Colourful Goa

India is a multi-sensory experience. It fills up your senses with a variety of sounds, smells, tastes and images. Goa smells of spices, incense, dust and the sea. The air is filled with the sound of scooters and cars passing by, the drivers eagerly using the horn. The cows mooing during the day, dogs howling and barking during the night. The sound of waves washing into the shore.

No matter how much I scrub my feet, I seem not to be able to get rid of the dust and dirt I can feel sticking to the soles of my feet. When the temperature peaks, no number of showers can entirely wash away the dust sticking into the sweaty skin. After a day on the beach, I can feel the salt, sand and sun on my skin.

Goa has magnificent, radiating colours. They’re on people’s clothing, the scarves and sheets that they sell, the vehicles, houses, temples and churches. Goa is colourful, its religions, people and food are colourful. It all glows brightly in the sun but I feel that even the darkness has a tone. It brings a welcome change to the matted grey of Newcastle.

I try to preserve it in the pictures but they can never illustrate the richness of the Goan experience.