What I Learned from Almost Meeting God
By: Rahul Ashok
Tags: Lovestory, Beach, Love, Storytelling, Travel

1.13 am — It was a dense forest with no lights, civilization, or vehicles. I noticed a movement in the bushes ahead. Is this how it all ends?

If you’re from India, you would have definitely planned a trip to Goa (Las Vegas of India) with your friends n number of times and it would have gotten canceled each time for one reason or the other.

I did the same, planned the trip 7 times in a span of 4 years with 5 different groups.

It never happened.

That’s until I messaged Naina out of the blue and suggested that we go away for the weekend.

Surprisingly, she immediately agreed and we started looking for tickets and accommodation.

Naina and I went to the same college and had very few mutual friends. We started talking after she liked one of my Instagram posts from Rocky Beach in Pondicherry and she told me about her experience there.

We met a couple of times after that and we connected on a deeper level because we were both going through a rough patch on the personal front back then.

Over the years we kept in touch, enjoyed each other’s company, and the bond grew stronger.

She was caring but didn’t show it, didn’t give a fuck about what others said, and was one of the few people who replied to every insult of mine with an equally funny one.

As cliché as it sounds, she was like a cool breeze on a warm summer afternoon.

Naina is a low maintenance traveler who can stay at hostels and travel on local buses but I prefer to stay at an Airbnb and have a vehicle to roam around town.

She always used to complain that I never let her decide anything.

So this time I let her call the shots.

Except for the accommodation, itinerary, mode of transport, and the list of restaurants we would go to.

She chose everything else.

The day finally arrived, we hopped into the upper berth of the sleeper bus and the journey began!

The bus journey was unpleasant, to say the least, I think the driver was a former rally racer — potholes and road bumps meant nothing to him.

For the first time in my life, I got a roller coaster ride for free. My head hit the roof of the bus multiple times.

We spent the whole night holding on to each other, to ensure that neither of us got hurt.

In the middle of all this, our water bottle and packet of green Lays fell onto the passenger sitting below. The water bottle returned but the packet of green Lays didn’t.

The roller coaster ride mellowed down in the morning but we were contemplating if we should take a flight back and cancel the bus tickets.

The flight tickets’ cost was almost 5 times the price of the bus so we were listing out the pros and cons of canceling the bus tickets when we encountered another speed bump.

BAM!

Head, meet roof (for the 11th time).

The choice was made, I immediately canceled the bus tickets and booked flight tickets.

We finally set foot on Goan soil after an arduous 16-hour journey.

After an intense round of negotiations with the cab driver, we reached the Airbnb that I had selected. I’m emphasizing that here because Naina started complaining the second we stepped into that place.

Rightly so, it was nothing like in the pictures and I couldn’t even say anything.

We would painfully realize later that we booked the place in North Goa which was farthest from the popular tourist spots and that we would spend 40 minutes to an hour to visit any of the spots.

Scooter rental also seemed to be an unanticipated headache. After ringing up 13 scooter rental agencies, I gave up, because nobody was ready to come to North Goa.

I informed Naina and went to take a power nap.

Using her magic skills, she somehow managed to call up an agency and arrange a scooter by the time I woke up.

But, I couldn’t stop laughing when I first saw the vehicle. It was an orange Honda Navi that seemed like it was built in the Soviet era and maintained by a 9-year-old.

Honda Navi (Source: Personal photograph)

The paint had faded on most parts, the brakes weren’t working properly and the engine made an amazing melody.

Well, beggars can’t be choosers so we let it pass, got ready, and headed to Ozran beach.

Although it was a 43-minute ride, it was a very peaceful one considering the scenery, breeze, and company.

Once we reached there, we realized that to step on the beach, we had to trek down a small hill.

Trekking wasn’t the issue.

Trekking with flip flops on a path laden with beer bottle pieces was.

Nevertheless, we reached the beach, took some photos, found a nice spot on the rocks on the beach and watched as the sun disappeared over the horizon.

I noticed that there was a certain calm and pleasant smile on her face as she cherished the sunset.

The next stop was the infamous Goa Night Market. I was really looking forward to it because all the travel blogs had spoken highly about it.

I was disappointed, to say the least. It felt like a smaller version of Chickpet (shopping area) in Bengaluru.

Naina was scanning through a few t-shirts at one of the stalls when I noticed a t-shirt with the Om symbol printed all over it hanging in the side.

Om Symbol (Source: Benjamin Balazs from Pixabay)

An idea struck.

We had plans of visiting the Bom Jesus church on the last day and it would be awesome (read stupid) to wear an Om T-shirt to a church.

For context, wearing a t-shirt with symbols from the Hindu religion to a church may not end well in India.

I ran the idea past Naina and she surprisingly agreed.

We purchased two t-shirts.

When we were paying the seller, he told Naina, “Bhaiya ke liye red t-shirt lijiye. Bahut ache dikhenge”. Translation — Buy the red t-shirt for brother, he will look really nice.

Naina replied, “Woh abhi bhi acha hi dikh raha hain”. Translation — He’s anyway looking nice now.

A compliment from Naina was as rare as the sun rising from the west.

After the shopping session and disappointing night market, we decided to call it a night.

We picked up some ice cream on the way back.

Naina hates desserts and had some only to give me company.

She was sweet like that at times.

The next day, I woke up early and checked the time of sunrise at Calangute beach.

It was in 30 minutes and we were staying 30 minutes away from the beach. I nudged Naina and asked if she wanted to watch the sunrise.

She groggily woke up and got ready.

It was pitch black and cold outside.

We sped off on the Navi, got lost a few times thanks to Google Maps, and finally made it to the beach on time.

We ran to the waves and were waiting for the sun to rise from the horizon.

It was 17 minutes past the sunrise time mentioned on Google now but there was no sign of it.

This is when I realized that I should have paid more attention in Geography class. We were facing the Arabian Sea and could only witness sunsets and not a sunrise.

The sunrise was happening behind us!

Sunrise at Calangute Beach (Source: Personal photograph)

We clicked a few more photos, returned to the Airbnb, and spent the rest of the morning watching movies and ordering food.

In the evening, we set out to see the Chapora fort aka the ‘Dil Chahta Hai Fort’, named after the infamous Bollywood movie that was shot here.

The view was breathtaking and everyone was crowding near the corner to take pictures.

I was about to click Naina’s picture when she turned around and threatened me with a pointed finger “If the picture is not good, I am going to push you off the edge”.

The people around gave me the look of pity and thought that I was here with a monster. Whereas in reality, I deserved it because I had ruined a few of her photos on purpose recently.

After the photo session, we headed to Vagator beach to watch the sunset.

We walked on the beach, hand-in-hand, waves washing by our feet, enjoying the beautiful view, and leaving behind our temporary footprints on the wet sand.

At that moment, I wished the time froze and I could be there for a long time.

I didn’t even take any photos, I didn’t want to let go of her hand and capture the moment — for a change, I chose to cherish the moment than capture it.

The romantic walk on the beach was followed by an equally romantic candlelight dinner at Brittos in Baga beach.

Naina is a teetotaler and I thought she might finally try a Breezer at least given that we were in Goa and the current setting was blissful. I even helped her pick a Breezer that she might like.

The steward came to take the order and Naina ordered a banana Nutella milkshake.

I rolled my eyes in disappointment.

The dinner was peaceful, we spoke about many stories from our past — the good ones, the bad ones and everything in between.

We picked up an oreo cheesecake (yes, my idea!) and headed back to the Airbnb.

Naina was responsible for navigation and we reached a junction which we had crossed just that morning when we were returning from Calangute beach.

We had gone straight in the morning but as per Google, we had to take a left now.

I voted to follow Google but Naina was adamant that we had gone straight in the morning and we should take the same route now.

For a change, I decided to listen to Naina.

In hindsight, I shouldn’t have.

The road started off fine but soon morphed into a setting straight out of a horror movie.

There were trees all around us, no streetlight, no other vehicles, and there was a cold fog all over.

If I didn’t know any better, I was expecting a lady dressed in a white saree to appear in front of us at any moment now.

The mere thought ran a chill down my spine and my heart started beating faster.

It was too late to turn back because we had already traveled 7 km in this route, logically it made more sense to continue than to turn back.

Both of us were terrified — we were on a broken vehicle from the 1950s, riding through the sets of a horror movie, and there was no civilization for kilometers in either direction.

If the vehicle had decided to give up at that time, I honestly don’t know what we would have done.

The worst part was, if anything happened to us, nobody would even get to know.

Goa would have us forever.

Fear is often a good motivator. I told Naina to hold on to me and I sped like there’s no tomorrow.

Speed breaks, potholes, curves didn’t matter. I maintained a constant speed of 60 kmph and went on and on.

After 18 minutes, I slowed down momentarily and asked Naina how much further.

“Only 9 km”, she said.

“WTF!”, I exclaimed and continued to ride as though I was auditioning for Vin Diesel’s role in the next Fast and Furious movie.

After 8 potholes, 5 curves, 6 speed bumps, 4 near-miss accidents, and 3 probable ghosts, we finally reached the main city.

I was glad that both of us made it out alive and I made a mental note to never listen to Naina about directions ever again.

It felt like Oscar Wilde’s famous quote — Two roads diverged in the woods. I took the one less traveled and that made all the difference — played a rude joke on us.

We binged on the oreo cheesecake, Friends episodes, and called it a night.

The next morning, it was sunrise adventures part two. We went to Anjuna beach, the ride was so long that it felt like we were visiting a neighboring city.

What’s better than a beautiful view, empty beach, and the company of an annoying lady on a Monday morning? — Nothing!

I was chasing the waves and trying to capture them in slow motion. I turned back to see that Naina had let her hair down, was wearing her classic Ray-Ban shades, and sitting on the beach like a boss with her legs crossed in her olive green top and denim shorts.

At that moment, she could have used the #BeachBabe hashtag and gotten away with it.

I shouted out to her to hold the pose, ran towards her, and captured the moment. To date, it’s my favorite photo of her and it was her DP on social media for the longest time.

That was an important day as we had to visit the Bom Jesus church in our Om t-shirts.

Although that was a spontaneous idea, it almost didn’t happen because I fell terribly sick in the afternoon.

Seafood for every meal may not have been the best idea.

But, the show must go on.

I popped a pill, changed into the Om t-shirt and we set out to Bom Jesus church in Old Goa.

Naina was riding and I was pulling her leg non-stop about her riding skills. It reached a point where she almost threw me off the scooter.

We finally reached the spot and it was swarming with tourists. Everyone was staring at us as we walked into the church in Om t-shirts, shorts, flip flops, and shades.

The guide who was explaining the details to the group also scanned us from top to bottom.

We were expecting to get screwed at any moment now.

But hey! We lived to tell the tale.

On the way back, my condition worsened. Naina was riding, I was resting on her shoulder and put my hands around her.

When I looked up after some time, I witnessed the prettiest sunset. The sun was huge and had a remarkable orange hue.

Photo by Lucian Dachman on Unsplash

And here we were riding into the beautiful sunset. I tightened my grip around her.

She hit my hand because the grip tickled her. I ignored that and glanced at the rear-view mirror.

She had a sly smile and her cheeks turned a light shade of red.

The rest of the evening remained uneventful. We got on the flight, reached Bengaluru, and after a long wait at the cab line, finally got a cab.

I decided to drop her off first.

I was trying to get some sleep in the cab but it was a very uncomfortable position and I was wriggling around.

She saw this and tapped on her lap.

I hugged her and fell asleep on her lap.

We reached her place, I helped her with the luggage and got back into the cab.

After some time, I sent her a message “In your dreams, whatever they be, dream a little dream of me”

She replied, “I’m going to dream about Pondicherry and you better take me there soon, Idiot!! ;)”