I received these pictures by email . Thought I should share them. Nature at its best – Click to enlarge

I believe the best things in life are simple . While we were walking around The Only Olive we found a bunch of our neighbours hay smoking some mackerels marinated in sea salt, chilli powder and lemon juice. I must admit they were the best I have tasted in a long time .
Great experience !!

A wake up call to all to live in Goa, visit Goa and love anything Goan!!

by Godfrey Pereira (ex SUNDAY Magazine (Kolkata) and INDIA TODAY journalist) Godfrey Pereira doesn’t pull his punches …

Recently I journeyed back to Goa. In the twenty five years that I had been gone, there had been changes for the worse. I could see that. Calangute, poster beach for tourism had tacky bhel puri stalls and loud Bollywood music; and dirt — and dog feces, similar to the old Chowpatty Beach in Bombay before the state government cleared the lepers colony.

Baga beach was filled with cheap Russians swilling Kingfisher Beer. And, while Russian Grannies sunbathed topless, oil massage beggars pandered to their drooping breasts. Anjuna was loaded with Buddhist trinkets and thrash. And what have you, the bloody Goans been doing while all these changes have been going on?

The Russians have been openly running drugs in Goa?  Army deserters from Israel have put up signs in Goa clubs stating, ‘No Indians Allowed?’ What have you paowallahs been doing?
Eating last night’s curry for breakfast? Complaining? Sushegad?

Beach after beach is being decimated and not a peep from The Goans. You bleddy Goan men! What has happened to the cashew nuts between your legs? And the Goan women don’t seem to care. Their sons are in The Gulf or Canada, sending money back home. Let somebody else revolt. It is none of your business. Bleddy, pass pao men. Make sign of the cross. Do the mando. Bleddy, never mind men, if husband is nutless! It is God’s will!

In Mumbai thousands of people from the ten villages of the Gorai-Uttan belt have been fighting Essel World. They are protesting against the proposed Special Entertainment Zone (SEZ) spread over 14,183 acres in the area. They know they stand to lose the core of their culture if this happens and so they are fighting this encroachment disguised as tourism.

At least The East Indians there are trying. What have you Goans been doing as mining companies rape your hills and plunder your fresh water resources? What? Have another Cashew Feni? Talk about how Aunty Mary’s daughter is now going out with that bleddy German bugger? Or, are you’ll fighting your sisters, for property that you don’t think they deserve?

What has happened to you bloody Goans? For the sake of the good lord, please wake up; the politicians are stealing your nuts from under you. The mining companies are copulating with
the politicians. Don’t you hear their grunts? They penetrate so deep, scouring for ore that they have destroyed many a water table. And when the ore has been gouged out, they leave
the land, raped and bleeding red. Goa with her thighs spread, an ugly red gash that was once green!

Have you not seen this happening? If you have not, then perhaps you should convert to East Indianism. Ha! Sushegad. What say you stupid? Soon there will be not enough water to
nourish the cashew trees on farms across Goa. Now you know what I mean about stealing your nuts, you stupid Goans. One Lone Snap Shot. Quepem town in south Goa, the villages of Maina and Kawrem,

Cheryl D’Souza, her nine-year old daughter Aki, her mother Dora, aged eighty-four, are fighting the miners who have destroyed their dignity and who now want to destroy Paikeachi Zor {Paik’s Spring} a fountain head for the villagers. They want to buy her land, Sanfranscisco Estate and turn it into a graveyard.

Cheryl D’Souza knows the deathly silence of graveyards well, her husband’s ashes are scattered over her farm. When the miners wanted to rape her little daughter and take away her very existence, Cheryl turned She Wolf, feral and snarling, to thwart the beasts who are literally panting at her doorstep.

She wants to keep them away. They want to rape and then eat her daughter alive. She has pleaded, begged of the Goans to help her fight this juggernaut that is pounding Goa but the
Goans have stayed silent. Let her fight, let her go to jail, let her young daughter and old mother be incarnated, raped; we will continue to dip our paos in last night’s stale curry, looking into our cracked plates so that we do not have to see or know. What a shame! What a bleddy shame, you paowallahs!

The miners made her a monetary offer that they thought she could not refuse. She did. They threatened her. She fought back. They humiliated her. She snarled in protest. They thought they had won the battle.

One bright morning she declared war and tried to stop the ore trucks that were carting away the life blood of her Goa. They arrested her and her daughter and her old mother. And the Goans stayed silent watching her being gang raped by the politicians and the miners. What kind of people have you bloody Goans become?

When a man does not care about his very nuts being endangered there must be something fundamentally wrong with that man. And the Goan women, so many of who depend on the land for
their existence watch the men and do nothing. They watch. It’s not their problem. Pass Pao Men. Say Rosary! Go Church!

At least the East Indians in Gorai have the spunk to protest. You stupid sushegad Goans are watching your state being turned around on its face and brutally buggered. Three women fighting a beast. You watch from afar. Is this entertainment?

My old friend Bal Thackeray once told me, “Sometimes it is better to throw a few stones.” It is a pity that the Tiger cannot fight with the She Wolf; maybe; just maybe, it would turn the mining beast around.

And all you despicable Goans, who will not fight to save your nuts, go ahead have another feni. Or maybe, maybe, you will start to throw a few stones. Never mind what the Bible says. You can go to church in the morning, go to confession, say three Hail Mary’s, but please do something, before your Goa is Gone. I say to you gutless Goans. The East Indians have bigger nuts and their sorpotel is better. Bleddy, What Say You Men? If you still have nuts, go on, throw the first bleddy stone!

Even the seriously knot-challenged among us can learn to tie many useful and popular knots- its really easy and helpful

So what’s a barter got to do with twitter, inspiration and an home stay?

A few months back, I got in touch with a client and a friend – Adrian(@theonlyolive). He suggested that he had some work for me, and would talk about it soon. Sure enough, he got back and asked me what I thought about doing up a website for his new homestay business; that he had recently set up in Goa.

Not being the one who says “No” to work, I agreed. Boy, I was in for a surprise!

Adrian, wanted me, not to charge him, but instead, barter. I took some time to think over. I came back with a proposal to charge him a buck and barter a free stay(s) policy, in his homestay in Goa for lifetime for two (me+1). The food, and other such everyday necessities, I would gladly pay for. It was one of the best deals, I have ever made, at least till the next one comes along

Soon, We got the site designed, developed and delivered. Once the site was delivered to his liking, he would repeatedly request me to visit the place – The Only Olive, as its known – A lovely name which falls short to describe the calm and serenity of the place.

I never got a chance to visit the place, until…

Finally, two weeks back I got some time and took some friends with me. He welcomed us all. What pursued was an experience of a lifetime to remember and the satisfaction of an aftertaste of a sweet deal!

Think, I am out of mind yet? Have a look at these pictures!

For the 3 days I was there, I was treated with utmost respect, with love and caring. I was also given a personal tour of the beautiful village of Aldona, Goa. It’s really a marvelous wonder, that this village, even to this date, has wonderful artisans and a very rich culture preserved, and I mean intact! We visited some local artists. Normally, I would hunt for inspiration online, but looking at these guys, I know I will look outside the “box” more for my inspiration dose.

And speaking of culture, we had local food, no fancy restaurants, well.. there was this once, but the rest of the time we ate at local places and it is A MUST, even if the spice gets too much for you, it’s still highly recommended.

Coming back to – The Only Olive. The place is secluded, “quite” is THE word. Highly recommended for people, who are tired of their daily grind and just want to break away. Don’t get me wrong, not advertising here, but the place is simply marvelous. There’s a river right behind, where one can sit on a chair, throw bait, and relax; while overlooking open sky, lush green trees and some old boats.

During my stay there, I met some very interesting people from absolutely different walks of life, who have travelled around the world and have finally settled down in Goa. It seems that Adrian – the owner of TheOnlyOlive.com and an entrepreneur I look up to and have come to respect, had arranged for a Goan tweetup, the first ever in Goa!

This tweet-up was a direct result of me introducing Adrian to Twitter!

Coming to a close, all in all a warm place, great food and fabulous company is what made this trip. And I am definitely going there back soon! Any one in?

Link http://designerfoo.com/a-barter-a-tweetup-some-inspiration-and-a-home-stay.html#contentstartshere

I came across this on the net I thought I must share with all

Finding the directions without a compass

You are lost. I mean really lost. Standing in the middle of nowhere, and you have no idea where to go. If you are really in trouble, remember two things first of all: stay calm, think rationally, and you can survive a long time without food. What you need is to drink.

Further thoughts about extreme survival skills is beyond the scope of this page, seek advice elsewhere beyond this introduction. This page deals with the situation of finding your way, without the aid of a compass. What you have, is the sun, the stars, and the nature around you.

This page is mainly about the northern hemisphere of the earth, actually north of 23.5 °, because I have never been to the southern hemisphere myself (would like to go there of course!). The methods described do of course apply to the southern hemisphere as well, but in some places there may be a need to swap north and south to get it right. I hope you are able to figure it out.

For a start, it may be a good idea to climb a hill, and get a good look around. Try to see traces of human activity. If you see nothing, you should try to figure out in what direction would be the best to travel. If you haven’t got a map, try to draw one if you can of the terrain in front of you, and try to mark off where north is, using the methods below. If you have got a map, try to determine where you are. Remember, you don’t want to climb more hills than you have to. Also you should carefully consider not to climb if you are very tired. In that case you should consider staying where you are. Consult other sources for information on how to make it easy for rescuers.

Let us start with the most accurate method. This method requires that you have a pretty clear sky, though, and takes a lot of time. One of the advantages is that you don’t need any equipment. You would need a straight pole about 1 meter (or a yard) long, two small sticks or rocks, another stick (or rock) that needs to be a little sharp, and something that can act as a string.

In the morning, at least before noon, the trick starts. Stick the long pole in the ground, upright. The ground around the pole needs to be horizontal. Now, you can place one of the little sticks in the ground exactly where the shadow of the pole ends, like on the figure. Then tie the string to the base of the pole, and tie the little, sharp stick, to the other end, so that when the string is stretched it reaches exactly the little stick standing there in the soil. Then, scratch half a circle in the soil with your sharp little stick, and wait… Wait. Wait until the evening. During the day, the shadow will get shorter and shorter, until noon, when it gets longer again. At noon, when the shadow is at its shortest, you may want to mark the point. The shadow is now pointing north (if you are north of 23.5 ° north). It is however not very easy to see exactly when this is, but it is useful anyway. Finally, the shadow reaches your circle again, and when it does, place your other little stick at the spot where the shadow ends. If you haven’t got a string, you could use a pole that has the right length, or try to come up with some other improvised solution. Just make sure what you draw is a circle.
Now, the line from the first stick to the second is west-east, like on the figure. Actually, you may want to mark points regurlarly, because any two points that have exactly the same distance from the base of the pole will give the West-East line. If it is partly cloudy, this may be a good idea.

There is a short, fast version of this one as well. This is only approximate, though, and the further away from the equator you get, the more inaccurate is it. You don’t need the sharp stick and the string. Just wait 20 minutes between placing each of the sticks, and the line between the two sticks will be approximately west-east, like on the figure. Often, you wouldn’t need anything more accurate.
At night, you can navigate after the stars. You should, however, be careful with walking, it is easy to stumble and fall and get injured, and also easy to lose sight of the stars as you go, and you might start going around in circles. Often it will also be more physically and mentally demanding. In the northern hemisphere, there is a star that is almost exactly in the north at all times, the Polaris. It is pretty easy to find, if you know the “Big Dipper”. (Everybody knows the Big Dipper (or the Plough)?) Take the two stars at the end of the “Big Dipper”, and make an imaginary line “upwards”, and extend it five times the distance between the two stars. There you have it – Polaris. That way is always north. The figure is courtesy of Kathy Miles. Used with permission.

In the southern hemisphere, you would have to find the Southern Cross. Because I haven’t been south of the equator, I can’t help you find it, make someone tell you where it is right now, if you don’t know it already. That way is south.
If you have an analog wrist watch, you can use the time to find north. Hold your watch up in front of you, and let the short hand, red on the figure, that indicates hours point at the sun. While holding it like this, cut the angle between the red arrow and 12 o’clock in two, (noonwards if the time is before 6am or after 6pm), that way is south. (The reason you need to cut it in two, is because the clock takes two rotations while the sun takes one around the earth, it is of course the other way around, but never mind.)

Many people wear digital watches these days (I do myself, if I wear one at all). If you do, draw an analog watch face on a piece of paper, and then mark the hour hand on using the digital watch. The rest of the method is identical.

This method can be used even when it is pretty foggy. Although you may not be able to see the sun, it may still cast a shadow. If you take up a straw or a tiny stick, and you may see a shadow. You just have to remember that the shadow points the opposite way from the sun, but the rest of it is quite similar as above.
Want to make your own compass? Sure. You need a needle and a glass of water. A needle can in fact float on the water, or that is, on the surface tension forces if put carefully on the surface. Just put it carefully down on the surface of the water. This demands a lot of patience though. There are three tricks that makes it go easier. One: Put the needle on a piece of paper. If the paper floats too, there is no problem, and if the paper sinks, it’ll probably leave the needle. If you put some grease on the needle that isn’t water-based, it’ll go easier, or if you put it carefully down with a fork or something. Once it has got there, it stays there pretty good.

If the needle is magnetic, it will act as a normal compass and be very accurate. A problem is though, that you don’t know north from south. All you know is that it lays north-south. You would have to use one of the other techniques to find out, or make a good guess.

The greatest problem with this is: Not many needles are made of magnetic materials these days…. You can’t just use any needle. You may just have to look around to see what you can find, if you want to make a yourself a compass.

What if there is no shadow? Then, there are a few methods based on natural signs. I will deal with the ones I have checked myself.

It is very much about trees. First of all, there will be fewer branches to the north. This is usually easiest to see if you look up along the trunk of the tree. The north face of the tree would be more humid than the south face, which is something most species of lichen (or moss) likes, and consequently, there will be more of it on the north face. On the image above, you can also see that ants likes to build their nests on the south side of the tree.

It is also worthwhile to look at how snow melts. In the spring in the mountains, snow will melt faster on the south face of rocks, or in south faced slopes. Also, vegetation and undergrowth will typically be thicker on the South facing slopes, and also fruits ripen earlier on the South facing slopes.

These methods are not very reliable, I am afraid. Winds may alter the average conditions significantly, and cause deviations. If you use natural signs, you should use as many signs as you can before you draw a conclusion.

As we get into a taxi to reach our destination Aldona in Goa, the first question that pops up into our cab driver’s head is ” There is some resort over there or what ?? ”

Goa seems to be flooded by resorts, hotels, shacks by the beach, however this time around we decided to try out something different, and when your taxi driver seems to wonder why are these guys going to a place where there seems to be well No Resorts, you feel that maybe your on to something here ..

The next thing that we noticed about our trip is the address to our weekend getaway, it was very simply behind Mr.Dias’ s house..All we had do was get to Aldona and ask practically anyone for where Mr.Dias stayed and what we noticed was people seemed to know each other here and these people would go out of they re way to make sure you get to your spot..

As soon as we reached our Home for the weekend we we re almost instantly struck by the difference of this house, this place, this village..It immediately showed us that there was more to Goa than just the beaches..

Walks trough the winding village roads and we reached places where they still practice artwork exclusive to Goa..Hand paintings on tiles and pottery in a unique Goan style..Food all you want to eat in the little village restaurants was definitely to our hearts and stomachs content..

The Only Olive’ s location is a peaceful and a different one..The house is beautiful and the concept of homestay is really taken on to a very different and deeper level..

The next stay for me would be longer and accompanied by my painting equipment..We we re looking out for something different and we had most definitely found it..till then here are some photos for you guys …

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About the author: Rahul Lewis is a professional artist and paints marvelously during his free time. To know more about him I suggest you visit www.rahullewis.com. If you would like to use the photographs, please do contact him.