Usenet

Aahh its a sunday afternoon and as usual I am bored. Nothing much to do other than surf through a few boring sites. Today reminds me of days that were about 2 years ago. I had just started posting on the usenet . Initially I started posting on rediff and some online newspapers like economictimes and times of india but there wasnt much activity there and I was kinda bored. Then I came across this google site and woa .. usenet got into my blood. :). I would get up in the middle of the night to reply to some post , wake up a little early in the morning just to check the posts. My favourite site are the ones related to India and Pakistan.Each of the poster on usenet had a typical online personality like

Seeker: All of us carried the impression that Seeker was very old and was senile :)..He was total Paki loyal and would come up of the most unheard of arguments. Me & Jerkovski had some good fun with him.

Naureen: the permanent 16 year old teenager on the net till I shared with her some facts that made it clear that she cant be 16. After that she became scarce on the usenet. Her explaination- she was preparing for MBA !!!. Naureen claimed to be a Pathan and a die hard Islam loyalist. Although she was one of the rare posters on the usenet who would accept mistakes but it had more to do with being a woman than a Muzzie. Besides myself she was the only other female poster on the usenet :(

Nusrat: claimed to be from lucknow. Was a muzzie but hated the muzzie culture. He and Naureen knew each other well. I think he was what you call " the neutral man." Also he was the only man on the usenet who NEVER used dirty language but still managed to put across his point in a very calm and poised fashion.

Koolfire: An indian ( a surd I presume) used horribly funny and abusive language but in the end the mixture of the confused words brought out some great logic. This man had a writing style that many on the usenet try to copy.

Jerkovski: A man with great argumentative and logical skills. I had the maximum fun posting with this poster. We would send a post and then discuss it, pat each others back. LOL. I think half of the fun on posting came from these discussions :). It was good fun until he became geatly inspired by Koolfires and Thoku's. Then his language became extremely abusive :(

Myself: Guess Who? Not too great writing style but did come up with good logic when the mood sets in :)

The excitement of posting was just maddening but then gradually over a period of time most posters stared believing that whosoever uses the most abusive and dirty language wins the argument in the end.Sad but then posting on usenet became next to impossible so here I am discussing this rather than busy posting::)

Summer Vacations

The advent of the month of May makes me nostalgic and reminds me of summer vacations and naani ka ghar. I have never been able to convince myself why we dont have summer vacations at work :P.
Much of my summer vacations were spent in Satna, a small town in Madhya Pradhesh very close to Maihar Devi. Although this town was very small but it had a charm about it. My nanaji was an engineer employed with the PWD of the railways. I never delved on this but it seemed he was holding a very important position. The house that the railways had given him was just out of the dreams. Built on 20000 sq ft of land, it was build during the British era. The house had a verandah all aound it and a huge huge aangan, innumerable rooms , a swimming pool !!, a bath tub in every bathroom ( ofcourse the bath tubs had no running water and had to be filled in manually), a tree of every variety you name it- mango, jamun, imli, guava, falsa, even a litchi tree !!- there were other trees as well but as a kid I was only interested in the fruity ones.It had a huge garden with chairs and tables arranged around it. All vegetables were grown in the kitchen garden only. It even had a huge swing.
The moment I landed up at my nanaji's place, I would ensure that all the kids in the surrounding area were aware that they needed to keep me happy to have access of the swing. The deal was pretty straight after each kids turn on the swing it was my turn and the other kids were supposed to push the swing for me :)
Lot of times I have thought of going to Satna again to check on the house. Was it really so big and so green or is it just childs dream. Whichever way be it I would love to live this dream again :)

Trip to Varanasi

Although I didnt expect Rani Mukherjee to pop out on the roads singing " hum to aise hai bhaiya" and things getting as bad as they were in the movie, the trip to Varansi was a SHOCK !. Broken ( almost non existent ) roads, shabby traffic, wild people ready to pounce at you at the sight of money, lost culture is my impression of Varansi.
About a year ago, I had to visit Varansi for official purposes. Travel freak that I am, I was excited about visiting the"kashi vishwanath" temple. So I quickly got my train bookings done.

Reaching Varanasi , what I saw was a shock ! Roads outside the station were non absent, traffic was wild and the place was just so crowded. Ofcourse once we reached the hotel, the ambience and the food was just GREAT. Next day my client drove me down to see the BHU campus. Woa !!! what a mind blowing campus. Its amazing to see such a huge campus planned out years ago in the pre independence era. Ofcourse we havent done much for the campus post independence other than to use the facilities. The campus looked old and shabby.
The next visit on the cards for the Vishwanath temple. Once back from the meeting, I told a colleague of my intentions to skip lunch and quickly o and visit the temple. My colleague inquired " with whom was I going" and I told him " alone". What followed was a dramatic scene with my colleague insisting that I shouldnt go alone and in the end I found it easier to just give in ( Thank God that I did) than to argue. So one of collegaues subordinates accompanied me to the temple.
The temple was inside a maze of lanes and the pandits were ready to pounce every penny out of the tourists. When I tried to pull out a note which was tangled in a bunch of notes from my purse, the pandit present in the temple quickly grabbed the whole bunch out of my hands. I was left looking at him open mouthed. Thankfully the guy who was with me quickly reacted and pulled out all the notes from the pandits hands. Post this incidence I quickly finished my darshan and came back to the office. Uff what a visit !!!

Joker in the Pack

An excellent entertainer. Once I started i just couldnt stop till I had read the last page. I could identify with most of the emotions present in the book. The book is well written, the humour seems so real, nothing overdone in it. The reference to relatives as " extras" somehow seemed very hillarious. I think a MUST READ !!!

Friends,
My opinion just got featured in HT. I feel like a celebrity :) Cheers !

Rohini Sharma wanted to go on a family holiday over the Easter weekend to Lansdowne, a hill station in Uttarakhand. The family was all set to go with accommodation tentatively booked at the Retreat Anand at this charming, colonial hill station, when the plan was changed to stay instead at the Bird House in Dehradun. Why? Because reviews and images posted on the Internet by other travellers did not paint a pretty picture of Lansdowne.
Instances like these are becoming more a norm than an exception as travel planning enters the Web 2.0 era. The Internet is full of reviews and opinions posted by travellers, and many people are using these as a key reference source when planning any trips. Such User Generated Content (UGC) is being seen as mostly credible and trustworthy, with the ‘authoritative’ voice of a professional writer no longer the last word when it comes to deciding one’s holiday.
“When planning a trip, I always check on the reviews and satisfaction levels of other customers. And then I also blog about my experiences so others can plan their trips. This is the future of travel,” says Rajat Nagpal, travel consultant and founder of TravelVidya.com. The result has been the phenomenal success of global sites like TripAdvisor.com and WAYN.com. UGC has seen them emerge among the most visited sites on the planet. In India too, significant investments are being made in sites like HolidayIQ.com, OkTataByeBye.com and Raahi.com. The last two have been promoted by MakeMyTrip.com and Yatra.com, both online travel service providers.
How do you choose the site that is right for you? “UGC has a cultural context to it. For example, Indians tend to travel in groups of four and above and they are seeking very different experiences compared with, westerners. You may thus want to visit sites where your unique needs are addressed,” says Hari Nair, Founder and CEO of HolidayIQ.com.
As reviews by fellow travellers become more ubiquitous, covering the remotest of locations and obscure properties, it is not always a simple exercise to use such content. How do you grapple with issues of data overload, credibility, half-baked postings and quality? Here are some tips to get reliable advice from the Web.
Do not rely on only one source. Look for multiple perspectives, use your commonsense and follow your intuition. If there is one bad review about a hotel, take it with a grain of salt; if there are many within a short period of time, it is best to seek another.
Start bookmarking sites and writers whose words you find trusted and credible. Sometimes, lesser known websites and personal blogs may be better than the bigger brand names. Be sceptical; this will help you spot posts written in sheer anger or out of a sense of revenge, as well as those ‘goody-goody’ ones posted probably by those with a vested business interest.
Look out for pictures. These convey a lot because many reviewers do not have the gift of expressing themselves lucidly through the written word, even with the best of intentions. In fact, after reading mixed reviews, it was the images posted on the Internet that finally convinced Sharma not to go to Lansdowne.
It may also be a good idea to check out the “blogosphere” for traveller experiences. These are often written with a greater effort than if one were writing for a third party UGC site; after all, the credibility of the reviewer is at stake on a personal blog. Of course, there is no guarantee that these reviews are the final word; the opposite can also be true, as Ruchi Tandon, a manager at ICICI Bank, discovered.
“I have tried referring to sites like oktatabyebye.com, but the reviews can be misleading or biased sometimes. For instance, one review strongly dissuaded me from visiting the small seaside town of Guhaghar, for reasons including bad food at the resort the reviewer stayed at. But I still visited the town, and found it to be very nice with good clean beaches,” she says.
“I get a good sense of a place by reading reviews from people who have been there; I have found such content to be useful guiding points to what to look for,” says Shashaank Awasthi, an entrepreneur.
Even if the reviews cannot be very descriptive, they are very useful for getting tips and basic information on weather conditions, the right clothes to wear, local culture and social behaviour, modes of travel, costs, security issues and other small points always invaluable to a traveller, suggests Tandon. Who does not want a little publicity? But when public relations professionals cannot exercise at least a certain degree of control and restraint on what gets written about their companies, like in the case of UGC, then it can be a challenge in itself. With everyone having unrestricted freedom to write what they like, how do you keep the bad news away? “It’s worse when there are half baked reviews on halfbaked sites,” says Nair. While blocking views may not be possible in a free world, this also means an opportunity for the travel trade in many ways. A negative post can be read as an early warning sign, and those who care for their customers can take corrective measures in time. If a bad review is without justification, or a result of a misunderstanding, companies can join in the conversations on forums where the travel notes are posted to present their view before such opinion can become common belief. This also means a closer bonding with customers, leading to increased loyalty and sales.
Of course, when feedback is positive, then companies can actually show them off. And even when these are on not-so-known blogs or websites, the power of the Internet kicks in. All such content is indexed by search engines like Google and Yahoo, and thus made accessible to prospective customers seeking such information.
For smaller businesses, engaging with customers online can offer benefits that traditional communication may not offer. This could be in the form of setting up groups on social sites like Facebook, publishing blogs, responding to posts on other blogs and websites and even writing on third party Web properties. “Smaller hotels are beginning to realise the value of such reviews,” says Nair.
All this means travel related businesses need to keep a track of themselves on the Internet. Surprisingly, few have fathomed the power of UGC. “We are trying to build trust with the travel trade too, and telling them we have no axe to grind when we allow user content to go up on our site. We invite them to react to reviews, but they have yet to start doing so,” adds Nair.
(The author is an independent writer and blogs on technology at www.TechGazing.com)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=aef26c62-a991-47b8-a50d-3fa5c2ba27c2&MatchID1=17&TeamID1=4&TeamID2=1&MatchType1=5&SeriesID1=1&PrimaryID=17&Headline=Get+set+for+Web-inspired+holidays

Ooohh Aaahhh Ouch

2 months ago I met a friend who is a regular visitor to the gym. He was full up of stories about his gym mate and the Whos who of the town who frequent the gym. Being a gossip monger myself I felt at a disadvatange that I did not have access to the juicy information that my friend had access of.So this week I finally did it .. I joined the gym !!!The first 10 minutes on the treadmill at a speed of 5km / hr had my toungue hanging out and I was panting like I had just run the marathon.. My trainer introduced me to a few excercises and I could hear my bones creaking and objecting to the brutual treatment that I was subjecting them to.. All the aunties present in the gym at that time ( there were quite a few of them.. It seems like kitty parties have become untrendy and gym is the 'In' thing for aunties as well) were looking at me and I am sure that the state of my physical fitness and my docs bills for pain killers would be the talk of the town.. Grr so much for joining the gym to remain updated on gossips...

Changing definition of Friendhship

About 2 years ago, Orkut and all other social networking sites came in to my life. A few days of surfing on the sites and I had some 30 freinds on my network. I felt elated and a certain pride at having touch based with so many friends so quickly. But after a little more surfing on these friendship sites I found that an average id on orkut has about 100+ friends on the list, some even had 300+ friends :0.
My reaction - Do people really have so many friends or am i really an unsocial animal ?

After a brief introspection I conclude the following:
As a kid, a friend was aperson with whom I played with, shared my tiffin box with and got caught together doing mischief with. We fought and then we made up. We stood up for each other in times of need.

As a grown up- a friend is a person who is not my enemy.

The funda of Mixology

I purchased this book with the expectation that I would be reading Chetan BHagat-II.. But alas seems like 2 yrs at IIMs does not equip everyone to write a book.
The book had a good message to pass on specially for people like us who spend the major time of our youth in service of our companies ignoring to a large extent our personal lifes, our families and our dreams. As kids almost everyone aspired to do something that would make a difference to the society. However, as we grow up we end up doing things which only make difference to our bank balances.
But the writing style of the book is kiddish. Specially the part where the author dies and sees his life as it could have been on the console gave me a feeling as if I was reading Champak :).

Relationships

Relationship between a man and a woman is something that never stops intriguing me. I think maybe I can right a whole book on it . I have a cousin who is a divorcee now but continues to keep the karwa chauth and the teej fasts for her ex- husband. Not only does she keep the fasts she will dress up like a new bride and keep nir jal fasts. I need to mention here is that the divorce was initiated from her end.

Another of my friend on being asked

Me - Have you ever been into a relationship?
He -With look of pride- "I have been into a few".
Me- Few ? aah ok. Were you unlucky in love
He- Umm no .. they were good while they lasted
Me- ok. BTW how many were this " few"
He- About Six
Me - SIX !!! So who ditched whom?
He- Well it was a tie. 3 times each

And I wonder is it mentally possible for a human being to be in a relationship six times. Or was it just crush and lust.

Another of my friend was into a live in relationship for about 3 years. Eventually they got married. I had the grand opportunity of meeting them just a week after there mariage and be a spectator to there bickering. Uff, made me wonder WHY the hell did they bother getting married.

A colleague of mine got married to her boyfriend of 7 years. A long pending wish just got fulfilled. On returning from her honeymoon i asked:

ME- Hey ! How are things with you guys?
SHE- ok.
ME- How was the honeymoon?
SHE- Boring
ME- Boring ? I hope everything is alright?
SHE- Yeah.. But life is generally boring.

umm ok. Thank God !!! I am single and life isnt boring for me.. Atleast not as yet

Teen Devian

Ab, Cd and myself were the best friends during our school days. We would share our lunches, study together , get into mischief together. Even after leaving school we decided to join the same college so that we can remain together. I used to think of the 3 of us as " teen devian".
But the entry of a man into our life's broke our childhood friendship.

Ab and CD were frequent visitors to my place. Mr. AD used to live right across the street from my home. He was about 10 years our Senior. At 17 in my eyes he was an " uncle'. Although AD thought differently. He started following CD and behaved in the typical road romeo style. CD who was 17 and ready to meet her first boy friend was elated at meeting AD. I was skeptical of there relationship. For me it was a waste of time and above all I didn't trust AD at all. My constant disapproval of the relationship , although didn't breakup my friendship with CD, but the warmth between us was less and the sharing even lesser. Ab became the sole confidant of the relationship between CD and AD.
Months passed. The relationship between CD and AD had set into a pattern. Every saturday after college CD will go over to AD friends home where they would meet. Throughout the week, AD would pull out his bike at 3:00pm sharp and go over to CDs place. Honk his horn in front of her house . CD would come out , smile and wave if possible. There was romance for them in sound of the bike's horn.
One fine day during our lunch break we were discussing about the usual ( AD and CD ) when suddenly Ab told me about this routine of bike's horn. CD had never told me of this routine till that point but it seemed that she had never told Ab also of this routine :). On inquiry we realised that AD would pick his bike and go over to Abs place, honk his horn, Ab would come out smile and wave and then AD will go over to CDs place. Ab was aware of this but CD wasn't. CD took this matter seriously to heart, after all AD was her officially declared boyfriend and Ab was infringing upon her territory. What followed was a typical hindi movie drama. None of them tried to understand that AD was playing with both of them. CD blamed Ab of trying to woo her boyfriend. My intervention , in trying to clarify the issue, only led to being told to keep out of it. The entire college which used to speak of our friendship now was aware of the breakup.
Its been more than 12 years since this episode. Since that day CD and AB never spoke to each other. A year later AD got married. CD too is now happily married with kids. My attempts at bandaging our friendship were lost. Although I am still in touch with Ab and CD , the warmth of the friendship has gone.

GOA TRIP -DAY 3- August 15, 2006

The Independence day morning arrived with rain. I had'nt slept well the entire night and woke up with swollen eyes . I havent seen such huge bags on my face till then. We decided to rent a car. DC suggested we visit the of Palolem beach. It was about 2 hours drive from ..

The way to Palolem was sooo beautiful. Winding , green roads, the beach itself was so aw inspiring. Rocky , green and clean water. Well clean in comparison to the calungute. The water at calungute was disgusting. Much to the satisfaction of DC, the beach was also full of foreign tourists.

PJ tried her hands on surfing. She learnt it from a kid !!!. Me and DC wanted to eat Chicken curry and we ordered some. The food was yuck, yuck, puke, puke. Even the dogs were not willing to have the food.

We did some rock climbing. Clicked some marvelous photos. PJ hit a coconut with her hand . Both the coconut and her hand got injured .

One of the most beautiful things about Palolem was the beach huts right next to the sea. Next time I go to goa , I will try to staying in one of those.

Anyway, Day 3 was relaxing and non adventurous.

GOA TRIP- DAY 2- August 14th , 2006

Morning of the Day 2 arrived with the rains. When it rains in Goa it just rains.. It drizzles, lashes but doesnt stop. There is no respite. But we being the brave ones, decided to brave the rains and go to Calangute beach just about 40 kms one side from the place where we were staying. After a nice and sumptuous breakfast we got on to our bikes. I was on the bike with KST and PJ with DC. We had kept all our purses and bags in the scooter. It was just drizzling and the weather was great. The route from to calangute beach had high hills and green farms. All of it just seemed to be out of the world. Suddenly it started raining hard. All of us except KST was carrying a raincoat. we stopped at a point and wore our raincoats. KST decided to take off his shirt and drive in his vest. He handed me his shirt to protect it from the rain. His head was covered in a bandana. To say that both of us together looked like drug addicts moving on a bike wouldnt have been wrong. Our opinion was shared by the Goa Police as well. At the next junction we were stopped and asked to show the papers of the bike. KSTs driving license was seized. We were carrying no cash with us. DC and PJ were now where to be seen. The cell phones had no network. I was standing out on the road waiting for DC and PJ while KST was trying to bargain with the Police. The traffic policeman was giving gyan to KST- this is not North India where everything and everyone can be bought and sold. This is GOA , we maintain high integrity. His high integrity was just worth Rs. 500/-. We were free at last !!!

Once again we began our journey to Calangute beach. We reached there after driving for about 2 hours on bike. PRJ who was also our batchmate was also in Goa and staying in a hotel close to Calangute beach. The beach itself was dirty and over crowded. Also because of the rains it was very wild that day and it was closed to public. We had lunch with PRJ and decided to visit the castle. The castle was not so great but the view of the sea from the tip of the castle was great. PRJ and his wife also accompanied us. From there we went to some other beach. Goa is full of famous beaches and it is not easy to remember all the names. Around 5, it was time to head back to our abode.

On our return journey, KST all the time kept on cajoling me to go back by bus and he would come back on the bike. Now I was finding this idea definitely strange. When I wasnt getting convinced, he decided to confide in me. RT I have night blindness !!!.. Yipppeee after nearly ending up in the jail , I now realize that my driver has night blindness. Anyway I decide to continue on the bike. Brave of me , I know. But some things just have to be done.

We returned to our rooms exhausted at around 8:00 pm. Everything hurt from the pain of sitting straight on a bike and travelling some 120 kms in a day. We ate some food and then SLEEP !!!
A tiring Day 2 was over...

GOA TRIP -DAY 1- August 13th, 2006

Finally the “d” day arrived. On the 12th of August 2006, Me and DC boarded the shatabdi from lucknow to delhi. DC was continuously on the phone- informing someone about his trip. We all thought that the other person was his girlfriend. KST picked us up from the new delhi station. Our flight was the next morning at 10:00 . Excitedly we boarded the flights and landed at the Goa Airport. PJ was coming by train and we had to pick her up from the station. We hired a taxi, picked PJ from the station and headed towards the state bank of India guesthouse.

The moment we reached the guesthouse we were told that although we did have bookings there but a senior officer from State Bank Of India was arriving and hence we will have to accommodate in one room for a day or 2. It appeared like we didnt have much option. It being the Independence day weekend , all the hotels were either full or they were charging exorbitantly high rentals. I was feeling very let down. I even tried that Sita strategy “ hey Bhagwan- before I let my friends down and spoil there holiday, yeh dharti fat jaaye aur main usme samaa jaoo” but Alas !!! nothing happened. And I was left all alone waiting for my friends ire. DC who was working on the logistics part came up with an option- a well maintained 2 BR room set in the house of some localites. So we decided to go over there and check the accomodation.

This house was located close to the “Benaulim” beach . It had a tiled slanting roof, backyard full of palm trees. The rooms were well maintained, clean. We even had a kitchen to ourselves. All of this – just for a thousand buck per day. We felt so rich !!!..

It was around 4 in the evening. The first day of our trip was almost over. Quickly we all changed and were ready to go on the beach. DC and KST went out and hired a scooter and a bike. Once we reached the beach, KST decided that he was John Abrahm and needed to take his bike next to the water. Needless to say that he was unsuccessful. His bike got struck in sand and all four of us had to push and heave it out of the sand. This done we decided to test the waters. KST, PJ and DC jumped into the water. This being my first trip to sea - I was well kinda scared of wild sea water. KST, PJ and DC were enjoying themselves and I was enjoying myself seeing them . LOL. Suddenly one of them pulled me into water. And I was in deep deep sea.

Just when I was about to relax, we saw a a whole group of local goanise waving . Initially we thought that these local village people think of us as celebrities and hence they are waving but then then we realized that they are asking us to come out of the sea. There was a senior person who was leading this group.Just to please uncle we came out of the sea. Uncle gave us a good piece peace of mind. He asked us to look back at the sea. The waves were as high as K2 ... And then he asked us to look at the beach- No human being was found close to the beach or in the sea. It was high tide !!! And we were playing with dark waters. To say that the entire episode of being reprimanded by a stranger infront of some 30 odd people was embarrassing would be an understatement. But thanks to Uncle for saving our lives and giving us a good lesson on how to behave on the coastal fronts.

We all decided to go back to our rooms , change and then go in search of food. The landlady “ Maria” told us of a nice small restaurant on the beach itself where live guitar music was played by “ Voice of Goa”... It seems like Vijaya Mallaya of the King Fisher group holds a competition every year in Goa and identifies one singer as the “ Voice of Goa” for the year. I cant recall the singers name now but he played guitar really well and sang hindi songs with an english accent. The food was decent , the music and company was great. After the dinner we all went out for a walk on the beach. Returned back to our rooms tired and happy.

Goa Trip- Planning

It was one of those hectic afternoon where everyone in the office was going about finishing there work and me in lucknow & PJ in Pune were busy chatting with each other. We both were suffering from “ broken heart syndrome”, a disease that can be only cured by chatting about our respective lost love.

Suddenly, PJ came up with an idea, “Lets go on a vacation together. It will be a nice change “. I agreed it was a great idea and so the planning began. The location identified for our sojourn was Goa. All we needed was to identify 2-3 more people to go along with us.

The first persons whose name came to our mind was “ DC”. DC has a great sense of humour and a permanent positive attitude towards life, was unanimously nominated by me & PJ for the trip. Now we needed a second guy to accompany DC and share the room rentals too.. This was a tough choice.. PJ suggested “KST” and I suggested – well no one :).. But I had my reservations on KST ( which were to change very soon)-

a) Me & KST were just acquaintances and I wasn't too sure how comfortable I will be with him on the trip

b) I still remember that during my training days when one of my neighbors asked- RT How do you know KST. You know “ KST is a very intelligent guy and he scored exceptionally high percentage in his school days. Now I have always been a firm believer that if its me scoring those exceptionally high scores then its because I am intelligent as well as diligent but if it is anyone else then the person has to be a “ BOOK WORM” .. And I dont gel well with bookworms !!!

So I suggested to PJ maybe we should make it an all girls trip. PJ objected – RT we need men on the trip to carry our luggage ! I bowed to PJs knowledge of men and the decision was taken- Me, PJ, DC & KST were going to Goa !!!!

I was to inform DC and PJ to KST about there nomination for the trip. As expected both the guys were grateful and deliriously happy.

What was amazing was that KST was the most enthusiastic about the trip. He quickly booked our air tickets from New Delhi to Goa. I made some jugaad for room bookings which didnt work out in the end :(. My concurrent auditor arranged for rooms in State Bank of India guest house. PJ prepared a list of things that we needed to carry with us for the trip- a raincoat, ( to wear on the beach in Goa ? yeah to avail the off season discount we were going there in the rainy season), loads of shorts and t-shirts, and a iistri ( iron) to dry our clothes with. The istri part is a joke for the group till date. DC was surfing the net and trying to find out the best beaches and places to visit in Goa.