Goa, Gems and Wrestling

4/11/2012 National Hotel, nr Pune central railway station.

I have spent a whole day walking around Pune and found nothing of interest. The museum of culture was closed, and the only place I went in was upper middle class shopping mall in the business and government district of Pune. Seems apt as this is a city with no real history but a growing population where a minority are very well off. There are no tourists around which seems to mean there is nothing here worth seeing anyway. It is merely a stop gap before I get the bus to Aurangabad tomorrow at 8am. The journey to Pune was brilliant a sleeper bus though terrifying did allow me to meet some drunk early-20 year olds from Indore. They were very interested in sport  specifically wrestling, cricket and Michael Owen.One lad who’s number I have exchange with said he’d show me a good time at a discoteque in Indore said he is going to play cricket for India, he’s twenty two about five stone in excess of an ideal BMI and claims he’s the next Jacques Kallis. The best part of my journey though was the 30 minute conversation about wrestling these boys all loved it. I explained I hadn’t seen it in a long time but there knowledge was extensive and stretched back to the late 90’s onwards. Questions they asked and my answers were as follows:

Q. Who is your favourite wrestler of all time?

A. Mick Foley as anyone but Dude Love.

Q. Best Match?

A. Hell in a cell Rock vs Undertaker.

Q. Favourite Tag team Partnership?

A. Hardy boys or Dudley Boys.

Q Person who you think has the best athletic physique?

A. Rikishi (They fucking loved that)

Q. Did you like the Rock?

A. I preferred him when he was just Dwayne Johnson.

Though my days in Goa were few I had a lovely time. First day I just relaxed by the beach and read. On the second day I hired a scooter and went roaming about. I went to Mapusa where a man said he could give me work transporting gems. When I asked him how much I could earn he was fantastic ‘let me see, erm erm…….. around 50,000 pounds sterling.’ Seemed legit. Then I came back and met a young dutch woman named Jolande. We had a quick chat then I mentioned about going for some food later. Jolande had lived in Varanasi for a year when she was 22 and hasn’t stopped coming to India since, which was good for me to have someone to speak about all the places I wanted to visit to someone who has been to them all before.

 We got on pretty much instantly and conversed over dinner, lunch and breakfast about any and every topic. I sensed I waffled for the most part particularly after an evening beer. We swam and also went to Mapusa market together where she introduced me to Amlas and amazing fruit that somehow releases every flavour you could imagine from its dense plum-like structure. At first it seems too sour then gradually over the course of consumption it begins to leave traces of sweetness each side of the tongue. Incredible fruit may start an amla farm when I get back. Jolande was ever so nice, wonderful company.