As we come to the end end of another year, I just cannot help reminiscing about the good times - old friends (in every sense of the word), old booze, hearty food, comfort zone in general, although I must confess all of us were a little cranky at times! Go ahead and read about old geezers trying to recapture their youth!
GOA SOJOURN
As dawn broke on the orange horizon east,
The Magnificent Seven set out to the feast.
Jack Daniels waited and summed up eight,
To the Candolim shore, they must not be late!
On the expressway they pressed on to glory,
Each mile told another tale, another story.
Down the road, for tea or coffee, no call,
O! What the hell, ‘tis time for alcohol!
At the roadside, JD made a welcome entry,
Regardless of curious stares of rural gentry,
Improvised mixing in JD’s decorative can,
Over here, on drinking, there is no ban!
Touchdown four forty five at Mafia Cocktail
Owner Tony from live socket, he got mail!
Cooked up a seafood storm with sister cook,
Dig in, eat hearty and no second look!
Raucous evensong on Ave Maria balcony,
Some, in audience below, contemplated felony,
Irish couple wanted tune to dance a jig,
They did not oblige, they did not give a fig!
Dinner at Florentine was lost in translation
In the soft twilight, an American proclamation
I am original Goan, he cried, sounding surreal
For a man who knows not his xacuti from cafreal!
Lunch again at Sinquerim riverside, Tropicana Bar,
Fish cutlets, sorpotel, Canadian pay, back to car.
Monday night brought two more from big bad city,
They could have lost one, did not, more is the pity!
The mad search for sausage commenced,
To Village Agacaim the intrepid few went.
Baboi placed intestines stuffed with porcine girth,
The American got money’s worth, added to the mirth!
Then one Anglo went to dentist, the other to field,
One with toothache, the other with mooli urge,
Using Goan hospitality as defensive shield
For services, all payments they did gently purge!
That night found them at Stone House blues
Yet no one kicked off their fancy shoes
For beyond their understanding and ken
The argument rallied around excise men!
The singing was good, the guitar was better,
This was music, pure, unalloyed, without fetter.
As they listened, it struck a chord, it did ring,
The gracious sultan for the bill, he did swing!
The route swung from scenic countryside to spiritual,
Venerable cathedrals, sacred relics, car ineffectual,
Mechanics worked, leaders watched homely philomenas,
And for driving out, speculated the offer of nine novenas!
Time to leave, thanks above, it went without any major hitch,
Time to pay Sharon and, for a discount, make feverish pitch,
Two hirsute seadogs, long-haired and bearded, laid the charm,
As all drove into ensuing sunset with quiet and pacific calm!
