NOTE :
This post is a part of “Travel Goa under Budget” which is a travelogue providing
trip advise and travel plan to keep your expenses to the minimum so that you
can enjoy the beauty of Goa in a cheap and inexpensive manner but at the same
time safe and memorable.
10 July 2011
In and around the Capital
After refreshing myself at the Panaji, Oh I forget to tell
you one thing the capital is pronounced in a lot many different ways here
Panjim,Panji,Panaaaji,Panchi ,Paanchi are the few of them so don’t get
confused.
And yeah getting back to our travelogue the next part of my
trip is to the place which according to the legend had witnessed one of the
greatest love story in the region during the foreign rule in the state and the
influence of their love story has been strong enough to name the locality in the
honour of the lovers.
Can you guess it?
Well most of us who have even been there are not aware of
this legend and the irony is that it is amongst the most visited place in
Panaji . Also one of the major action sequence in the blockbuster movie Singham
starring Ajay Devgn and my favorite actress Kajal Agarwal was shot here.
If you are still wondering what this popular tourist
location which is included in almost all tourist packages offered in Goa is
Dona Paula.
 |
| The place where the bus drops you |
And back to where I was, the
Panaji Bus Terminus I had no difficulty in boarding a bus to Dona Paula
as the terminus was flooded with bus going there.
At least one bus leaves every 5 minutes.
And I was informed by the conductor that it was the last
stop.
The bus this time around didn’t climb the Mandovi Bridge but
took a left as it moved out of the terminus and as it was pacing up I could see
the scenic view of the Mandovi Bridge which we were leaving behind.
This was the first time that I could actually see how long
the bridge was and how beaytifully it is connecting North Goa and Central Goa.
The bus was racing ahead and the city was adorned with
classic architecture which I guessed was deeply influenced from the Portugese
and was maybe built in their time.
There was one certain building which was painted in vibrant
blue which I was later informed of that being the Post Office. And to my right
was the Mandovi river on the banks of which the city was beautifully chiseled and
at a distance I could see the Casino
Royale floating on the other bank. This as the name suggests was one of the
popular Casino’s in Goa,I thought.
The bus was moving ahead and I thought if I could walk I
could capture everything with the camera I had then: my mobile camera, this is
pretty common when you start out in photography as you try to click as many
shot as possible and if the city as beautiful as the one I am wandering in this
is something very normal and you can run out of space in a 2GB memory card
within no time.
 |
| Dona Paula |
And then the bus passed through Kala Academy and at this juncture
I decided that on my return journey from Dona Paula I would get down here and
rather walk (roughly 4 Kilometer) the distance admiring the landscape rather
than regretting that I could not enjoy the view and I Believed that not admiring
this beauty would be nothing less than a sin.
Soon we arrived at Miramar another popular tourist
attraction in Goa. So I have to get down here too on my return journey though
this wasn’t the mandatorily marked location by my friend.
Soon we entered what the localites called as rural Goa (they
were freaking kidding me).But there were lot of settlements here but weren’t as
porsche or modernized as the one which was in the main city.
Then finally we arrived at National Institute of
Oceanography (NIO) .This was the last stop and we have to walk less than a
kilometer to reach Dona Paula.
But I didn’t regret it and I was soon excited to go and see
another of the prime tourist attraction which was also marked mandatory in my
list of places I have to visit in Goa.
And after a brief walk my eyes were confronted with the
scenic beauty of Dona Paula.
There were a lot of tourist here and were lot of shops
selling souvenir and clothes usually beach dress.
 |
| Water Sport at Dona Paula |
This bay lied at the sangam, not the Triveni sangam at
Allahabad, where the Arabian Sea, Mandovi river and Zuari river.
And I couldn’t help notice the fact that this was the first
beach I visited in Goa so far that offered a wide range of water sports like
wind surfing, water skiing, paragliding and of course the most common motor
boat rides and ferry rides. I was quite surprised at the fact that the ferry
service take you to Marmugao and the view of the ships that I could see at a
distance was the one I have seen from Marmugao Port Trust a day before, as I
wasn’t aware that the two major cities in Goa were so nearby.
Then a white statue grabbed my attention and soon I realized
that this could be none other than the statues of Dona Paula. Soon I climbed up
along with a pile of tourists who too were heading towards the statue .
As I was climbing the stairs the other scenic views of Dona
Paula was distracting me and I made no effort in concentrating. The place was
such that wherever you turn your head you would be offered with a pristine view
which you can’t help resist but keep watching on. Soon I started clicking and
taking shots.
One of my most favorite view was that of the National
Institute of Oceanography which appeared as a Globe like structure was on top
of the regular overhead water tank which we have in our locality and takes care
of the water supply of our entire neighborhood.
Then I finally spend time on the prime attraction of the
site: the statues.
As I was nearing it I could catch up on the various legend
as told by the tourist guide who was narrating it to the foreign visitors.
One of the popular legend and which most of the guys would
wish to be true was that she was the romantic interest of the Governor General
who was posted there and soon sparks of love were flying in air as the Governor
General couldn’t resist the charm of the young and pretty girl.
 |
| Statue of Dona Paula |
This somehow reached the ears of already wedded Governor
General’s wife who was enraged by this illegitimate affair and in sheer rage
and anger had Dona Paula stripped and bound and rolled over the cliff, into the
sea, wearing only her string of pearls, a gift of love from the Governor. I
still wonder why she left her husband who too was a cheat.
But forget it this is a legend and yeah why would we guys
would be interested in this as stories of this kind have been very popular in
Indian Cinema.
Whatever has been described so far maybe a fact. But the
legend is that the fishermen of this locality believe that on moonlit nights at
the stroke of midnight, she rises from the sea and roams the area, wearing a
string of pearls and nothing else.
Doesn’t that make for
a interesting legend. So what are you waiting for? Aren’t you hurrying to pack
of your bags and prepare to camp there. Just Kidding…………………………………
There is another popular legend here which is the usual
where a rich girl falls in love with a poor boy( a fisherman in this case)
belonging to different ethnicity which the whole community disapproves of even
though that is none of their business but
I learnt that poking your nose at others personal affair is an
international business.
 |
| Panorama of the view as seen from Dona Paula |
So what then the community had them killed and the couple
met a frightful and painful death which would be pitied by the generation to
come and would be immortalized for their unending love and thus giving another
great love saga for the country which is already flooded with many such stories
.
But this is one classical case as the Love blossomed between
a rich Portugese girl Dona Paula de Menezes and a rural fisherman. The Cabo Raj Niwas is one of the most elegant governor’s
residences in the whole of Goa.There is also a 180 year old English cemetery,
open to the public along with a chapel, which has a memorial tomb of Dona Paula
de Menezes with her history engraved on the tombstone.
Her tombstone (a memorial tomb) is
found at the Cabo Raj Niwas which is one of
the elegant residences in the whole of
Goa .
 |
| Dona Paula |
Then I spent some time just
admiring the vibrant view as there was overcast conditions prevailing and was
ideal for photography before I discovered that the phones battery has drained
out and it was time for me to charge it ,so I connected it to my Netbook which
I was carrying viz a USB Cable.
Even though I wasn’t anywhere near
a photographer then but I realized that whenever you are out for photography
you should take out some time to admire the natures view.
There were people who were
enjoying by the beach( not the way they enjoy in the beaches of Hollywood
movies, so don’t get any fancy ideas).
Now it was time for me to move
from this location and I walked back till the NIO. There was also a Marine Biological
Museum which the tourists can actually visit and I too went there just to while
away my time as the next bus was only after 15 minutes and my mobile was also
getting charged.
That’s all at Dona Paula.
Next place is as I have disclosed is
Miramar beach.
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