Rekha and I visited Goa between 24 and 28 November 2020 for a recce, looking for a suitable property for the 2021 edition of the Traders Carnival Conference. This would be the 4th edition to be held at Goa in the last 8 years, for obvious reasons.

Whenever the event has been held in Goa – We have hosted 3 conferences here in 2014, 2018 and 2019-  we have seen good participation. One interesting feature here has been that participants have joined the event with their families, adding a Goa vacation to the families. And now with the lockdown, increased health concerns, we have seen extreme isolation fatigue – where people have not been able to go out of their cities, and at times, even their homes. And suddenly, Goa seems more alluring.

A few observations from our Goa trip last week during our recce…

1. All establishments in Goa, whether supermarkets, churches, hotels, restaurants and even liquor shops had a strict mask policy. No admission without masks.  Even if your father was some famous or well connected guy.  Followed by thermal screener and the ubiquitous sanitiser spray, mostly automated that you operate with your foot.
2. Social distancing being maintained. It does help that population density is not as much as at Bangalore that we are normally used to
3. One can rent a bike or a car with close to zero health concerns. We had a bike and a car at our service before we reached our destination at Goa, all choreographed prior. Quite efficient systems, actually.  Our regular place of stay  at homestay at Varca, South Goa.  Yes, on expected lines, Rekha does all the coordination, I take all the credit.
4. Beaches are good places to walk after a particularly heavy lunch. The best time we found was from 5 pm onwards as the sun sets. After a long barefoot walk on the beach,  you are all set to settle down for a good dinner. ps: I cant run now due to having played over 20 years of badminton. Bad knees.  Possible point of no return here.
5. One odd one here. There are as many brainless chaps out in Goa as there may be at Bangalore. And other places as well. I refer to those morons who ride a two wheeler speaking into their  phone, neck at an odd angle, trying to save time. Interestingly, I did not find one girl who was doing this. Yes, it was only the guys who did this.

Now for the business end of this communication.

1. We are in the final stages of negotiations with the hotels in Goa and should be able to announce dates for the 14th Edition of the Carnival shortly. For now, the last week of March appears to be a certainty. Block dates accordingly.

2. We have been retained by another fund to spot trading talent for them.

So the requirement is as follows:

a You have been trading for at least 24 months

b. Your book is green for the last two years, cumulatively

c. You are open to and have the bandwidth to handle a new trading account after funding.

If you meet the above criteria, please email details at [email protected] for the shortlisting process. along with your contact number and a convenient time to talk.

Stay Safe.

Regards

DJ