To Madkai:part one

My good friend Bharat and I went for another adventure in Goa yesterday. We planned to first reach Cortalim hopping buses and then walk some 10 kms along Zuari river to Loutulim, where there is supposed to be some glimpses of ancestral Goa(so says the mighty web).
We planned to reach Cortalim by first going to Titan ,on NH 17, and then to Coothli(as locals would call it). But as we were waiting, a bus for Chicalim came along ,and we went along with it. And from there to Courtalim.

And the bus dropped us at Cortalim. Now I had just seen a road route to Loutulim on a map, it was nowhere to be seen. So we had to find it first. I told Bharat, here begins our adventure, and we started merry. Cortalim is where there are road and railway bridges on river Zuari. Walking a bit, we saw a road going down from the bridge, which remained on the same land and didnt cross the river. And just then we saw a bus coming from that direction with loutulim written on it.

This dampened our spirits somewhat. What use is a route where buses run? But anyway, I remembered sometimes coming on it, and there was supposed to be nice thick tree cover on both sides, and not to say the Zuari river on our left,at a distance.

But just went we came down to the mouth on the bridge on Zuari, on our road, we saw a ferry coming and docking. We smelled adventure again! I asked a man waiting on the bus stand where the ferry goes. He said some name which didnt ring any bell. We asked again but same. So we were happy. I asked how much it costs. The person asked, where do you want to go? We said we are just roaming about. He said, smiling, take this then,its free and take it back. We concurred with him and went to the ferry with him. Though the way he was waiting at the bus stop we couldnt have guessed he wants the ferry!

And we waited on the ferry! Some 15-20 minutes. Then finally two men go near the end and pull up the incline a bit, so that it didnt touch water. And here was a sound of bus engine , and a honk and we started moving. We explored some corners of our ferry. There was a nice anchor. Big ,somewhat rusted at the ends,and with 4 petals, I think(or whatever that is called). And there were some motorcycles. And some people. Some torus-shaped-life-jacket things hanged randomly. And this conducter guy peering at us with interest.

The ferry moved so slooowly that we soon got bored. We finally reached in 20 minutes(hardly 1 km away from where we started). To Madkai, as a board there announced.(My map says Markaim.Goan dont care about spelling. Even the official spellings vary a lot). Happy we were to be at Madkai. The one place we should have come to. The place where we landed had only one road from it. And a bus was standing, which said Panjim. So there was some hope of taking a different route back. But Panjim is far away from where we eventually had to reach(i.e. back) so we were not too sure about our plans.

So we walked on this road. Very peaceful,some houses, some random people, and lots of cats(as we noticed only later). Yesterday was holi, and our faces were clean. So we come near some people sitting under a big tree. We hear some rustle and finally a whistle maybe. A boy of say about 10 comes near us, encouraged by elders, and puts some abir(or rang,or colour) on our forehead and cheeks. I put some on his face too, taking out from his packet! Bharat too does that, I guess. And we move on,happily.

There were fishes on the road, many small fishes , being dried on the road. Of atleast four species. We were wondering the logic of keeping it just on the road. And we wondered what feast everyday would it be to be a cat or dog here. Though as there were only these small fishes out, it was a bit cruel too ,on there taste buds. And later, we saw something which was impossible. A cow was munching them happily! Cows and fishes. Holy God, what would the pure vegetarians say?

A board on the road said, way to Navadurga temple. We went that way.

End of part one. Part two.

Consolidated Post on – To Madkai.