Ambling around Panaji, Goa...

                 Anyone who has been even an occasional reader of my ‘India’ blog, will know that for me,

Neo-colonial style goverment building...

finding food (anything non-spicy) in this country has been my biggest challenge—sometimes missing proper meals for a couple of days. When one is hungry one gets a little ratty— & in my conversations with myself, I have come to the opinion that Indian food has NO taste!!!!! What---has he has completely lost it? Maybe too much sun! My stance is that one cannot taste the actual food in India---only the chillies, spices and pepper that have been heaped into the recipe.

Exceed your time parking for 5 minutes and the jungle takes over!

             Well to try and tie this into my  topic of the former Portugese colony (until 1958) of Goa, it had been my expectation that as Goa is supposed to be the mecca in India for the beach crowd from Europe, that there would have been versions of western style food on offer. Not the case, I am hungry & disappointed to report. Foods in abundance from all the regions of India, but not possible during a 4 hour ramble, to find even  a crumb that is unspiced in Panaji, capital city (pop: 98,500) of Goa. Have to admit feeling some guilt on this issue, as I have spoken to a fair number of non-Indian visitors who claim that they just love and thrive on the local hot & spicy cuisine ----Do the really believe this, or could it be that some folks just like to posture as cosmopolitans?

Looks like 'Ole Miss'  gambling eastern version...!

               Enough on food. Sallied forth from Blessings Hotel, after an e-mail checking session at the lobby ‘hot-spot’. Perhaps it was because of my stomach empty, devoid of its cornflakes & toast fix, but quaint Portuguese colonial, Panaji did not appear for me! Hectic, noisy and the usual Indian street chaos prevails….at least that was until 1.00pm (this being a Saturday) most shops dropped their steel shutters and the street emptied. Apparently on weekdays most businesses close down from 12-3pm for siesta---at least some worthwhile traditions have survived from the Portuguese period. Have to admit some prejudice here, as I have been a life long devotee of the short mid-afternoon slumber. (Winston Churchill took them at the height of the Battle of Britain, 1940).

              According to my ‘sources’ in the Indian tourism industry, the western tourists are supposed to be pouring into Goa, as of December 1^st---during my 4 hour saunter around the city this morning, I saw perhaps half a dozen souls with maps in hand, just as lost as me! Perhaps the tourist throngs headed straight for the beaches.

              A major draw for Goa is that it permits casino style gambling. The casinos are operated in large vessels moored out in the wide River Mandovi, alongside which Panaji has grown. From my own observations, when I sauntered down to the ferry ramp last night, there appears to be no shortage of punters ready to hand over their cash.