A lot's changed - for example, the "King of Good Times" Vijay Malia's Kingfisher Villa in Candolim is in lien. Many, many more local Indians (who the vast majority are male) have arrived for the 2017 New Years' celebration, and relatively few foreigners.
I've also changed. For example, this time, I haven't arrived alone. You see, last year, my wife and I married, and this is the beginning of our honeymoon. So I write as a honeymooner instead of a backpacker. We've technically been calling this the "pre-honeymoon", as we're intending to arrive in Bhutan for the main deal.
Finally, I couldn't help but see each of the two Goa trips as bookend moments in the expansion of my awareness of the world and my place in it as a person. So I've also been drawn to thinking about how the world has changed in the past ten years.
World: China's ascendant. The BRIC concept would have been more accurately captured with b-r-i-C . It's old news by now that the world's nations are turning inward on themselves currently in reaction to globalization. (I don't need to mention who we elected president). Canada stands out as having the only recently elected head of state with an outward-looking perspective. Eyes will slowly turn to France and Germany to see if the conservative wave takes hold there too.
The US notionally has a national healthcare system now. It's under fire right now, and has built in flaws from the start like lack of single-payer and lack of national uniformity (and the resources / bargaining clout that would go with that). I pay more for healthcare than I did before but I see it as at least an interim sacrifice if the country's most desperate can get adequate health care now.
The developing world's middle class have swelled, even as the ranks of the developed world's middle class have contracted somewhat. (Hint: they didn't head toward the rich end of things)
India's working hard to fight corruption. As I write the country is in the midst of "demonetization" which is basically outlawing the largest denominations of currency and requiring them to be replaced with new currency, with the dual intent of flushing out black money, and getting India into a more trackable, more liquid cashless electronic payments society.
Self: First, I received a diagnosis and got treatment for sleep apnea. (For anyone in the world who snores, including people I come across hearing you loudly dozing away on airplanes, I have enormous empathy for you). Second, after a lot of ups and downs, highs and scars, I have a career that faces the world especially it's less fortunate (primarily in Africa) that leverages my technical experience. Finally, as mentioned, I'm married now, to a woman I met in business school who is sincerely amazing. For all of these I feel truly blessed.
One MBA (and a lot more independent reading) later, I understand economics better than I did before, but there is still so much to learn that is simply not taught in formal curriculae. The closest I find is "input/output economics", and I am hopeful for what still-nascent economic simulations can teach us about the world we live in.
During these couple days in Goa, my wife complains that I'm being too wistful / nostalgic, which she perceives as depressed, and not being present enough to her. I try in vain to convince her otherwise, that I'm just a massive introvert. (My writing this post isn't helping in the immediate term, but I think will help after I'm done and have got the feelings out of my head and onto paper).
I think the key thing is that I need to "put the backpack down", even if my own self-image is the only remaining manifestation of that. Although she loves travel, this kind of it is definitely not her thing: 4+-star hotels, not guesthouses. Anyway our near term life plans are incompatible with anything resembling the backpacker lifestyle. Again I hope this post helps with that.
Our next stop is Bhutan, the "land of happiness". I sincerely hope it lives up to its intent of being the world's happiest nation, or at least successfully striving to be. I may or may not write a blog post about it. For the sake of my honeymoon's happiness, I hope I am not motivated to :) .
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