Rich beach

Sublime villas with stucco tiled roofs and gables have been turned into smart hotels, grandiose homes with sweeping verandahs have become lifestyle stores selling everything from antique candelabras to banquettes, restaurants set up by visiting French and Italians serve gourmet French and Mediterranean food while a group of robust Germans run a chain of bakeries that serve the best breads and strudels and DJs who trawl the raves of Ibiza in Spain and Bangkok in Thailand host the perfect full-moon raves with the the best of trance and acid music.

Goa has always appealed to clubbers and families alike but it has now become the playground of the chic and rich. Old-timers like Sunita and Rajkumar Pitamber, Adi and Parmeshwar Godrej, Nusli and Maureen Wadia may baulk at the invasion of the jetting hordes but it has not stopped Anil and Tina Ambani, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Vijay Mallya and his yacht, Hotmail8217;s Sabeer Bhatia and Buddha Bar8217;s Claude Challe, designers, film stars, industrialists and rich NRIs from soaking in its splendour and fantasy. In the last couple of years, Goa has become the hottest destination for glamour-seeking jetsetters who would now rather spend Christmas and New Year in this sunny state rather in cold grey London or New York. And so, it was not long before the aromatic kitchens of the world steamed into the beachfronts of Baga and Calangute and the power-shopping style of Bond Street and Fifth Avenue moved into the palm-lined Panaji and Mapuca.

An afternoon well spent with Ritu Nanda explains much of the state8217;s metamorphosis from a haven for hippies to a heaven for the high-heeled. Nanda, a former photographer, now owns a flourishing lifestyle store called Camelot Fondvem, Ribander in one of Goa8217;s prettier districts. She was was one of the first to bring couture consciousness to beachbum Goa. Of course, there were homegrowns like Wendell Rodricks and Savio Jon, among others, but Nanda8217;s story is one of love and romance, just the kind you would expect from a Goa resident. She chucked away 11 years of a profession in photography to open the store, the success of which can be measured by sequels in Cochin and Brussels. Camelot 8212; The Style Shop of India houses well-known Indian designers such as Abraham and Thakore, Priti Patel, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Hidden Harmony, Raghavendra Rathore and Nandita Basu. It also has beautiful furniture, some restored and some new. 8216;8216;I don8217;t like too much antique, it can look dull and serious and too much modern can be silly too,8217;8217; explains Nanda.

Similarly, Sonja and Thomas, a Swiss couple who design and make their own furniture, their speciality being objects with leitmotifs of gold leaves, also moved to Goa to open the luxury store Sotodecor, in Porvorim. Then there is Casa Goa Baga Road, a converted Goan villa which stores Goan furniture, religious icons, porcelain, rattan chairs and paintings by local artists. There is also Sangolda CHOGM Road, Sangolda run by hoteliers Claudia Derain and her husband, Hari Ajwani. Derain, a French fashion stylist who worked with Thierry Mugler, turned a magnificent 200-year-old Portuguese mansion into a lifestyle store for furniture, home accessories and art. The Ajwanis also own Ni own Nilaya Arpora, Goa8217;s first boutique hotel. Perched on a hill, this 300-night exclusive resort, is a maze of colour, especially blue. 8216;8216;Nilaya means the abode of blue,8217;8217; explains Claudia, whose stint in the French couture world ensures a highbrow European clientele. 8216;8216;It8217;s just a step before heaven,8217;8217; she adds.

A discernible art movement is also making its presence felt in the beach haven with several galleries opening up along the coast with both Indian and foreign artists jostling for space. A canary yellow house invites visitors to the Kerkar Art Complex where you are a greeted by a giant crucifix complete with Christ8217;s head and thorns, made from link chains, belonging to a ship8217;s anchor. 8216;8216;My sculptures have a relationship with the sea. The sea is my old friend, my teacher, my inspiration,8217;8217; says Sudhir Kerkar of the Kerkar Art Gallery.

Designerwear has never had it so good, from Wendell Rodricks8217; fluid fabrics, silk slippers and sheer skirts to Malini Ramani8217;s Donatella Versace-inspired clothes. Says Savio Jon, a well-known local designer, 8216;8216;Mumbai8217;s too filmi, Delhi8217;s too wannabe and Bangalore8217;s lost in between.8217;8217;

Jon sells out of Sosa8217;s Rua de Ourem, Panjim, a store made famous by Dil Chahta Hai, probably its only advertisement. The owner, Abel de Souza, opened it in 1998, after he threw away a career as a dental surgeon. 8216;8216;Success came through word-of-mouth publicity,8217;8217; says Abel. 8216;8216;Local high-brows like the Salgaonkars, Dempos and Murad Ali Khan Rampur helped spread the word.8217;8217; The store has become a fashion pit stop for visitors from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

On the gourmet route, Goa perhaps offers some of the most exquisite and affordable restaurants within a few miles. Top of the list is the French gourmet restaurant, Le Restaurant, owned by three friends from Lyons, Serge, Morgan and Florence, who come to Goa during the season. Tables are laid out in a charming courtyard and the formidable threesome make a grand statement with specialities like foie gras specially flown in for Christmas or the Escargots en Croute snails in pastry or the delicately grilled boudin fish sausages. Serge8217;s classic desserts like chocolate mud cake and guava sorbet has the gastronome begging for more.

Then there8217;s A Reverie in Guarrawado, run by Aakritee and Virendra Sinh. They both left their jobs with the Taj in Mumbai and moved to Goa to start the restaurant last September. Aakritee takes your order while Virendra handles the bar. The restaurant serves Greek yoghurts, cold pasta, Norwegian smoked salmon, country chicken and steak. The wine list is equally sumptuous 8212; there are Reislings, Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, Australian Cranswick, Shiraz and Satori and the Chilean Merlot.

There are other places too: J038;A8217;s Little Italy Baga, owned by Jamshed and Ayesha Madon, erstwhile Mumbaiites settled in Goa, and Fiesta, run by Yellow and Manek Contractor, which serves Italian and Mediterranean cuisine.

The turquoise waters of Candolim are an equal match for the Mediterranean blue of St Tropez and the Latin Quarter in Panaji is as enchanting as the Old Town of Nice, yet amazingly, Goa retains its distinctive Indian character. The sixteenth century Church of St Francis of Assisi has stood proudly alongwith the Mangeshi Temple in faraway South Goa while the flying buttresses of the convent of Santa Monica overlook a village mosque. The floating casino run by a five-star resort in Margao is no match for the gambler8217;s paradise in Monte Carlo but priests and gamblers, hippies and hipsters will continue to throng the boulevards of this coastal state. It seems the Dolce Vita days are back again.