Happy destiny brings me to Goa, yet again, "on work." I'm attending the 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI-Goa) and Film Bazaar. My taxi driver says tourist business is down "because the English are coming less now, as Goa is full of Russians." He adds that entire Goan villages have migrated to Portugal, as many are entitled to, "but they don't like it there because they have to work too hard." We suppose he means nine-to-five. We have much to learn from Goans on life priorities.

I'm staying in Fontainhas, the old Latin quarter, with its distinctive Portuguese heritage architecture. The streets include a Rua 31 de Janeiro and Rua São Tomé, with shops for 'tintas' and 'ferro', Verlekar joalharia (jeweller), Instituto Nossa Senhora de Piedade (Our Lady of Piety) and Aleluia key maker. At the IFFI inaugural dinner, I get to meet French actress Isabelle Huppert, but only briefly, because superstar Rajinikanth is seated at the same table, and desperate mobs are crowding in. But the saxophonist Irshad Ahmed playing Bollywood music that evening is so good, that a Serbian actor, Petr, leaps up and dances to the music with energetic Slavic steps.