Sravana.us

It certainly still is a market, but the fleas have long fled.

It’s organisation is close to an open air music festival. Paddy field are used as parkings, and the path up to the original market grounds is lined with stalls of the same boring paraphenelia.

Worse. 9/10th of it feels like a supermarket. Organised and oversized as a supermarket, dull as a supermarket. Same things, over and over again. Sigh.

Imagination and innovation are still there, but on the brink of extinction. One needs to look (and listen) hard. The western alternative scene, once held by a handful of visionary post hippies, relates more to Ibiza than to India.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a some interesting stalls held by interesting and friendly people.

But it’s about buisiness, not a way of life. Some might argue that it died long ago with the hippie movement. I’m not so sure. The 80’ties and mid 90’ties were still quite mellow, even at Anjuna beach.

I’m not sure I’ll ever go back there, but we had to check it out, if not just to show it to the children. It was fun to sit and watch the people who attend this event, and how they behave.

On the positive side, the trip up north was interesting. A long a drive (2:30+), but we travelled through lovely back country when we weren’t on the NH17.

Especially the area north of Panaji and behing Calangute and Baga beaches. Many old colonial houses have been restored in the best possible ways, and small villages have livened up (such as Mapusa) in a lovely fashion.

Moreover, it looks like many interesting furniture and deco shops are located in the northern suburbs of Panaji. We’ll have to check them out osom day.

As of today, it isn’t possible for non-Goan people to acquire land or property. Speculation ran too high. I noticed a number of charming derelict places with the “Not for sale” sign hanging in front.

Ravi (+91 97-64-630877) drove us up and back. A safe and reliable driver who managed to avoid the rush hour traffic jam around Margao by taking alternatice routes which led us through unexpected landscapes of daily goanese life at dusk.

Just for that, it was worth the trouble.