Traveling to Bombay by Konkan Sevak for Apollos uncles wedding

One of my most beautiful experience and voyage ever which I will never forget. Traveling to Bombay by Konkan Sevak for Apollos uncles wedding. Wish the steamer service was there now...would have been beautiful. We were a big group...of all cousins, uncle and aunties traveling for the wedding. i still remember running all over the ship even though I was just 12 years old and no one was bothered and concerned if we would fall off or get lost...remember running all the way to the front of the ship and watching the bow cutting thro the water and the huge anchors. The trip had all the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster.

From the calmness of the sea to the storm that struck immediately after we crossed the Aguada sandbar...the prayers and rosaries that were recited by practically everyone on the ship to watching both the Konkan Sevak and Konkan Shakti racing each other to the Mazagaon dock in the morning. I remember the hippies playing their guitars and singing....and then the heavy rain ruining their instruments with water gushing allover.

-------------------------------

Anyone remember travelling to Goa on steamship?

 I still remember the days when we use to travel to Goa  by steamer. Back in the sixties, seventies, there was a pair of steamers which used to ply from Bombay to Goa, carrying loads of passengers on a charming journey along the Konkan coastline. One was called the Konkan Sevak and the other the Konkan Shakti; (owned by Chowgule Shipping) one left from Goa for Bombay and the other from Bombay for Goa every day.

What an exciting trip that used to be! The passengers were a motley group of Goans, tourists, hippies and Konkan coast travellers - all in a festive, picnic-like mood. Out would come guitars and other instruments, along with packed food, and it would be one long party all the way. The ship would make various stops at Vengurla, Malvan, Ratnagiri, among other places, to take on more passengers who would arrive in large hand-rowed canoes. There would then take the disembarking passengers .The entire experience was a thrill to the boot, something today’s journeys to Goa by plane, train or bus don’t give you. And all that for a small price.

There were a few cabins for those who wanted privacy and were willing to pay a high price. Then there was an upper deck for those who could afford it, and a lower deck for everybody else. You bought your ticket at ferry wharf (Dockyard Road - Mazagaon) and stood in a long line waiting for the gates to the gangplank to open. Once they did you ran clutching your bedsheets, trying to spread them out on the life rafts that were spread out on the deck - this staked your claim. The ship would sound its foghorn and the great voyage would commence.

You  would settle in and eye your neighbours who a half hour ago you would have run off the gangplank and quarrelled if they stood in your way. Now, you open your alcohol bottles and lunch packs, and invite them to share. The Goan spirit will slowly begin to show. You’d see guys strumming guitars, and some young Goan boys even getting friendly with Goan girls. There is singing in some corners with spirits getting a bit high by midday. You would definitely see a lot ‘hippies’ on these journeys, travelling to goa haversack, guitars et al. A typical sight during those days.

The ‘bucket man’ comes around with a bucket piled high with Limca’s and Thums Up, and in his many pockets he has quarts of Feni. These Feni bottles would sell at Goa prices, even though you can still see the Gateway in the distance. The bell is sounded for lunch in the canteen. You get fish curry and rice with fish that tasted so fresh they probably jumped straight out of the Arabian Sea and into the kitchen.

The passengers take turns to eat in the canteen. You bought your coupon for a lunch service and carried your Feni to the table with you. The ship would meander along the Konkan coast all this while. Occasionally, one would spot dolphins along the route.

A man would come around announcing Housie and everyone who was tired of looking at pristine beaches, at swaying coconut trees, at the rise and swell of the sea would head for the mess, now cleared of fish curry and rice. Tickets would be sold, the electrical engineer would be deputed to call out the numbers. The Housie would get underway with Jaldi five lines and full houses helping to defray the cost of your ticket.

Back onto the deck to watch the sunset, while this little world unto itself chugged on towards Goa. The bucket man had run out of Limca so now you were drinking Feni with nimbu pani and after the third peg of Feni the talk turned to God and love and who made the best Goan sausages. Goan spirit at its best, again!

Along the Konkan coast, towards the late night, the ship reached its port of call it would pull a little closer to the coast. Little canoes would come out from the harbours of Vijaydurg, Sindhudurgh, Jaigadh and Ratnagiri to ferry the passengers to these port. They would get down on a rope ladder along the side of the ship. The ladies making sure their saree didn’t snag in the rungs. With the passengers having disembarked at their destination, the ship would sail again along the coast line towards Panaji, Goa..