During my visit to Goa, i was greeted to a culture that is far removed from what travel brochures will sell you. One of the smallest states in India, outstrips a lot of the biggest ones in terms of tourism revenue - yet it's for a factitious aura that is far removed from what the real draw ends up being. I had visited Goa as a small kid, 6 years of age - my parents tagged me, along with their luggage, to a pristine resort in Goa. It was a closed fenced, gated affair, and nothing like the one I was at this time. My friend, the local, had her "small" wedding at the Three Kings Church, a popular destination, and a scenic one at that; followed by her "small" reception back at her home. Let me just interject by saying that none of these were anything remotely small. They were intimate, attended by only a few select people, but they were in no way lacked the grandeur that you'd expect. Therein, I saw the quaintness at the heart of the Goan lifestyle that travel magazines wont tell you at all. Simple people, living through simple means, yet enjoying their lives to the fullest! These people have come to despise tourists like the plague, and some even resorting to avoid contact with them thoroughly - it was a breathtaking sight seeing all of this. Too bad my trip was cut short. I would've stayed longer, and sipped on my beer, under a coconut tree.