Mon 8 Nov 2010 Baga Beach
It rained this morning and the beach was mostly deserted so we took a long walk south down as far as Calangute.
Walking on the deserted sand it was easier for my romantic mind to imagine the Goa of the 70's with only fisherman's shacks and tents on the beach. I don't think I'm being (too much of) a tragic middle aged hippie to think with fondness of those times. I've always been fascinated by the counterculture that formed in the 60's, grew into a gigantic wave and broke (at the Stones concert in Altamont if you believe Hunter S Thompson RIP). It's mainly about the music but I do like the idea of a time when people thought they could change the world with it (music).
I've been reading the recently released autobiography of Keith Richards, in my opinion the greatest Guitar Player and Songwriter in Rock History. He has a delightful cynicism about the idealism of the times, preferring to describe himself as a Bluesman or Troubadour rather than any sort of prophet or agent of social change.
When you see the TV footage of the scale of the concerts and demonstrations that took place in those times and read the extent to which the establishment went to try and subvert the youth movement it always makes me wonder just what dissipated all the energy. Personally I just think it was too many drugs. People mistook the visions of acid and pot for the actual doing of anything and the various law enforcement agencies of the time worked out if they left the hippies alone they would eventually drug themselves into submission.
Swam in the rain and then had espresso at Tito's, so far the only espresso machine we have discovered. I find myself drinking Chai now from our local, much nicer than the coffee. Chai in India isn't really what we understand it to be in the West. It's just strong black tea, brewed with dust tea with milk mixed in and strained. Some places put sugar & spice, some not. On train stations and other fast moving places it's sold in pottery cups which you simply discard.
K already in to the G&T's, although to be fair the sun did just past the yardarm. It's beautiful and green on our balcony, if a little noisy with all the building. We are about to jump on the Motorbike and head north to explore the huge Cathedral on the point we can see from the beach. We will keep going north and scout out what's left of the counter-culture at Anjuna, also where the huge flea market is held on Wednesdays. If we still have any energy we'll investigate Vagator Beach, a little further north, supposedly the scene of great crowds of Israelis (for some reason) playing volleyball to the backbeat of trance coming from giant PA's on the beach. There is a famous trance club on the cliff above Vagator at which I fully intend to dance one night. Let's face it, no one I know will see me.
Rob 8/11/2010
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