That the tourist season in Goa begins only from September is really a myth. Sure the weather is cooler then but, what the heck, for a seasoned traveller to Goa it is always time for susegad — the quintessential philosophy of life here: relax, enjoy life and be happy — even if it happens to be sweltering May.

I smiled as I climbed down from the bus to the familiar strains of “Ponnje Ponnje, Mapusa, Calangute. Madam, come madam, taxi is waiting…” This time, it’s destination Panjim, on the romantic Mandovi. Just a walk through its narrow winding streets can whet your appetite for urak/feni served at any of the roadside bars. And don’t be surprised to find old Mr Gomes sitting quietly in the corner, strumming away the blues on his old-fashioned guitar.

This time we had promised ourselves to check out dolphin bay at Miramar beach and had even read up wikipedia to learn that each lobe of a dolphin’s tail is called a fluke and a dolphin uses powerful muscles along its back and tail stalk to move its flukes up and down.

Alright, so far so good. Never mind the tourist taxis out to make a fast buck, the very thought of sighting the dolphins was enough for us ! It was a clear blue sky and the scenery was fantastic. One really could not have asked for more. The excitement on the boat was palpable. Gaily dressed visitors with cameras etc waited patiently in the boat as it circled dolphin bay. We had company. Two more boats with some 20 tourists in them had also set their sights on the elusive dolphins. All of a sudden, the quiet of the morning was broken as some tourists screamed that they had spotted a ‘fluke’. And, voila, all the three boats revved up their engines and raced to that point.

The dolphins, however, were cleverer. They had already swum to the other end. This hide-and-seek game continued for over an hour, after which most tourists decided that the wait was not really worth it and headed back.

That’s when my four-year-old broke the silence of the morning yet again. He yelled, “Mama, want dolphin!” We had to quickly settle for a key chain bearing the form of a dolphin to quieten a little kid who was threatening to disturb the spirit of susegad in paradise.