The Quieter side of Goa
My spirit was crushed by the monotony of
life. This time I needed to somewhere towards the beaches, somewhere I can go
and get lost totally. I wanted to feel the warmth of the sunshine, the soft
touch of the wind, wished to go away from the deadly traffic. I wanted to get
onto a place where I can feel the calmness and can cheer myself reviving my old
school days. Is there a way to revive our old school days, I thought. I was not
at all having the idea of wearing a school uniform carrying a heavy 10kg bag on
my mild shoulders and a water bottle swinging on our neck! I wanted to fulfill
my wish of living those golden days of my life. I wanted to feel the coziness
of the wind running through my untied hair. In addition to that, I wanted a
gateway to break the monotony madness.
Finally, I got an opportunity to step onto
the land of Sun, Sea and Beaches- GOA. Goa quenches me whenever my wandering
heart wants to go crazy. Like most of the people, Goa reminded me of bottles
high up in the sky, bikes for hire and travel to every corner of the city in
frenzy. But this time I learned Goa’s eccentric face which few tourists are
aware of. During my journey to Goa, I met a biker named Rohan Nagarkar. Wishes made
before the onset of the journey were fulfilled by this person, I must say.
Hence, I could not stop myself introducing him to the world. For me, he is
another dreamer who not only dreamt about his passion but who is happily living
it.
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| Rohan Nagarkar |
By qualification, Rohan is an MBA having a
mechanical engineer background. Our guest has an e-commerce experience of
almost 7 years which made him to start up his own e-commerce of home improvement
tools. Nagarkar is onto his self-project for the past 2 years. Rohan is a Mumbaikar at heart however his
business drove him all the way to Goa. Being in Goa-one of the tourist hubs in
India, his heart got pulled towards tourism industry. He found the necessity to
explore new modes of travel during sight-seeing or just enjoying the nature
rather than the usual bikes or scooters.
Back in childhood and in his teenage years,
Nagarkar had immense love for bicycle riding. He was exuberant thinking if he could
have his bicycle to ride again his travel might get easier. This interesting
idea led him to be the founder of Cycling Zens.
Cycling Zens started in October 2015; Rohan
Nagarkar and Peter Rodrigues, an ex-colleague of Jet Airways are partners for
this venture. It is a bootstrapped company with an objective to provide
bicycles as a viable last mile solution in a market having limited bicycle
rental option. Roaming in Goa was never so cool and trendy
until Cycling Zens arrived. They not only provide bicycle for rentals but also
conduct organized tours. Tour includes exploration of Divar and Chorao islands
on a weekly basis. Upon request, they also conduct tours of Fort Aguada, Reis
Magos and similar destinations in North Goa. They organize multiple day tours
covering the verdant forests in the south and east of Goa. Interesting, Isn’t
It?
Bringing cycles on road for tourism is a
wise choice. It is environment friendly, a healthy way to travel as well as
rejuvenates us in one way or the other. With people becoming health conscious
and environment friendly, most of them have started showing interest in bicycle
tours rather than going and hitting the roads with the old-fashioned way of
travelling with bikes and scooters on rentals. The tour definitely provide a
unique experience.
It is not even a year and Cycling Zens has
already conducted more than 12 cycling tours and some are already in the
pipeline. Cycling Zens have bicycles for all- kids,
youngsters and even grown-ups too. They follow some kind of thought process
while choosing the collection of bicycles. They have different kinds of
bicycles for different target markets. One can choose their bicycles
accordingly. In fact, Cycling Zens even suggest bicycles for riders accordingly
to their taste and comfortability. Enlisted are the bicycles they have:
- · Electric bicycles as direct alternative to Activas
- · Tandem bicycles for the honeymoon couples and the selfie generation
- · Hybrids for the long distance avid cyclists
- · MTBs for those who want to do off roading
- · Road Cycles for the competitive ones
- · Ungeared as a cheap option
- · Kids bicycles for kids to ride in hotel premises
Rohan and I took a ferry
from Old Goa to the beautiful riverine Divar Island. I took a geared bicycle
and followed the topsy-turvy road of Divar Islands. Landing to the island gave
me immense pleasure. Surrounded by marshy waters, mangroves and traffic free roads,
Divar totally mesmerized me. The tour gave me an opportunity to have a look at
the Goan culture. Rohan also being the tour guide on that day made me listen to
the historical importance of the place, culture and people. That delighted me.
The Church of Our Lady of compassion, the cranes and beautiful birds was
witnessed during the tour of Divar Island. I was satisfied as my soul was
enriched by the freshness of the beauty of Goa.
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| A typical Portuguese style house in Divar Island |
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| Debris of Narora Fort |
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| A big mango tree in Divar Island |
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| Divar Island |
If you want to relieve those
magical moments then pack your luggage and book your rides and tours through
Cycling Zens. Trust me you will have an outlandish authentic travel experience for
a lifetime. As someone rightly said, “Once in a while it really hits people
that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told
to.” Listen to your heart and get
lost somewhere you love.