Barcelona Party
It all began on a simmering sultry night in Barcelona, June 2003. After trekking across the city centre and enjoying the Gaudi Museum and the markets of The Ramblas, in the evening for the third time in a row, we decided to go and check out the clubs settling along the del Tibadabo. Along our travels my friends and I had curiously bumped into some friendly gentlemen. The following evening, there was a party alongside Bogatell Beach that Robbie, the head of the gang had invited us to. Robbie introduced us to the rest of his crew, and well I saw him sitting there. Sammy was quiet, beautiful and unassuming. I simply asked him, why are you so quiet. And his answer was I'm always quiet.
Now, this conversation was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. For that night, as the whole gang partied and danced with the rest of the all nighters around the deep blue sea and drank beer and made and demolished sand castles, Sammy and I chatted together the whole evening on subjects as vast as Gnosticism, the meaning of life and John Lennon. When the party was over , and as we walked along the port where all the boats were harboured, it is suddenly dawned on me that this man was worth getting to know better.
As the gang walked towards Robbie's hotel and Sammy and I knew it would soon be time to leave each other, he said that he would be making a short detour to London to visit family before returning to India and we promised to meet each other in England. We kissed each other goodbye and that was that.
London Life
It had been four days since returning from Spain and I still had not heard from my Spanish incident and I was about to give up hope. It was Saturday morning and I heard a beep on my mobile and it was a message from guess who?!
"Hey Cat, it's Sammy, what are your plans for this evening?"
Well of course we managed to meet up at a fancy nightclub in London, very expensive it was too, where loverboy told me about his solemn week in London. He told me how much he appreciated the lights of Piccadilly Circus, the grandeur of Buckingham Palace and the beauty of Tralalgar Square. He also relayed how much he did not appreciate the rubbish on the streets, the rudeness of Londoners and the smell and the claustrophobia of the London Tube.
Now reader, when one thinks one is in love, one thing leads to another and I shall leave it up to your furtive imagination to decide the further events of the evening but also understand that both parties did not want what was happening to conclude there. So Sammy in his infinite wisdom invited me over to India for the New Year. Accordingly, I saved up my pennies and at the beginning of January 2004, I found myself jetting off to Goa in the western part of India, ridding myself of the cold storms of winter in England and entering the sunnier, more endearing climes of the Near East.
Indian Paradise
My hotel was situated near Candolim Beach, just by the long stretch of beaches looking out over the Arabian Sea including Mirimar Beach, Calungute, Baga and Anjuna. As I arrived loverboy was waiting for me and the romantic week ensued.
Old Goa constitutes the historical Portuguese capital, when Goa was colonised 500 years ago. Here is where you will find the architectural splendour of the many churches and cathedrals lined up together to make up Holy Hill. We visited many of them, including the Basilica of Bom Jesus where the embalmed body of St Francis Xavier lies in state for all pilgrims to witness. There was also the Archeological Museum and the wonderful Augustinian Monastery. Who would have thought that these days, going to church could be so romantic.
The Hindi temples are situated further east, in the provincial town of Ponda. As the two of us travelled across the bridge of the river Zuari on Sammy's trusty moped, the magical mosiacal view of the Shri Manguesh temple came into view. We decided to get holy and took off our shoes as we tip toed in and watched Hindi priests meditate and pray.
The rest of the holiday was spent enjoying long summer nights, out on the beach smooching and swaying and being all lovey, dovey. Needless to say we had a wonderful time together and once again, after the week came to an end we said our goodbyes and departed. And once again, that was that.
River Deep, Mountain High
I still stay in touch with loverboy even though we went our separate ways. But lo and behold the path of true love never runs smooth. In fact it could still be discovered along the River Nile, as Sammy has invited me to come to Egypt in the autumn for a reunion.
We shall possibly climb Mount Sinai together. Talk about monumental! I guess, like most people I am a sucker for love and I don't mind travelling half way across the world to find it. It does make things a little more exciting. The moral of this particular story is, don't be afraid to travel on your own and discover new sights and sounds in a different part of the world.
