| Margao (formerly Modgaon)
is the largest town in the southern end of Goa, and the main
place to go if you are staying in Benaulim or Colva and need
to use an ATM, make a rail booking, or send a parcel home.
The town doesn't have anything specific to recommend it, but
its worth a look around once you've done your shopping. The
town centres around the Municipal gardens, and off to the
east of the gardens and north of Station road is a warren
of market streets and alleyways, with stalls selling a range
of food, clothes and household goods, as well as the endless
amounts of 'stuff' that make Indian markets such fun. There
are also a plethora of jewellery shops and a fish market.
If you're after the morning newspapers, head for north east
side of the municipal gardens, where you'll see a row of stalls
selling papers and magazines. Further away from the gardens
in the same direction and up a short hill, is the Poste Restante,
now little used with the advent of email.
For those travelling on an Enfield Bullet motorcycle, and
in need of parts or repairs, Margao is well blessed with mechanics
and parts shops; hardly surprising as Goans seem to have a
slightly Freudian obsession with owning a new Bullet in tip
top condition.
Saini Autos is a main Enfield dealer,
and have a parts shop in the lanes to the east of the gardens
(Baptista Rd, near the Blue Pearl Theatre, Tel: 0832-736105)
as well as a large modern showroom and workshops outside town
(Near Childrens park, Gogol, Margao. Tel: 0832-701217). Their
chief mechanic, Ravi, has a good nose for inexplicable problems
that no-one else can figure out, and does a great job, although
rates are naturally more expensive as they are the official
Enfield dealer. As he is an employee and not owner of the
garage, it seems to be the local custom to tip him for a job
well done, the method usually being to stick the notes in
his top shirt pocket.
A cheaper - but just as good - option is one of the local
mechanics, Santosh, who operates
from an improbably small workshop about 200 metres up the
road behind the Poste Restante opposite the Saraswat bank.
Unlike many Indian Enfield mechanics ("mistri" in
Hindi), he is more talent than ego, and spends more of his
time working on your bike than telling you how good he is
and admiring his (admittedly splendid) moustache in your side
mirror. He's one of the few I've encountered that I'd leave
my bike with and come back later, as opposed to watching the
work in progress. He has a good nose for knowing which parts
should be replaced by original Enfield (and therefore expensive)
bits, and which can be "duplicate" ones made by
other manufacturers. He's popular with Goans for major rebuilds,
so there is often a queue. (Santosh Naik,
Tel: 98221-883970) |
