Page 37 - You Only Live Once [BooksLD]

Life is like a glass full of the cocktail Long Island Iced Tea. It’s a mix of the
darkness from coke and the golden from rum. And Goa, it’s an
accumulation of many such cocktails. Goa isn’t quite literally a place. Goa

is a vibe, Goa is a state of mind, and Palolem Beach in the southern district
of Canacona is my hideaway here. Palolem is adorned by hills on one and
the horizon on the other side.
No matter the time I go to sleep, I wake up at 5 a.m. sharp. Running
every morning by the beachside has been a routine. A waterproof digital

watch, a pair of running shoes, a jersey, that’s all I need. Why do people
seek solace in routine? It is only a thing or two that can spark excitement on
a day-to-day basis. Running is one of those activities for me.

When I run, I run religiously. It gives me immense pleasure, and when I
get tired it makes me feel as if I have conquered something. It gives me a
feeling of achievement. I run every morning without fail and it is something
that I have been doing for a long time. There isn’t a hurt a morning run
can’t fix.

I have to shoot for the TV Series ‘Sunrise to Sunset’ today. It airs every
weekend on National Geographic during prime time. They’re touring the
world and featuring the best beach shacks on the show, and we’re fortunate
that they have picked Ricky’s Beach Shack, my own, in Goa. The best part
of living in a beach shack is that you can put on your beachwear anytime
and move into the inviting ocean, all on your feet.

A team of six arrives at the counter. Four of them are surely the
cameramen. An extremely stylish woman introduces herself as Noor. I
assume she will walk the talk. We invite them for a cup of coffee, but they
suggest to start the shoot right away as they want to capture the sunrise.

In her brief, she tells me to look at her as I answer her questions. It brings
me some relief as I am anyway too shy to talk while looking at the camera.
It is, after all, my first T.V. interview.

‘Let’s start.’ She signals to her team and adjusts two collar mics. One on
her collar and the other on mine.
‘What is a beach shack?’ she asks.

‘If you’d Google , you would find that a shack is a small, often primitive
type of shelter or dwelling. Like huts, shacks are constructed by hand using
only locally available materials; however, if you ask me, shacks in Goa

constitute a way of life. We construct beach shacks every year in mid-