I thought about starting to learn the guitar but my parents advised against starting guitar lessons immediately as I had plans to travel out of Goa in the coming months.

I travelled by an overnight bus from Goa to Bangalore, rested briefly during the day at Hartman's place and caught the night bus again at Bangalore bus station arriving at Pondicherry at 4 a.m. There a cycle rickshaw fellow managed to cheat me of Rs.40 by promising to take me to Auroville but instead depositing me at Aurobindo Ashram which was more or less next door to the bus stop.

I didn't, because I knew I wouldn't be in a position to get into action immediately as my travel plans for getting out of Goa for the next few months were already underway.

Dad and I left Goa on 30th August, 1995.

But if they come from Ormuz to Goa with horses, they are not subiect to pay any custome inward, notwithstanding if they send all or any part thereof for any other place, or returne it to Ormuz, they pay the custome outward, although they could not sell.

The ships depart from Chaul, Diu, Cambaia, and other places Northwards for Goa, betwixt the 8 and 15 of Ianuarie, and come to Goa about the end of Februarie.

Occupation of Goa by the Portuguese under Albuquerque, Governor of the Indies. 1511.

I arrived in Goa from the UK early in 1995, after scrapping a potentially lucrative yet un-inviting career in accountancy, originally no more than another faceless backpacker with meagre funds hoping to enjoy the chilled hazy life of a shack-wallah.

In like maner the ships come from these places for Goa at euery time in the yeere except in the winter, but of all other the best time is to come in Nouember, December and Ianuary.

Raul Fernandes and I met at the Kyani Restaurant in Dhobitalao and he offered me to come to Goa as chief reporter.

Comming with a ship from Ormuz to Goa without horses, they pay 8 in the 100 whether they sell part or all, but if they would carie of the sayd marchandise to any other place, they pay none other custome, except others buy it and carie it foorth of the countrey, and then they pay it 8 in the 100.

They vse also in Goa amongst the common sort to bargaine for coales, wood, lime, and such like, at so many braganines, accounting 24 basaruches for one braganine, albeit there is no such mony stamped.

(For example, the O Heraldo was the harbinger of news in Goa during the pre-Liberation era and continues to this day with a Goan accent; the Navhind Times brought in more national level and nationalist news after 1961 ,while the Gomantak Times has more of a state level flavor.)

I was to return to Goa via Bangalore and since our good friends, Hartman and Ujwala, live in Bangalore and had expressed willingness to accommodate me, should I need a place to stay for a while during my sabbatical, my parents suggested that I spend a few days there before returning home.

Here very shortly after our arriuall wee were put in prison, and had part of our goods taken from vs by the Captaine of the castle, whose name was Don Mathias de Albuquerque; and from hence the eleuenth of October he shipped vs and sent vs for Goa vnto the Viceroy, which at that time was Don Francisco de Mascarenhas.

I was back to Goa after a gap of two years.

In February 1513, Alphonsus de Albuquerque went from Goa towards the Straits of Mecca with twenty ships, and arriving at the city of Aden, battered it with his cannon, and passing the Straits entered the Red Sea, and wintered at the island of Camaran.

And zipped their way with newspaper bundles to either end of Goa before the crack of dawn in terribly overloaded, ramshackle, dieselized Ambassador cars that should have been a delight to Mario Miranda and Alexyz (we used a syndicated pocket cartoon, incidentally, since Mario was with the ToI group in Mumbai and Alexyz hadn't yet surfaced as a cartoonist.)