Goa Rollickers

There is this side of Goa that we knew existed, heard about , but never really fully experienced it. We have visited the goan bar scenes and grabbed mikes during karaoke nights alongside goan curries and pao on endless stretches of beach. But to witness and rollick in the Rock scene at undiscovered beach shacks is truly an invigorating and mesmerizing experience.
As our Monsoon vacation was nearing an end , we looked forward to spending more nights at Colva beachside where they seemed more action and life compared to the dead scenes at Cavelossim. We got called out to a Karaoke session at a Colva beach restaurant. It wasnt really situarted at the beach itself but a few hundred metres away from it, at the junction, where the road takes a turn to the right. During the monsoon, most places are shut so this place was a blessing to have been not only opened with an admirable karaoke system set up but full of local revellers. They sure seemed to enjoy the mike thrown in with some good old numbers. Soon, it did turn out to be a competition of sorts where our table of singers stole the show with the sheer calibre and might! We belted out Delilah and Noella was the Black velvet queen ! Had it been a regular peak season jam session, we would have left with a flood of offers!
After winding down the karaoke affair, we were told of this shack on the beach further down on Colva where there seemed to be a band playing. When we finally got there, the band had wrapped up for the night but we stayed on to rapidly fall in love with Suzys Shack. The place was rather pocket-sized but gorgeous. The hospitality was great. One could not get enough of the breeze. The weather kept changing on us with bursts of rain and then dry spells of gale like winds. But it was special. We were just dying to go back.
The next day , we were told, there would be another local band jamming so we excitedly guaranteed our return. We enjoyed dinner at Haathi Mahal itself and then cabbed it to Colva. Well it was expectedly crowded at Suzys and we were moved to a corner extension of the seating area. As the weather would have it, the rains came down heavy on us and we fortunately stayed dry but only our heads. Water from some other higher level cascaded down to the arm of the shack we were located at and within no time we were standing on chairs and lifting our feet to avoid the onslaught of water.
Lots of the guests began to leave at that point so we relocated ourselves to a more comfortable placing near the band. The local Goan band was just immensely talented and were a real pleasure to listen to. For our group, the night was to end on a high note. We all had our separate travel plans chalked out for the next day.
Felt like we had discovered some underground cult scene that only we had privy to ! Its always wondrous to have new experiences and acoustic insights into old places.
The altering music landscape in Goa has so many distinct sides to it..we look forward to more such experiences and discoveries!