For three evenings in a row I was holding out hope, forlorn hope as it turned out, for a good sunset to photograph. I did see what a sunset on Anjuna Beach here in Goa, India, was capable of. That was three days ago, when I first arrived here off the train from Hospet. I was traipsing around the palm tree-lined lanes behind the beach looking for a bed, something that took longer than planned; the Goan Arabian Sea coast is just waking up from the monsoon off-season so a lot of places are still closed, or not working as I’ve heard many times these past few days. As I looked/traipsed the sun was setting spectacularly. ‘I’ll be here for 3 more sunsets,’ I acknowledged, letting, as it turned out, the best Goan sunset I’d be around for fade away unharassed by my camera. A rookie mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.
A section of coastline at Anjuna (
). There is a beach here, a big, long windswept one. It’s behind me. I just forgot to photograph it. Anjuna, Goa, India. September 29th 2012.
For the last few days I’ve been back to sitting by the Arabian Sea in Goa, India, drinking Kingfisher beers, the only place in India I seem to savour the King of Good Times, the Kingfisher Beer motto. Again, & just like on any beach, there’s not much to do here. Life is unrushed & even the vendors who man the hordes of hippy clothing, Goan trance CD/DVD & knock-off t-shirt stalls seem to harass just a little less than they could – although maybe that’ll change when the season gets going in earnest in a few weeks’ time. I’ve taken a look around; I visited the Goan capital of Panjim to look at history & at the legacy of the Portuguese here in Goa; I’ve had a few beach walks; &, as already mentioned, I’ve sat by the Arabian Sea drinking beers & waiting for a sunset that never really came. And that’s it.
St Anthony’s Chapel, remnants of the Portuguese past. Anjuna, Goa, India. September 29th 2012.
And so my latest stretch of beach time has come to an end, a mere 12 days after I supposedly bid it – the beach – adieu for 2012. Later tonight I’ll embark on a (advertised) 29-hour train trip north to a place called Kota in the state of Rajasthan. I’ll be boarding the train at 2:30 a.m. (I can think of much better ways to be spending a Saturday night/Sunday morning than to be boarding an Indian train) and all going to plan I’ll get off the train at 6:00 a.m. on Monday – a new, fresh week & a new, fresh location. Getting north on this visit to India has taken me almost 3 weeks, way longer than planned. There’s still plenty here in India I want to see & with so many countries & so much land to cover between now and my mid-December return home to Ireland, I best look to get out of India sometime soon. But I’m not going to worry about that right now, although I suspect when I’m on that train tomorrow, leaving India might just be right there in the forefront of my mind.
Fishing at sunset. OK, & my moaning at the outset aside, tonight’s sunset spectacle wasn’t a total bust. It was sufficient for me to photograph a fisherman silhouetted against the pleasing sunset glow. Anjuna, Goa, India. September 29th 2012
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