Back to Bangalore

I have been asking myself what did I bring back from the faraway land of freedom -- Goa. What did those 60 hours of moving away from home to the land of fun do for me? I know there's always something to gain but the ability to feel it, experience it, gauge it, and narrate it is getting blunted.
Maybe, making a list of the impressions the trip to Goa, the place and the journey back home had on my mind could help me come out of this blank state:

• Long overnight journeys in small cramped vehicles can be very uncomfortable
• The happiness friends' company gives is the most unadulterated form of joy
• High expectations always precede a journey
• The value of banter is highly underestimated
• The search for clean washrooms in India is a futile endeavor
• I love having access to black tea
• You can neither get away from nor get rid of the corrupt Indian systems like police, RTO
• Money owns beauty
• Sea impresses, whether near or far
• My lungs are close to retirement
• Prawns are the best
• A good host can leave a lasting impression
• Ostracizing can be a justified punishment
• There are people who appreciate wine more than me
• Is Goa a part of India?
• Women today are really bold and beautiful
• Good times = drinking and smoking = not true
• Good life can be good
• There are moments of disconnect with everyone and everything
• Europeans are beautiful
• Sea instills excitement and awe
• My inherent fear screws my life
• Sea can make you its slave
• Clumsy dancing and self-conscious attempts are ok
• Daring is often born out of necessity
• Shacks lure you with their simple sophistication and promise of liberation
• Lights (glowing candles and lamps on the seashore) and sounds (music, the beat of the waves) are forever parts of my life
• The ubiquitous Whites leave you craving for their carefree lives
• The flow of booze and money is never-ending
• A short visit is like an appetizer; it leaves you hungry for more
• Leaving a place is easier than leaving friends
• Going home can be sad
• All good things end too soon
• The mindset changes with the place
• Attitude makes Goa; Any place can be Goa

Why did he jump into the sea?

Why did he jump into the sea? I would never know. Was it a very normal and simple act for him? Again, I would never know.

Eleven of us were on a yacht miles off the coast of Goa high on the heady mix of sea, wind, beer, music and exhilaration. We were lapping up the beauty and the might of the vastness all around us. There was much merriment on the deck with everyone letting one's hair down in the unbound atmosphere. Amidst all the singing and dancing, suddenly the captain's cap flew off and fell in the ocean. All went oh! the cap! and before we knew, one of the crew members on the yacht jumped into the sea. He had no life jacket on; there were no lifeguards on the yacht and he didn't look like a trained guy too. Yet he jumped.
Was it part of his job? I don't think any job role entails that. It looked more like an act of desperation -- putting one's life at risk to survive. If your boss' cap falls, you pick it up irrespective of the given situation. Maybe I am hyping it up. Maybe it's just as simple as we stopping a vehicle on the road to pick something that fell off. Maybe for him sea is no more than land.
However, I will never forget the incident nor the look on that man's face when he was in the water and when he got back on the yacht. He looked shaken and I don't know why, but I felt that this was not something he had ever done before.
Sometimes, in fact many a time, a man's life can be worth much less than a cap.