We were staying in a beach resort. We had been allotted double rooms in separate double storied cottages walking distance from the beach. So it was a bit like old times where we had friends as roommates and got together for meals, games and outings. Yes, we seemed to pack a lot into the two days thanks to our super organised leader. She is apparently a Professor of microbiology. I must say I am tempted to leak pictures of her in her beach wear and trendy dresses to her students. But I am sure they already think she is pretty cool.
There was a time just a few years out of college, when if we met old batchmates the discussion revolved around people's careers and who was doing what and where. At that time traces of the rivalry and competition of the classroom remained in our interactions. Then after many years during the run up to the 25 year reunion we all connected on the very active social media. While we were all interested in where everyone was, their families or lack of it, everything seemed to matter less. Best part of the reunion for most of us was the girl's night out when we all stayed together without our respective families in a hotel in Gurgaon, where we danced, drank, chatted and generally gave up on any serious catch up!
Goa however, was a prolonged girls night out! Everybody had come to have fun. We each had been through challenges which life had thrown at us and while some were perceived to be bigger than others we had mutual respect for each other because no two journeys were the same and after all we had made it to Goa and that's all that mattered. But the smaller group and longer time together allowed for fun times as well as heart to heart chats which surfaced at odd times while trying to get to sleep, while waiting for the third friend or at breakfast.
The size of the group also allowed fifteen of us to pile into one room to chill, play games or dance! Booze helped some to let their hair down while some were high without it. Bikinis, skirts, shorts, dresses, legs, cleavages, halter necks nothing seemed to cause any raised eyebrows amongst us and anyway who cared about the rest. Well not completely true, we did camouflage vodka/rum in innocent looking water bottles which we carried around to cater to the pious image of Indian women which people have.
We were there for two days and we wanted to make the most of it. We had an off road drive in a truck to the shack near the beach for dinner one night and we dined & danced while we cruised in a private yacht on the River Mandovi on another night!
The drive from our hotel to reach the river for the cruise, though was one of the most memorable for me. As we got into the bus which had been pre arranged they told us we are late and we are going to catch the worst traffic. True to the prediction we reached the point when our google maps spelt out the doom gloom situation of bumper to bumper traffic which was most likely going to mean the cruise would be delayed. A call to the cruise coordinator confirmed that we would still be able to cruise even if it would be late.
Once we realised we were stuck, we decided to forget about our destination and enjoy the journey. We started singing songs then played antakshari to wake up the backbenchers and then we changed the rules of the game. It was words and themes rather than letters which were going to be the cue for the next song. We had a whale of a time competing with each other, making fun of each other and intermittently actually enjoying someone's song, when they knew it and sang it well.
When we reached, we realised we had been on the bus for four hours! The horror of it struck home when one of us questioned- "Can you imagine what that would have been like if you had been with your family?"
Everyone agreed things would have been pretty much the same for all of us with the husbands blaming us for taking too long to get dressed and kids moaning like it was our fault there was a traffic jam!
We are now getting over from the hangover from Goa while planning the next getaway! Big girls know how to have fun!
