Goa's milky-white Dudhsagar and gang of money-collectors of heaven albeit with receipts!

For those who rely on adventurous sports or places driven by nature's glory in and around Goa, Dudhsagar is no new name to your dictionary. With picturesque forest covered mountains at rear, a railway bridge before it and milk ( Dudh in India stands for milk and Sagar for ocean, that's how this falls got its name! ) sprawling from uncanny mountain range, it is a sight one would crave to watch and cherish forever; and euphoric tourists from abroad lined for tickets at ticket-counter speak exactly that.

How do you go there? Not so tough heady task. Once you reach Goa, the work is almost done, the place is quite famous that anybody will get you to the heavenly spot ( not to falls but ticket counter of course! ). The actual bargain begins from here on.

First and foremost, if you have come with a private vehicle of yours, you are stopped little far from where tickets are issued and you are made to walk for about 5-10 minutes, depends how you put your steps or how bad shopping junky you are! Once at ticket counter, you are here for more surprises - with voices of speakers shouting token numbers serenity flies away making way for chaos and, you understand why nature wouldn't be  free anymore!

Everybody understands the fact that falls are dangerous and visiting same without safety measures (read Life-jacket!) is a strict no-no, although I have visited the same with my mum and maternal grand ma, and we all did came out safe with no reasons to worry. Times have changed now, so are governments and so are the people who earn big today in the name of tickets. When a guy with cardboard & pen asked us for 400 bucks per head, shocks were mandatory for anyone who is middle-class Indian, more so for me who've visited the same may be ten years ago without wasting a penny over these silly tickets! It's understanding while paying for entering into a zoo for they manage animals, taking care of their habitat, food and health, and all this requires money. At falls, I wonder if someone goes and adds milk into Dudhsagar or brushes up those green gushy forests. Money collected is meant for cleanliness of surroundings to attract more tourists and thereby more revenue to Goan exchequer but sorry, I was not fortunate of seeing any such measures with litter sprawling everywhere. It really felt yukk! Ticket guy did detail me of what those 400/per head will buy for you - a life-jacket plus a vehicle with other fellow visitors, again, I don't know how many! Ticket boy even had other details to chew for us too like 


"After Shah Rukh Khan's Chennai Express people have more than doubled visiting this spot, so you will have to wait till 3:00PM for your chance, for it is already packed till then"
"Sir! That's nearly 5 hours from now!!"
"Yes. But what can we do? Go negotiate at ticket counter, he may help you with early tickets!"

Now anybody who has traveled in India will probably understand what negotiations mean here. Indians are impatient and we all were typical-Indians-of-a-sort having no mood to wait till 3PM. So we backed off. While moving back, we did witness few people fighting over tickets, and locals educated us how common such skirmishes are at this part of Goa where everything is money. Yes, I mean it! With no offence towards Benjamin Franklin who said 'Time is Money!'. Later on an another muscular local gentleman told all of us who were returning without witnessing what we came up to, to go and write one complaint each at goatourism.gov.in of all those people who are earning big out of nothing innovative out of their heads but all that is nature. He was right in a sense but chances are, he's in a minority group who think so or just he's been unfortunate of earning big, for everyone from local fruit-seller to parking guy to guide, everybody were busy making it large in their life.

There are many states, nations and even continents who earn big out of tourism alone but there is thin line between earning and looting others' hard earned money and those people here en-route to falls are exactly indulged in later one where you stop someone and demand disproportionate amount to watch what is naturally not yours! People thronging from abroad might never complain for many obvious reasons they might have of theirs own but we fellow countrymen could, at least I will, for I was born here in Goa and will never wish such a state of apathy and dishonor to a place as beautiful as Goa...