartment given that one could be had at this price for rent! Sagacious or not, I had little doubts about the decision - the warmth of a finalised travel arrangements was rapidly dissipating many of the doubt inducing clouds. Those that remained were face very strong winds soon enough – but that is a story that would unfold only in my next entry.

The Tortoise and other Fables

A quick note after a longish silence - as it may have been evident from my previous post - the lack of activity on this blog merely reflected lack of activity on the ground. There was nothing concrete happening on the ground! (pun intended!)  But alas, the slow and steady have finished the race, though not won it - the builder has finally decided to offer possession!!! Hence I should be traveling to Goa in later in this month of January for the paper work, and hopefully to take possession of the apartment. Now if that doesn’t stir up things on this blog then noting would. So, God willing, this blog would see a lot more activity in the coming months –– as the French say au revoir.

Castles in the Air and Apartments on Earth

I have a strong feeling that the construction company that is building my future tiny abode in Goa, in its (in)finite wisdom, has decided that perhaps some of the world's greatest goals, perhaps, achieving world peace would be better served if I and my other fellow future neighbors remain ignorant of the expected date of the completion of the project. I, a mere spec on cosmic canvas, stuck in my own microcosm, however, believe that they are wrong. In fact, if anything good can really be achieved in the world it can be only achieved if I continue to suffer the agony of waiting and by inflicting such pain on myself I somehow indirectly contribute to reduction in global warming. We could be both wrong but since I am the writer of this Blog, its crystal clear that I am right and they are wrong.

No doubt people would try to convince me otherwise and suggest that I should carry on with my daily life and try to pretend that uncertainties in life do not matter, ‘it will happen when its meant to happen’, etc. etc., but where is the fun in that! So I don't make even an iota of an effort to try and keep the tsunamis in my tea-cup-world under control. To put it simply (now that I have satisfied my ego by indulging in meaningless banter!), it’s very difficult to keep up the pretense of sang-froid and my thoughts often do turn towards Goa and the endless wait becomes unbearable!

The upcoming October holidays are not helping…I do end up agonizing about how nice it would have been had I received possession of the apartment by now; I would have been in Goa! Sitting at the balcony, enjoying the morning cuppa while the cool sea breeze caressed my face, but alas! since that cannot be, what’s the second best alternative? Of course, to daydream!

But the above manner of daydreaming is not ‘constructive’ daydreaming! Constructive daydreaming is an altogether different creature and, as it happens, I am one of the budding experts in the field. So if you want some tips on this very promising field, keep visiting this Blog. Coming back to 'creative daydreaming', let me illustrate with the help of an example - in the present scenario ‘constructing’ castles in the air or the interior décor for the future apartment, once again, in the air, is the best way of constructive daydreaming. Look at the bright side you have infinite time at your disposal to plan the décor for an apartment since the possession date is yet outside the scope of time-space continuum!

The best place to begin constructive daydreaming, as the experts in the field are bound to tell you, is the Internet. I fired up the engines of search on the net and the God of all daydreamers immediately obliged. A plethora of websites came up on the screen immediately but unfortunately most of them were foreign in origin. This of course, meant that a zillion ideas bloomed but given that the men and material required to put most of these ideas into practice are conspicuous by their absence in India, even for the prolific daydreamers it poses an insurmountable challenge to ‘construct’ with these ideas. Furthermore, even if one is able to ‘construct’ the constructions are unusable given the that the climate for which most western ideas for interior decoration are planned is unsuited for our purpose in India. I understood my mistake immediately; I had been searching for castles and manor houses in the air while I should have been looking for durgs and purams. So I began my search anew, I began to look for India centric websites and especially Goa centric ones. The first few plunges were pretty frustrating – zilch, nada, nothing. So I pried (prayed?) a little harder and the God of Internet did oblige. I found some websites of furniture and furnishing stores in Goa but not enough to satisfy my appetite. What was missing was the experience of real consumers. I was seeking records of rich personal experiences, experiences which did not read like advertisements. What I wanted were ‘diaries of the quest’, successful and failed but I was drawing complete blanks. I tried various search parameters to explore the Goan world of home furniture and furnishings. Even went searching for more materialistic real world stuff like - where and for how much? But in the expanses and the depth of the Internet-Sea, quest for such experiences within India, more so town-specific, to put it mildly, underwhelmed me. What I got were mostly website of individual furniture stores or inanimate listings on glorified trade directories. But perseverance seldom goes completely unrewarded. Finally I found at least one website that gave me what I was looking for. Jyoti Bhargava, a human resource management professional had recently bought a second home in Goa and had shared her experiences relating to her hunt for furniture and other quests related to her apartment in Goa on her Blog - Jyoti's Musings.

I found Jyoti’s writing style to be sincere, frank and confidence inspiring. In other words, I was more inclined to accept her take on various furniture options available in Goa than what I had found in the descriptions on the various websites either advertising their ware or simply listings of shops. Jyoti’s, two very interesting and informative posts about furniture in Goa can be found here and here. The only other source that I found to be of some interest was at India Mike Goa section. You can find it here.

I am still looking for other similar sources of information. The question that begs more attention is - why is there a dearth of such user generated writings from India on the net? Does it tell us something about our attitude towards sharing? Do we have something against sharing information altruistically, experience from other subjects say, travel, surely does not corroborate any anti-sharing bias. Could it be that sharing of opinion is restricted by low Internet penetration and shortage of English language skills? In other words, is the lack of effort by people and the government of India to launch Indian language websites on the net responsible for low level of sharing of opinions? Or is it that the subject at hand draws little interest from Indian Internet denizens ? The jury is still out.

Now, given that I am cribbing about the dearth of information on the subject at hand I must at least practice what I preach. Hence, I promise to do two things. First, as and when I find more such resources I am going to report them here. Secondly, following Jyoti’s example (and to be honest with a little prodding from her), you can rest assured, a record of my own experiences with regards to furnishing my apartment, would appear on this Blog as soon as they begin. Till then, I am afraid its going to be more castles in the air! I hope you have the patience to wait till these air castles get transformed into apartments on earth.

Space - The First Frontier

Being aware of the space we live in, to me, is part of being aware of our existence. But, it seems familiarity with physical space even if does not breed contempt it surely does make us oblivious to it. The plus side is that as a space ‘disappears’ our comfort level with it and within it increase. The downside is that it no longer remains exciting to think, talk and discuss about it!
Despite my repeated trips to Goa, I am still quite ‘aware’ of the space there. Whenever I arrive in Goa my senses get stimulated, its beauty, its weather, its vivid colours, the whiff of sea breeze and many other things immediately uplift my mood. Clearly Goa is still not too familiar and I am thankful for that. The downside is that my comfort levels are still quite low and I am still waiting for the time when I begin to feel ‘at home’ there. But if one can, one must find some virtue in every adverse situation. To me, amidst my discomfort, the unfamiliarity stimulates my desire to know more about the Goan space be it physical, social, cultural or historical. It is the last one that I wish to talk about today. Very soon, I hope that I may begin to talk about the physical space of my apartment and how it is shaping but today, being still away from it, I wish to talk about the physical space surrounding it.
It seems, I am increasingly getting interested in knowing more and more about the history of the places I visit (is it because I myself age!?). Goa of course has a special place in this quest. So what have been my tools till date? Having done the tourist circuit of Old Goa I am clearly looking for more. With some finger work on the Internet and some legwork in Goa and some other parts of India it is not too difficult to find some very interesting and at the same time non-superfluous histories of Goa. Although one is unlikely to find them in the ‘regular’ book shops which shower their love and affection mainly on travel and coffee-table books some treasure troves do exist in almost all cities in India (In Goa one can try the OtherIndiabookstore at Mapusa. Now history can have many shades, today I am going to concentrate on a very specific type – the history of a given space. What tickles my imagination is to stand at a particular spot and try to find out what happened at this very spot, 500 years ago!
For those who want to take up Goan history a little seriously, to begin with, I would recommend - An Historical Sketch of Goa by Denis Cottineau de Kloguen first published in Madras in 1831 and An Historical and Archaelogical Sketch of the City of Goa by Jose Nicolau da Fonseca first published in Bombay in 1878. It is interesting to note here that the two cities where these two books were published have now left behind their colonial names and adopted the Indian versions of their names while Goa, by and large, continues to use the Portuguese spellings of place-names – notable exception is of course Panaji for Panjim, even though the latter is still used quite often. The retention of Portuguese spellings gives rise to very interesting situations at times, especially, since out of state Indians are not at all familiar with the Portuguese idiom and spellings.But more on that some other time! The aforementioned books written in the imperialist tradition of the 19th century, have obvious flaws and have an archaic style of writing and equally archaic outlook, hence they are ‘handle with care’ kind of material, but to me therein lies their charm. If nothing else they illustrate a very ‘picture perfect’ life (perhaps quite a bit different from the real one!) of the rural aristocracy of colonial Goa. For those who do not like the old flavour, a more modern treatment can be found in Medieval Goa by Teotonio R. de Souza. First published in 1979 at New Delhi, this book would be my first choice if you were just beginning your quest. Another interesting one to pick up (and surely ‘handle with care material’) would be, An Ethnography of Goa, Daman and Diu by A. B de Bragança Pereira, originally written in Portuguese and published in 1940. It has been recently (2008) translated by Maria Aurora Couto in English and published by Penguin India. According to the translator, Bragança Pereira wrote this book, at least partly, to counter the Salazarist claims of Lusitanization (portuguization) of Goa, and its cultural inseparability from Portugal. The author sought to assert a separate Goan (and thus Indian) identity against the Portuguese regime. Makes and interesting read no doubt.

Having read the aforementioned books (the last one only partially as yet), I am still hungry for more. For some reason, I still haven’t found what I am looking for. The ‘big picture’ of little places is still not there. I would welcome any suggestions that any of the readers might have.Interestingly, while on the one hand I seek the grand picture, on the other hand, I also am interested in going local. Given that I have a connection with Caranzalem. I would love to find out more about its history. On the Internet all that I have been able to find is that Caranzalem was known for its bull fights in the yesteryear. Some of websites do tell us that the people of neighbouring Taleigaõ had been favoured by Afonso de Albuquerque – the Portuguese commander who conquered Goa from the Bijapuri forces in 1510 (so exactly 500 years ago!) - because the villagers would sail at night and offer food to the Portuguese troops who were starving in Penha de França in northern part of Goa after 1510 when they were defeated at the hands of Adilshah (see for example goanhomes.com). Unfortunately various websites that give us the exact same text do not provide us their source of information. I would love to know what prompted the villagers to help the Albuquerque forces? Was it pure business? Were they trying to get back at Adilshahi administration for some grievance they had against him? Or I am reading it too simplistically and there was a grand picture here?
Another fact that I came to know about Taleigaõ was that in the late 18th or early 19th century a factory to manufacture cloth for exports was established there but it had to be closed down since it was not able to withstand competition from the Gujarati textiles that came in from Diu. I don’t think any trace of that factory still exists but if something is still there I would love to explore it when I go there next. Anyone who has any other leads on local history, please do enlighten me - I would be much obliged.

Raison d'être

Why bother with a subject like ‘living in Goa’? There exist countless blogs, travelogues and tourist reviews about Goa on the net. For example, two websites that I often frequent when I wish to make my travel plans - tripadvisor and Indiamike –have extremely active forums that contain almost all forms of knowledge that an average (and not so average) tourist would like to equip oneself with before planning a trip to Goa or any other place in India. One can find a wide variety of reviews and queries about the best beaches, hotels, resorts, transportation, restaurants etc. splattered all over the net for almost all tourist destinations all over the world. I feel, that generally on the relatively popular sites where the traffic is high and forum members are relatively numerous, the queries are asked with fervor and answered diligently. Selflessness and patience shown by the experienced forum members brings out a lot of positive vibes from me. Reviews, I feel are, generally, honestly done and induce more trust compared to their professional and polished counterparts founds in travel magazines.
In light of the above, ‘Living in Goa’ is clearly not intended to be an extended travelogue. The objective here is to do two things. First, to talk about the tasks that one must undertake in order to ‘live’ in one’s second home, especially in India. These are tasks that an average traveler does not have to undertake when he is a just a visitor. I am of course talking about blood curling tasks like water and electricity bill payments, getting an LPG connection etc but also about social networking and other forms of human interaction on an intermittent but repeated basis. Here I have a faint hope that by sharing my experiences I may be able to, perhaps, help others who intend to go down this path. As I already stated in my first post, I wish to share and learn from others how does one accomplish this task without going insane.
Now, trying to juggle two jobs, two girlfriends/boyfriends or many other two or more things at the same time are likely to be much more hazardous to ones health compared to trying to live in two cities simultaneously any where in the world, but in India, despite the computer revolution, the sine qua non for avoiding insanity is to have physical presence and ample time at hand for pretty much everything one needs to do for ‘living in a city’. Now this subject may or may not be good reading material but it definitely isn’t an exalted raison d'être. So I have another reason for this blog, which is to dwell upon the issue of what ‘living’ really means. ‘Living in Goa’ is thus also an exercise in trying to discover myself, how do I want to ‘live’. What does it really mean to live? Of course different people would have different definitions of this concept. I want to understand mine better. The issue of identity, consciousness, space, time, goals all would enter the equation and herein lies the challenge. But more on this in my next post.

Let the Fun Begin

The idea here is to share my experiences and learn from the experiences of others about what is it like to live in a city intermittently! To live in a city which is not your own, but at the same time, not an unfamiliar one either. I have been visiting Goa and the city of Panaji (also spelled as Panjim - the spellings being a remnant of the more than 450 years of Portuguese rule in Goa) of and on, and again and again, for the last ten years. I have lived there many a times for short periods, as little as three days and had longer stays of months at a stretch during the last ten years. But I have always been a visitor there. This is about to change I plan to stay there on a more 'permanent' basis. The 'permanence' is going to be an intermittent one. What has changed is that I have been able to get myself a small apartment in Goa. It is situated in an area called Caranzalem which, at least for now, I would describe as a suburb of Panaji.

I am excited about the whole idea but am also quite nervous about it. What will it be like to live in a city like a visiting resident? No more booking hotels, no more hunting for lodges, no more shunting luggage from one place to another to save a few paisas but at the same time how does one set up a house and run it when one is still a visitor! In a series of posts that I hope to write on this issue and some others that I would explain soon. I wish to explore the joys and sorrows of this adventure of mine. I suppose it would be quite similar to what many others have experienced all over the globe but then each experience is bound to be unique, and that is where the fun lies. So let it begin!