Golden Goa

A delightful book that shines with sly self-deprecating wit; Buday's love of India blends with a series of comic and not-so-comic misadventures (rats, spit, train-wrecks, and more) to create a richly memorable armchair journey. Personally, I was especially intrigued by the parallel story of de Camoens, a 16th century Portuguese poet exiled to Goa after ill luck in matters of the heart (now I want to read something by him, though it would have to be in translation). The resonance with Buday's own romantic reversals (the last of his trips to India follows a divorce) and consequent longing to travel far is kept muted, never self- indulgent, yet informs the story with a bittersweet quality that lifts Golden Goa well above run-of-the-mill travel writing. The complex history of Goa as a Portuguese colony within the polymorphous world of India is also fascinating, and the interplay of past and present (including a hilarious encounter with a pair of dotty Scottish sisters laden with toilet paper and gin) is deftly handled. Throw in tautly elegant writing that does not fear the poetic, and what you get is a truly great read.