THE MONSOON IN GOA is full of surprises. While the sun is blaz-ing, it suddenly starts pouring. The wind blasts give the coconut trees a permanent 60-degree slouch. The beaches are reduced to a narrow strip and the waves have a deafening tsunami-like ferocity. This seaside state’s wild natural beauty is at its most spectacular in the rain. And now the world has discovered it. So, despite the fact that at this time of the year there’s no access to the beach, no shacks to park in and have a beer, no shopping and just a few restaurants open, touristsareflockingto Goatoenjoythe wet season.

The top 10 five-star hotels are boasting 100 per cent occupancy on weekends and 80 per cent during the week. Goa is rocking. For both busi-ness and leisure. It’s now a 365-day op-tion for a vacation.

When Delhiite Dhiraj Arora, 31, felt he needed to expand his restaurant brand Shalom, he headed to Mumbai first. After licensing issues curtailed his plans there, he decided to explore Goa. After a quick survey, Arora found that along with the backpacker tourist, the big budget foreign traveler is coming here, andGoa isthehottestdestination for north Indians, since airfares have dropped. Arora opened Shalom in a bright,Mediterranean-stylehousefac-ing the buzzing Calangute beach. He’s also launched a hotel in the south and an Italian restaurant, Italics, in Baga.“I believe Goawillbethe Spainof theeastin three years,” he says. “The hospitality and atmosphere here beats Phuket, Bali andMauritiushandsdown.”

Arora is just one among several In-dians who have discovered Goa. Be-sides the five lakh international and seven lakh Indian tourists who visit every year, this is the trendiest address for a second home in India. Ugly con-crete structures, huge crowds and bar-ren mountains have destroyed quaint hill towns like Shimla, Mussoorie and Lonavala,favourite placestohaveholi-day homes. Goa, on the other hand, has lush green paddy fields and blaz-ing yellow crotons. The king of good times, billionaireVijay Mallya put Goa on the map when he built his magnifi-cent villa here in 2001. His endorse-ment clearly counts for a lot: the prop-erties adjacent to his bungalow in Candolim have become the most ex-pensive in the area.

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