At the Bangalore Golf Club - more below

Len & Carolyn arrived in Panaji, Goa on Tuesday 18th Feb 2003.
We left Melbourne on Cathay at 1455 on Monday and 91/2 hours later arrived Hong Kong. Noticed all loud speaker announcements were in Mandarin not Cantonese - times have changed in HK.
Our Cathay flight was almost 6 hrs to Delhi arriving approx 1am local time. After some time working the customs system to get our dozen wine through, we ended up at the Grand Hyatt.
The more usual route would be via Mumbai which we will certainly do next time.

Left Delhi around lunchtime next day on Sahara airlines for 2 hour flight to Goa after elapsed time of about 29 hrs. Goa is certainly not easy to get to. The airport is a naval base so commercial flights are restricted to one at 0630 and a few between noon and 4pm.

We stayed at the Marriott until mid April. The Marriott is an excellent hotel on the banks of the Mandovi River, towards the mouth. It has a 40 m pool which is great for an early morning swim and an excellent gym. We kept a gym membership when we moved into Althino.

Our first taste of Goa/India - no digital clock in the hotel room. Why? Because the power fails so often you would be resetting the clock forever.

First Sari

For a Board dinner, Carolyn worn her first sari. It took maria 40 minutes to dress her!!

Not to be outdone. In my West Bengal outfit.

Marriott Hotel, Panjim

The Marriott Hotel taken from the Mandovi River, from Sesa's tug "Amethyst". This is southern end of the hotel, about 1/3 of its total length. Our room is on the ground floor, just to the left of the umbrella on the left. The lifeboat is from the "River Princess" which ran aground to the north of Fort Aguada in the 2002 monsoon. It's still on the a prime tourist beach as the owner and the Government still fight about who is responsible to move it.

Marriott Beach

Looking along the beach to the West.

Sunset

Red sunsets are unusual. This one from the Marriott sits above a transhipper vessel.

Marriott Art

One of the room attendants had an artistic bent and after cleaning the room, would use towels to produce some animal - here a lobster. Clearly he wasn't doing the laundry.

Carolyn's Last Day at Marriott

My favorite egg chef with my favorite idli and dosa chef in background.

My local Amanda - a waitress at the Marriott.

There was a big function for the departure of the Browns and our arrival. At more formal occasions as this foreigners usually conform and wear local dress. The locals were impressed that she had made an effort but she was more concerned to not look conspicuous in western clothing

She is seen here modeling her party outfit - a version of a kameez (loose tunic), salwar (baggy pants - although they weren't baggy) and always a dupatta (long scarf)

At the same function we were both presented flower bouquets by the President and Secretary of the Sesa Goa Workers Union - definitely a first!! Check our clothes out for the humidity.

Dr Batikhar, the Company doctor, is on the far left.

Bangalore Golf Club

On our April visit to Bangalore to see the Rolling Stones (see below) we managed to arrange a game at the Bangalore Golf Club. The Club is over 100 yrs old, close to the centre of the city and is a very good course.

Caddies are compulsory so Carolyn had her first experience with one. They are generally good players themselves and able to give some instructions.

Belguam Golf Club

At Belguam, 21/2 hrs north-east from Panjim, an 18 hole golf course is under construction by a group of enthusiastic golfers. They are lead by Ramesh Chowgule, a Goan miner. He sends his mining equipment up at the weekends to do the heavy work. Has 18 holes, only 1 grassed fairway, 12 grass greens and 6 sand greens. The club house is still under construction but a cold beer is available.

When we played, we had the complete caddy roster, above with Carolyn, accompany us.

Rolling Stones

Sesa Football Academy

Sesa Goa fully supports a youth football academy. The academy has about 25 residential youths who for 2 years, spend half the day at high school equivalent and the other half learning football skills. (Soccer is a legacy of the Portuguese. Goa, Kerala and West Bengal are the key football playing states with Mumbai also having a strong following. Doesn't sound much but this probably encompasses a population of over 100 million.

The team is very successful and hovers between 2nd and 1st division. Most graduates are snapped up by professionals teams. They recently played in an invitation tournament (SFA in orange)and lost in the semifinal to a team (the eventual winners) that had 3 Venezuelans in it - one top left.

Sesa Technical School Graduation