this sounds so like her................krannie --- In [email protected], "curtisdesign" <curtisdesign@...> wrote: > > If you could create your perfect life, what would it look like? > > For decades my answer has been: "Living in a beach house, able to walk out the door and > jump in the sea. Writing on a computer that's linked to the internet. No job. Hot climate. > With cable TV." > > That's it. That's been the image my fantasy life. A dream I'd never even aimed for, thinking > it impossible. > > I recently realized: Wow! This is it! I'm living it! The un-dared-for wish came true -- > though I'd pictured California, or the Caribbean, not India, and the warm climate didn't > include a monsoon. But I won't quibble over rain drops. Monsoon season is, actually, > wondrously beautiful, even in its moldiness, and offers a writer's paradise of quiet without > distractions. Parties make up the "season" in Goa. A flood of tourists out for a good time. > A hello to anyone results in instant best friends with whom to go gallivanting. Friends > galore contrast the emptiness of the rainy season, with nights of torrential downpours and > ground-shaking crashes of the nearby sea. Daytime usually evaporates the clouds long > enough for a swim. The Westerners living here year-round go to a small cove called > "Spaghetti Beach" in Vagator where rocks offer shelter from the wind and pandemonious > waves. > > Aside from petty annoyances such as every-other-day water (cold), cable and power > outages, I GOT IT. I'm living my dream life. And it's much more than the barest I'd settle > for. My fabulous house has everything I need, including two maids twice a week to clean > and do laundry. Pumpkin lays at my side ready with a tail-wag when I glance at him. But > best of all, my MOTORBIKE thrills me every time I hop and kick start. Native Manhattanites, > who depend on subways and busses to get around, may be the sole people on earth who > don't drive. I belong to that deprived group who never experience the power of handling a > vehicle. Here, driving my bike through the paddy fields, I'm in awe. What a sense of > command! My single experience driving a car occurred in my early twenties when I > bummed around Europe for three years in an old Daf I'd bought for $200 and painted. > From Paris down to Spain, across to Italy, back up to Denmark is the only time I'd driven. > Once, in the mid 90's, I had a car-driving dream and awoke mourning that I'd never again > feel that particular sense of independence and control. My TVS, fashioned Cleo style, > bestows me a magnificent feeling of competence. To be able to wake up, step out the > door, and GO exhilarates me. > > * * * * * * > > The year 2001 couldn't have started on a better note. The Saturday Nite Bazaar launched > the millennium edition of my Goa Freaks book (printed in Goa!). I made a speech, then > sold and signed books at a special table. The printer sat with me and explained that the > launch was delayed because they had to redo the map of India to include Kashmir. What a > great night! > > The next week, Ingo set up a stall for me to sell books from his store, and of course my > book plus my CD "Goa: From Goa Freaks to Goa Trance." The CD contains videos of events > and people mentioned in the book, all set to Goa Trance music. > > What a job! What do I know about vending? And people tried to bargain with me as if I > were selling fish. I had to be a policewoman, watching that nothing got stolen. Then a > maid, when people left their beer bottles on my tables. But the worst was dying to pee and > having no one to cover for me. (Except this guard who came around just in time to prevent > an accident). > > So don't expect to find me at the Bazaar selling books ever again. Whew! > > * * * * * * * * >
-- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal Moira, Bardez Goa, India E [email protected] P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350
