and I didn’t miss it at all.
When all the Substacks came thundering in, I thought of this little blog and how much it meant to me to be writing regularly, without an assignment, all the way from 2004. Instagram took over for the blog at some point – who had the time to read so much anyway when a reel would do?
I was driving home today and the thoughts were swirling in my brain. I was thinking about lots of things, trying to ignore the rash tourist cars trying to overtake everything on wheels. I was thinking about writing and how my career has changed so much over the past few years. Driving home with the Mandovi accompanying me almost all the way, I thought about how much beauty is still there in this place, how amazing it is, how spectacular it could be still. As a local, my rose-tinted glasses are not as clear as they used to be. They’re tainted with the reality of living in a place that is popular with tourists, entrepreneurs and real-estate sharks.
Lately, that has been my dilemma with writing.
I can no longer bear to do the straight-forward travel writing that talks about new restaurants, new stores, the latest hangout space. Not when we’re up all night complaining about the very same spaces for noise violations and parties on the street completely oblivious to the disruption to families around.
In a parallel universe, I’d love to write about these exciting new places, about the “gentrification” of a crumbling old city, about Panjim’s unique old wards. I would gloss over the barrage of noise, parking woes and disrespectful tourists. I would not mention how locals put in so much time, effort and money to keep these “heritage” homes standing and in good order, without support from the government. The Insta crowd would not care for such rhetoric.
Just writing about the multi-colored walls is not enough anymore.
Is travel writing different from travel journalism? The idea of travel stories is to attract visitors to a place. Right now, I’d prefer that they go elsewhere! What does this mean for my writing?
Right now it means I’m not pitching ‘regular’ travel stories anymore. It might mean wasted opportunities because baby, I’m right in the middle of the most happening places in town. So be it.
Last year, I was commissioned to do a travel story for Singapore-based Our Better World which produces positive travel stories. I wrote about Olaulim Backyards, which is a place I have stayed at before and I always recommend it to others. This story probed deeper into the place itself, the owner’s thoughts about Goa, the rapid loss of land and diversity, the changing culture of the place. The story sold the place but didn’t hide the reality of what locals feel about tourism. I think that was a good balance to have.
My editors at OBW were amazing and I was glad to have the chance to work with them. I also took all the photos, which I’m pleased about.
2024 is the year of “clean-up” for me. Among other things (long list!), I want to clean-up my writing. Improve it, sure, but also choose what I want to write about. Time is running out and I cannot waste it on random stories which don’t resonate, except for the PR person and perhaps the editor glad to have filled a page.
So maybe you’ll see more of me here instead.
The Frangipani Journals 