However, land prices throughout Goa have skyrocketed—there’s been a property buying frenzy since 2005.

Arora bought his one-acre plot in Calangute last year in June for Rs 80 lakh. He received an offer of Rs 4 crore 11 months later. Realtors like DLF and MGF have announced massive hous-ing projects. OnedeveloperfromDelhi is building 34 villas on a hillside over-looking the scenic Mandovi river. Each cottage comes with a private swim-ming pool. Cost per villa: Rs 2 crore. Besides holiday homes, there are malls, cinema halls and plush apart-ments surfacing everywhere.

The Goans, traditionally a laidback merry bunch, are also waking up to brand Goa and are hoping to cash in on the boom. Gautam Panvelkar, 22, studying for an MBA in a private uni-versity in Goa, has changed his origi-nal plan to move to Mumbai after get-ting his degree. “I plan to develop my ancestral property and start a real es-tate business,” says Panvelkar. His contemporary Mark Pinto, 20, born and brought up in Goa, also feels his future lies here. “Most of my uncles and aunts left Goa for the Gulf or Canada,” says Pinto.“Now there are so many opportunities here.” Besides tourism, companies with BPO ser-vices are eyeing Goa to set up call centres since the locals speak excel-lent English. Older Goans with established busi-nesses are also reinventing them-selves.

Marios Monteiro, 43, runs a cosy restaurant called Cavala just off Baga beach. It has a festive atmos-phere with twinkling fairy lights every-where.

With the tagline “Don’t hiber-nate, lets celebrate”, Monteiro has started a monsoon celebration night once a week. Cavala is packed on Sat-urdays with tourists and Goa’s swish set. “Till recently, our shutters were down six months a year,” he says. “Now it’s worth it to keep running throughout.” Monteiro is also expand-ing and building a boutique spa hotel. A hundred metres from Cavala is Ronils, a popular mid-budget hotel that has been around since 1987. Gen-eral manager Rui Madri D Deus is a celebrated chef and a witness to the radical changes in Goa. Deus says business has never been better, but adds:“Buildings are coming up every-where and Goa’s beauty is vanishing.”

... contd.