I’ve been here a week and despite the heat and humidity, it hasn’t been as bad as Gurgaon. Only one of the last 7 days, a storm took away electricity one night and returned it only around 10 in the morning. It’s otherwise gone for just 10-15 minutes in a day. Airconditioning has been effective day or night, and sitting by the sea in the evenings has been heavenly. Even under the fan with doors and windows open, and music flowing in the background, it’s been peaceful. Have to say that Rod Stewart or Shankar Mahadevan in the background has helped more than the sea breeze in accepting other irritants with openness. So, it’s great that Kishore thought of arranging speakers as soon as we got here!

Another contributory factor to an elevated mood has been my Chotu‘s keyboard under my fingers. There is a regular scuffle with Kishore for the only Netcard he is carrying as Airtel’s GPRS has been helpful only in checking IPL scores or our location on the roads using Googlemaps. Browsing has been ineffective using the Netcard but emailing has been possible. Not too bad if I can keep in touch with my mailing list feeds and manage some reading. Smoothens out some rough experiences.

On each of our visits since last July, Kishore and I’ve attempted to make our place here some more habitable. This time’s efforts have included arranging a set of speakers, some more small Kitchen implements, some colour to cover the bare walls and a cupboard+dining table. The last two came from our earlier tested and proven sources – CMM and Fabindia respectively. Both have been such efficient setups to interact with.

Then, I must record my confusion on figuring the locals and other temporary residents of Goa — if I’ve admired the interest and time given by Max (@ Ferriera Leathers) in helping know the lanes of Goa or Kishore’s LUG friends in meeting up over beer, I’ve been so disappointed to encounter the stoic attitude of many other locals. They connect briefly and superficially. They oblige with directions and some leads with guarded smiles and hasten to disconnect. I wonder if they’ve had an overdose of outsiders. But then I find them gushing reverence to foreigners. And suspiciously sizing up fellow brown skinners. I’d wondered if this was only with the Christian population of Goa as they found the Indian Hindu ways alien or beneath them. I find though that even the local Hindus aren’t happy seeing other Indians partaking Goa’s beauty. Interestingly, even long-standing foreigner residents have a smug demeanour about them where I’d thought that they’d willingly mix up, having been through travails of life away from home. But No. It’s a kind of take it or leave it aloofness among ranges of residents. Service providers too connect over assignments and then switch off. I find a little more connectedness among people in Gurgaon or Delhi. And, this is surprising because most non-Delhites lament an unfriendly Delhite.

I suppose I’ll just have to adapt to this confusion because of Goa’s inherent loveliness–its greenery, flowers, birds, waves, laterite architecture, white churches, field-hugging roads, food and more…

Well, this aspect of Goa has been full of challenges for Delhites like us who’ve been used to multiple options in houseware. Arranging appliances led to much scanning of Panjim, Mapusa, Calangute, Porvorim markets. And, for furniture, we’re still looking.

Most locals have advised hiring carpenters to get furniture made. Several phone calls and some days of verification later, we did manage to get hold of a bunch who built us our kitchen cupboards. That exercise was fraught with anxieties and the cupboards, although usable, were only just about acceptable. So, we’ve found it safer to invest our energies into identifying WYSIWYG furniture! And, because our little place still lacks a wardrobe and a couple more small must-haves, we continue with our search for locally available furniture that fits our sense of aesthetics and pockets. My interest in educating myself, and others, on Goa leads me to share with the world the fruit of our labour this far – details of good and bad places we’ve unearthed so other wannabes have it easier than us:

Fabindia
No rude shocks with Fabindia – their quality and pricing are consistent. Also the fact that one can’t find everything one wants under their roof! But it’s been a huge relief to find its branches offering its known unobtrusive and friendly service in a region where otherwise any purchase leads to much haggling. The range of woodcraft includes futons, beds, benches, chairs, tables in varying sizes and also thoughtful ideas such as photo frames and shelves. The Candolim branch is smaller than the Panjim branch but it has the advantage of an efficient store assistant in the form of Sarfaraz who tries his best to meet his customers’ expectations. In my view, Fabindia rules the homeware shopping options in Goa.

CMM Arena in Merces
This group has multiple branches but the one in Merces is the biggest so gives more choice than any other furniture store. Most of their items however are imported from Malaysia or elsewhere and made of compressed or particle board. I find particle board unsuited to Goa’s moisture laden climate but sometimes aesthetics and availability become more important considerations than practicality. A lady store assistant who interacted with us was most helpful, followed up on our interest and had our Malaysian teakwood bed delivered in a professional manner. It was smooth and comfortable dealing with them.

The Attic in Camarcazana
This place has impressive signboards in places but its wares are old, unpolished and decadent and absolutely phenomenally priced. The place is owned by a brother-sister duo who have respect in Goa’s art circles but at best their furniture collection seemed just wide-ranging than road-side antique dealers but not of better quality to an untrained eye like mine. The prices were so prohibitive that I couldn’t even allow my mind’s eye the pleasure of imagining any items restored and mine.

Origins, Opp Hotel Manoshanti, Panjim
This shop isn’t so well known but I found it mentioned on a british expat website as one providing furniture packages! Looking for it meant walking around Panjim in circles but when we did get to it, we were impressed with some pieces. They were ruggedly finished, solid and almost handsome. But prices were a deterrent and so was the size of most pieces – they seemed too large for an apartment. However, we were comforted by their straightforward cuts and polished look after a lot of so-called still-to-be-restored antique pieces elsewhere.

Soto décor in Candolim
Pointed out to us by Max from the Tanta Tshirt shop (formally called Ferreira Leather) in Candolim, Sotohaus is an interesting place. Its swiss owners style their furniture, mirrors and lamps with natural leaves and mdf board. There seemed to be two main colours for all their products – one was dominated by beige so suited to most colour themes and another had a vibrant combination of magenta, orange and beige. The furniture pieces gave the apprearance of being long-lasting with its board and black metal look. They were priced high but not exorbitant. I’d like to consider their vibrant table @ Rs16,000 as it’d make a statement without even any objects on it. Then again, I could save Rs10,000 and buy a Fabindia table that would meet its intended purpose. Will think about that one further!

Elegante Interiors in Porvorim (Near O’Coqueiro) and St. Inez (Near PWD office)
Another place mentioned by Max as one with potential, the Porvorim branch was useful to visit as it turned out to be a Godrej dealer. Not that we were keen on Godrej steel almirahs, it was just useful to know them as dealers for any Godrej wooden furniture we wanted to order. They didn’t have much stock but were willing to take orders based on their catalogue. Their staff was friendly, and some non-Godrej furniture items of their own manufacturing seemed to carry a honest price tag – esp a rocking chair @ Rs6,000. Most other furniture was staid but we were happy to have got to it from a new route discovered via Mapusa, so were generally happy to know about it!

Sangolda and Saudadesh on Chogm Road
Sangolda was mentioned by Anna Sharma who’s from Goa and settled in Gurgaon. She’d referred to it as a foreign tourist oriented furniture store and that’s how it appeared. Interesting for its multiheaded Hanuman sculpture but not for usable furniture. It felt like a Crafts Museum gallery with large urns and pieces that looked comfortable where they were.

The next door Saudadesh, however, had usable furniture ideas but not at their advertised prices. The encouraging aspect of this place though was that it had the Attic kind of old furniture but all of it was polished, buyable (when not carrying a ‘sold’ tag) and quaint in its look.

Damien de Goa in Porvorim
At an early stage of our survey, it was useful to scan this store. Its USP of providing a complete solution to its customers is good to be aware of — its ground floor displays appliances and upper concentrates on furniture. But like other readymade furniture stores, Damien also mostly stocks imported beds, wardrobes and tables, and little of their own making. Prices of these imported products are high and even though they are well-finished, they look way too canned. They’re also large for apartments.

Casa Goa on Baga Road
This place is nice to breeze through to take in its kerala rattan loungers and small artefacts. Prices are high but the place is accessible and worth a visit.

Antique furniture dealers by road side
Several small shops appeared on our drives to Mapusa, Calangute, South Goa that showed largely unclean chairs and study tables but also a couple of polished pieces to give hope to passers by. Their designs and range used to be similar and prices high – loungers Rs8,000 upwards.

One on Candolim called Indo Portuguese always showed off a tantalising rattan chair or bench but with prices like above.

If I must pick up a piece or two from one of them, I’d prefer the place in the Mapusa Sub-Registrar building that has had the largest collection to its credit. Their cupboards had fussy mirrors and tiles, but there was one with a quieter feel @ Rs15,000. Its shelves didn’t appear well-finished so we’d dropped its idea. We’ve seen worse cupboards for double that price since then so have built some respect for the Mapusa shop. We may go there for another look.

Goa Cane Corporation, Fatorda, Margao
I’d understood this place to have rattan cane products. It turned out to have Panchkuian Road sort of fat cane at rather fat price tags. It was useful to visit it for its array of baskets but little else.

The Living Room and other shops in St. Inez
The quality and style of furniture at the Living Room belie its reputation among people and certainly its slick website. This store and most others in St. Inez give a weary feeling much like one experiences with Kirti Nagar shops in Delhi.

Locally made furniture in Mapusa Friday market
A couple of guys were selling orange polished tables and stools but they clearly looked like bad wood. I’d be keen to see more locally made pieces with better wood. Our neighbour mentioned feasts as the best time to see the local produce of most kind – would look out for one such feast for more reasons than one.

The ones that remain unseen on my list are Crystal in Verna and Fusion Access in Panjim. If anyone is able to add any more names for us to scan, please do write in.

Birdwatching: Didn’t manage any focused birding – but one day, just when I mumbled that I needed a ‘pick me up,’ Kishore pointed out a female Asian Paradise Flycatcher taking at least 3 dips into the complex swimming pool to cool off! Two other lovely birds, Common Kingfisher and Brahminy Kites, were commonly seen. And two Golden Orioles and a White-cheeked Barbet just appeared on a casual walk around the complex. Black Drongoes, White-throated Kingfishers and Black-Shouldered Kites, on the other hand, were all over Arpora fields. Being a good spotter, Kishore always manages more bird sightings than me, and saw a Crimson Sunbird several times from the flat balcony.

Friends: An interesting aspect of the trip was meeting Amit-Kirti Kalra. Connecting with friendly faces from the city life helps the experience of Goa feel real – otherwise it’s like a collage of moving colours! Thanks to their presence and their daughter Aashna’s birthday on the 27th, we covered South Goa on one day and the Tropical Spice Plantation with them on another. Aashna’s interest in Brittos pastries and shakes helped experience a motorboat ride from Baga till Anjuna on one afternoon too. Those aspects of the trip cheered Kabir like few other.

Then, I met my friend, Kamlabai on Calangute again. She’s made me some great bottle slings, potlis and bags on each trip. I find though that her bags are never as good as our collective inadvertent invention – a colourful waterbottle sling. I’ve got her to make me so many but am surprised that she hasn’t started selling them with her bags. She says that they don’t sell. And, I ask her to at least display a couple. To that she says that the ones on display are taken away quickly. Then, what’s the problem in making more, I haven’t understood. But she is affable enough to meet again, and I can always think of some people I want to take slings for from each visit. This time she made me and Kabir two complimentary mobile phone pouches as well that look rather nice.

New Experiences: We decided to unravel some beaches of North Goa ahead of Baga, and covered Anjuna and Morjim. As expected, Anjuna was full of people and sellers, and Morjim had fewer shacks, no stalls but showed a clean, swimmable part of the Arabian sea. Kishore-Kabir frolicked into the waves while I watched over their stuff.

Also visited a spice plantation (Tropical) for the first time. Had high expectations from it but it fell flat against them. We’ll try to go over to a couple more to decide if they’re worth bothering about in general.

Living a regular life in the flat was new experience too. Cooked khichri on two occasions and otherwise ate out.

Food: We’d to experience Ritz Classic again. And, we did, but almost at the end of the stay. Starlight’s prawn masala and crabs were fun, and Spice Oven’s thin crust pizza got home-delivered so it felt great. The general experience of getting food ‘parcelled’ wasn’t positive though. Starlight cribbed about doing so.

The ‘only for season’ food places had appeared all around Arpora – Spice Oven and Honey were reasonable with continental, and popular for Indian (which we didn’t try), preparations and we figured that their owners were from Manali. Saffron was popular for its tandoori food among locals but we had their Goan fare which was fine.

One of the residents mentioned Kimfa as a good Chinese place on Baga but we managed visits only to the regulars in the form of Infantaria, Anthony’s, Souza Lobo and Capricorn.

Shopping: I’ll do a separate post on furniture based finds and cover other forms of shopping here.

For Handicraft, I love the look of doll puppets and clowns available at Aparant – the Government sponsored handicraft shop in Panjim and elsewhere. I also like the look of bottle slings and potlis made by Kamlabai, a bag seller on Calangute. Then, there is Heirloom in Panjim that is run by a nice gentleman who’s only too happy to chat about his carefully procured wares and has priced his items reasonably in comparison to another place where I happened to find one or two similar tribal craft pieces.

This time round, Kishore and I managed to halt in time to drop by the Tantra Tshirt shop on Candolim. Its range of tshirts was very much more satisfying than Shopper’s Stop in Gurgaon. I’d no idea of the line of Tantra Women Ts and enjoyed looking through their funny proclamations. The store owners Prince and Max were also a delight to talk to.

Another innocuous looking place but one that offered much pleasure was Happily Unmarried on Candolim. Its bottle openers, mugs, coasters, tshirts were lots of fun to drool over – even for a happily married sort like me.

Then, there was Fabindia. Am I happy that it makes its presence felt in Panjim and Candolim with its great range of clothes, furniture and homeware. Even if I’ve no particular shopping plans from Fabindia, on each visit, I’ve managed to convince Kishore into browsing its shelves with me.

But more about the Fabindia experience and elsewhere in another post.

Food Experience of the Trip

Our day meals used to be rushed but we did manage some leisurely dinners. Among the busy places, we liked the baked goodies and deals at Infantaria on Baga — 6 pints of Budweiser for Rs100 were unbelievable even for Goa; pastas and grilled fish at Capricorn and Electric Cats at Calangute; the atmosphere at Anthony’s on Baga; but most of all, the fish thali at Ritz Classic in Panjim, that was great value at Rs70! Fish thalis in most restaurants offered a great combo but Ritz took the prize with its spread of rava fried pomfret, mackerel curry, prawn curry (with two tiny pieces of prawns but lots of coconut based curry) and vegetables. Down all that with fresh lime soda and you’d enjoy being in Goa even more. Also, we were pleasantly surprised to see so many vegetarian restaurants in Goa, and one particular called Navtara at Mapusa offering a wonderful veg thali. Its fresh Shrikhand and an array of daals that had both the south Indian and Gujarati influence was great at Rs65.

In Arpora itself, a couple of restaurants called All Spice, Fish Land and Appetite were doing sluggish business but modestly decorated Starlight was popular among locals for its prawn masala fry and fish curries. We also had a meal at Lagoa Azul’s Tabla and it was nice to meet the Manager, Prem who specially arranged Pois to go with our Fish Ambotik and Sausage fry. The food was okay but the service quite attentive. We could see more restaurants being set up in Arpora ‘for the season’ so the next visit should show us many more options.

Also, we were fortunate in being part of Goa Linux Users’ Group’s (GLUG!) informal meeting on a Saturday evening when the group introduced us to awesome Rechade/Rava Fish/Feni at a place they referred to as a Hole in the Wall! I don’t think we’d find that place on our own so would simply seek their company when we want to revisit it, and would remain grateful to the GLUG team of Stanley, Edgar, Arvind and Ashley for their hospitality.

The highlight of our food experience though was the humble Poi – a high-fibre round bread that is sold by Poi-men all around residential areas in Goa. Poiman’s distinct horn warns people of his visit (twice a day as far as I could tell) or otherwise the sight of a polythene-covered big basket on a bicycle is welcomed by many. We used to have the complex guard pick up one Poi and one Pav @ Rs2 each every morning at 6:30 am, and in the absence of a proper cooking gas stove or oven, came up with a couple of ways to consume them – sliced, toasted, buttered or toasted with Nilgiris cheese inside and downed with sips of tea. Used to be a great way to start our tough day!

Homeware shopping in Goa

Homeware shopping in Goa is unsatisfying for a Delhite. For light fittings, kitchenware and some appliances we focused on Mapusa. For bigger appliances and some hardware, we sought out dealers in Panjim. Appliances are sold mostly on MRP or at best at 5% discount. Light fittings were limited and prohibitively priced. But furniture was the most disappointing aspect of our shopping. Furniture shops in Shantinesh brought out tacky stuff, and some options existed in the form of road-side ‘antique dealers’ who would show dirty, unpolished pieces at phenomenal prices. Even their finished items didn’t seem well-finished. We were sure thrilled to see Fab India in Panjim and Calangute but their products were limited and big items expensive. We picked up some light shades and a familiar library stool from there, and were otherwise comforted by its quiet, peaceful atmosphere that we as Delhites have grown used to. Then, we chanced upon a big store called CMM Arena in Merces and heaved a sigh of relief when a Malaysian rubberwood bed agreed with our sense of décor and price. These guys were professional in the way they took the order and delivered/assembled the product onsite. I also liked the look of a small bric-a-brac shop called Casa Goa on Calangute-Baga road but found their items limited and prices high. Surely, there should be more such places in Goa selling traditional looking furniture but they didn’t appear on any of our several drives through North Goa. We saw a lot of bamboo cane furniture in restaurants and beach shacks but came across only a couple of shops selling some usual stuff at unbelievably high prices. People mentioned that come November, all roads will be lined with cane furniture sellers but prices may still remain high!

Tiles: We were keen to finish one of the sitting room walls with red/ochre coloured rough tiles. With an abundance of Mangalore tiles everywhere, I’d hoped to find some sort of acceptable coarse tiles but that wasn’t meant to be. After much scanning of Panjim, all we saw were the usual shiny, glazed branded tiles and although one small shop tucked away near Geeta Bakery in Panjim had some sample tiles of the sort we could have accepted, they asked for 12-15 days to arrange most designs.

Netlon: Interestingly, we discovered that Goa shops and people advocated the use of Netlon on windows in a big way, and it seemed to be a widely offered service there. Although we did see some mosquitoes there regularly, and they appeared bigger in size than those in Gurgaon (!), we noticed that they were decidedly fewer in numbers than Gurgaon. Still, we went along the trend of installing Netlon and got ours in place with the help of A La Mode (phone 2235042) in Panjim. Their person came over to measure up the windows and did a rather hurried but acceptable job of putting up velcro and black coloured fibre Netlon sheets. The sheets are hardly visible and keep Mosquitoes at bay.

Mapsua Friday Market: We’d read much about Mapusa’s Friday market for homeware but found little in the place other than spices, kokum and dried fish. All the same, it was a scenic, smelly and memorable experience! A fish-seller’s picture below would give an idea.

Goa – Our Second Home

We got to spend 11 days in our flat on this trip and they were taxing, busy and noisy 11 days – taxing, because we shared space with painters who took 8 days to paint the flat and later 2 days with carpenters who had us worried when they wouldn’t finish the contracted job within time. Busy, because of above and all the trips Kishore and I made to Mapusa, Panjim, Porvorim and Calangute markets looking for house stuff. Noisy, because the neighbour’s bossy rooster made his presence felt all day and sometimes called out at night too! The neighbour’s backyard offered an unkempt but lively sight (pic below) from the bedroom balcony – a fruiting cheeku tree full of noisy brown-headed squirrels, a pair of White-cheeked barbets busy drilling a nesting hole in a coconut tree (one of the pics below shows the male examining his effort much the way Kishore or I would be looking at painters’ efforts!); the rooster surveying the backyard with 3 fat hens in tow; and a lazy mamma cat snoozing on the roof while its 3 kittens would be running about all over. It was a fairly animated backyard to watch.

Around Las Palmas in Arpora, what came as a complete bonus was the feel of the terrain beyond Hotel Lagoa Azul. The road showed parts of Baga river on the right side, and once we found a small pathway to get close to the river, it was great to see a Stork-billed Kingfisher, few egrets and possibly a few stints — all at walking distance from our complex! The premises of the defunct Falcon hotel along Baga river lent a spooky and adventurous feel to our walks but even though full of trees, other than a Golden Oriole and Black Kites circling above, we didn’t see many birds on two of our morning walks there…

Finally, a message at the end of the story -

We’ve been asked by some friends and family about our plans for our flat and whether we would let it out for short or long stays – so here’s an offer and a clarification: please come visit us while we’re in Goa and discover the joys of Goa with us…please do not ask for our flat keys for use in our absence as we won’t be able to ensure its upkeep during or after its use and it’d sadden us to see it in any state other than the way we left it.

And, do remember that we’re now partly Goans – better still, Bhargoans – and would love to help you know Goa as much as we do.