2020 India – Agonda
5th February 2020
It was a two-hour taxi ride from Panjim to Agonda in heavy traffic due to road works. We were staying at Paradise Beach Gardens, a beachfront hotel and one of our favourite places ever. The hotel was set back 50 metres from the sea behind a low hedge. There was a row of huts facing the sea and each one had its own sunbed and umbrella made of palm leaves. I had asked for a quiet room so they put us at the end of a row of huts so we had maximum privacy. There was a little wooden porch in front of the hut where we sat at night and enjoyed the sunset.
Agonda town was the perfect size and full of life without being too touristy. There was a large selection of restaurants and shops selling all sorts of things. Federika even had a handbag made in one shop. It seemed to be a favourite haunt for cows as they were everywhere. One day we wanted to go to our favourite restaurant but had trouble getting in because three cows were lying across the front of the entrance. There was a small gap between them but I was nervous about going through it because there was no doubt that if one of the cows moved suddenly my leg would be crushed. I doubt if either cow had ever made a sudden movement in their whole lives but still, I wasn’t going to chance it. Quite a few people gathered around to see the spectacle and the different methods people adopted to get in and out of the restaurant were very entertaining. Most favoured the jumping-over method which was the one we ended up employing. 
In another restaurant, a cow would lean over the counter every night demanding to be fed. It must have got lucky one day so thereafter thought it was its daily right. There was a little shaded area near the seashore where the lifeguard was supposed to sit and every day at exactly the same time a huge cow with a hump and small horns used to go and sit in the shade and watch the sun go down. On her way there she always stopped at the same tree to give herself a good scratch first. 
We never actually saw the lifeguard and I suspected that in common with most lifeguards they were more interested in their phones than in distressed swimmers. To be fair to them, they might have been researching life-saving techniques and not on Facebook.
Every day an elderly hippie walked along the beach dressed in sarong and carrying a colourful bag. We couldn’t help wondering what his story was.
Our hotel offered massage and as I still had a sore back from eating from a coffee table in Jaisalmer, I booked a session. The massage table didn’t have one of those holes where you put your face through so I found it very uncomfortable supporting my head with my arms. I ended up with sore arms as well as a sore back. The same man also offered yoga sessions on the beach. Yoga always sounded like a good idea to me so I eagerly joined Federika and a couple of other people on the beach. The setting was perfect but after the third session I was overcome by boredom so I sat on my beloved sunbed and read my book instead. In the end, Federika was the only customer so she also stopped going.
There was a restaurant in the next village which had some good reviews so although it was a bit of a walk and quite hot, we gave it a visit one day. Set in the hills overlooking the sea it was the perfect location but I was put off by a group of Indians at one table watching cricket on a mobile phone with speakerphone on full volume. I could only see one member of staff and he was standing behind the bar looking at his mobile phone also with speakerphone up loud and unaware that we had walked in. I walked up to him and said we would like to eat there but could he turn off his speakerphone as it bothered me? He looked at me as if I had asked him to kill his pet rabbit, so we walked out. On our way out we saw an elderly English couple sitting at a table between the cricket and the soap opera and they looked at me as if to say they wish they had done the same thing. We wouldn’t dream of eating dinner with the television on in the background at home so why should we be forced to listen to two televisions playing at the same time when we go out to dinner?
At one end of the beach, they were offering boat tours of the river that led to the sea and we were happy to accept an offer by a very pleasant young man. They were small, long boats pushed along the river with a pole. It was so peaceful and full of birdlife which our tour guide obviously had a real passion for and managed to spot the smallest birds hidden here and there. We went through mango trees and hibiscus, some yellow and others pink. We saw egrets, two types of kingfishers, pike eagles, hoopoes, pipettes, and some lovely yellow ones whose names I couldn’t remember. 
It was halfway through the week when we read a report that in China there was a whole city that had been forced to stay in their apartment blocks because of a very infectious illness. Sitting on our lovely beach it all seemed so far away and although our hearts went out to the poor people complaining from their windows, we put our phones down and went for a swim, safe in the knowledge that it wouldn’t affect us. The Chinese government seemed to have it under control and I was sure they wouldn’t let the disease spread by allowing suspected carriers to take international flights.
We spent one day in Palolem. It was very busy with a reputation of being the most beautiful beach in Goa although overcrowded. As always we found a sunbed and umbrella and earmarked our lunch venue for that day. While lying on our sunbed we saw a dog frantically digging in the sand trying to get at a crab. When it finally caught the crab it started playing with it. Shortly after, a crow swooped down and nipped at the dog. The crow wasn’t protecting anything so it must have done it just for fun.
5th February 2020
Once again we had to spend a night in New Delhi for our flight to the UK the next morning. As always, we stayed with my mother for a couple of weeks in her house near Worthing. She was 89 years old and had not been in good health for a long time. Federika and I caught bad colds while we were there so had to stay longer than planned and during that time we kept hearing news about the deadly new virus, Covid. We didn’t seem to have the symptoms and it felt like a normal cold but one night while Federika was sleeping she was breathing very strangely. I later thought it might have been covid but as there were no tests available at that time, we would never know.
When it was time for us to go home to Croatia, we said goodbye to my mother and I assured her that I had already booked a flight to visit in the spring as usual. She said she didn’t think we would be able to come because of covid and I told her off as I have done many times before for being so pessimistic. The flights were already booked and we would definitely be coming.
I never saw her again.
RETURN TO NEMO’S TRAVEL DIARIES HOME
Teresa Newark 1929 – 2021
2020 India
