Dolphins in Agonda

Once upon a time…
There are some things in life people are just addicted to. Chocolates, alcohol, cigarettes, food, sex. My addiction is of a different kind. I am addicted to Goa. Yes, you heard me right. All through my teenage and college life I have been fascinated with Goa. Who isn’t? Ah Goa! The place symbolises open roads, late night rave parties, getting wasted, puking in the toilet, renting a kinetic and riding around aimlessly, wearing skimpy clothes which will be definitely attract a lot of molesters back in Mumbai and ..Ahem…doing a lot of things that can only be shared with your girlfriends.

When I was a hopping teenager my attraction in Goa purely lied in the so called “In” and “cool” places such as baga and anjuna . They symbolised cool hippies, flea markets and hot men. They denoted freedom. It also made me feel “hip” and “grown-up”. But alas! The worst thing happened! I grew up! Now the exciting north Goa is not so exciting anymore. The loud parties started to seem annoying only for wannabes. The hippies wandering around made me want to slap them. Why were they there anyways? For the cheap booze I am sure! The mindless roaming about well seemed like…Well…mindless and not to forget, tiring! In short, my fascination had been replaced with irritation and I was genuinely fed up with that part of the over populated and over hyped Goa. I needed peace and solitude (I told you that growing up made me old)



Woman with a plan!
So with the aim of finding some solitude and hopefully a beach which won’t be teeming with pre-pubescent kids, loud Indians and stoned old foreigners roaming in skimpy swimsuits, I packed my bags and headed to North Goa. I had heard that they have some wonderful serene beaches there which are almost virginal. (Common! who would actually believe that any beach in Goa could be virginal? It’s not the Caribbean! ). Anyways, during my research, one beach that had caught my attention in particular: Agonda. I had never heard of it and I was sure neither my friends had. You see, currently the most happening beach in north Goa is Palolem and so not many people know about this particular one. But just to make sure that I won’t be in for a rude shock and greeted with drunken hippies, I asked my friends about Agonda. Their blank faces showed complete lack of knowledge thus making me very happy.

Virginal beauty…here I come!
So after more than 18 hours of travelling in a very bumpy RAJ Travels bus and then changing two more buses after that and much direction asking I found myself in a small and sleepy road called Agonda. (I guess solitude has its price to pay). I was surprised. No shops and no nagging shop keepers pounced on me. To be honest, no one even gave me a second glance or tried to speak to me (I did feel a little bad).

So I inquired and an old lady selling bananas told me that if I turn right I would find myself on the beach. I wasn’t expecting much. But my jaw dropped as soon as I saw the beach. Pristine clear sand, lined with palm trees and blue waters! Yes…actual blue waters in India. I am so used to the murky sewage filled waters of Juhu beach that this seemed quite unbelievable. It also meant that I don’t have t go to the Caribbean to see clear ocean water. Thank you lord! Even though I painted a funny picture of a small girl with a huge backpack on the beach in the middle of the day under the blazing sun clapping, I didn’t care!



There were hardly 20 people in 3 km long beach and after asking an uncle who was trying to sleep under a tree, I found out that that’s the maximum number of people on the beach anytime of the day. Hurray! That’s it! I had found my beach. I had found my solitude. That’s where I am going to live, work, marry a gorgeous writer who also lives in a bungalow on the beach and have kids… (I was getting a little carried away but what the hell!).

I checked in to a beautiful beach shack called Chatai and changed into Goa attire. Shorts and a spaghetti and started exploring the place. At the beach I could see people canoeing, surfing, swimming, playing beach volley ball. I felt like I was not in India and walked into a Baywatch show! It was pretty cool and I felt proud for picking such a good beach. While looking around a sign at a restaurant caught my attention “Dolphin sightseeing-only for 800 bucks!” Huh? What? Dolphin’s in India? Rather, dolphin’s in Goa? Yea right! I was sure that it was big sham where they will take you in the middle of the sea and pass off a big fish as a dolphin. Like we wouldn’t know the difference right? But my curiosity and secret desire to see dolphins got the better of me and I signed up. I had to report to the beach at 7 am (darn! I should have thought this through) and also I was 800 bucks lighter. (Not a good thing when one is traveling on a budget but again…what the hell!).


Show me the dolphins!
So there I was. All groggy and ready at 7 am sharp. I got in my boat which I was sharing by two other I am assuming dolphin curious foreigners. The boat was starting moving and I said a little prayer and I don’t know how to swim and had seen Titanic a way too many times. Ten minutes into the sea and the boat man screamed “There is a dolphin”. Three head twisted to the direction of his voice and I almost fell of the boat in joy. There it was! A slight head and the fin of a dolphin! Well…it wasn’t too much for sure but for a person who has not seen more than a goldfish in a jar in her life it was like seeing free willy up close. I wanted to scream. After staying out of water for 10 seconds it disappeared. . Then it did it again! This time it was two of them. They jumped out of the water just enough to show us their nose. I was mesmerised. The foreigners started clapping gleefully. We started screaming at the boatman to get us closer. My shouting and their clapping and out collective screaming must have scared the poor fishes as they disappeared. For the next forty minutes our boat circled near their area in water but alas!




They were nowhere in sight. It’s a known fact that dolphins are super sensitive to any kind out of sound and our acts of joy must have come across as aggression to them. My eyes were searching for some more glimpses but it wasn’t to be found. The foreigners looked sad as well. The sun was coming up and it was getting hot so we decided to turn back and head to the beach. But all the way back my eyes kept looking around for maybe one lasts sight of those marvelous mammals. No such luck but I was happy. Jubilant. Who knows when will I get to see dolphins next if ever? With all the global warming and us shamelessly polluting the sea these creatures very soon may become the thing of the past. But I was lucky that I got to see some part of them once at least.




Me and my solitude
The spent the next seven days doing basically nothing. When you are in such a beautiful place you don’t have to anything. I read books, walked barefoot on the beach, chatted with the locals, ate good food, did yoga, and made some friends. No one bothered me. No one tried to pick me up. Everyone was polite and helpful. While talking to a local restaurant owner, we were hoping and praying that Agonda does not every get commercialized. We were hoping that no one every find out this little paradise. But in my heart I knew that it will not remain secluded forever. But the change will happen sometimes in the future. There is still time.

I did not settle there as I had planned. Neither did I find my gorgeous writer with a bungalow on the beach. But I came back with fresh mind, a rejuvenated body and soul already thinking when to go back again.