Photo Goa

Konkani Ramayana

2010-10-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

I wish there had been a full house to watch the Ramayana performed by ‘Shyam Purush Kala Pathak Sarvann Karapur’ troupe from Bicholim. This Konkani natak was staged on the 16th of October at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao.

The script was written by Prof. Prakash Vazrikar and the play was directed by Nilesh Mahale. It is only the second time it has been staged, the first time being at Kala Academy in 2008. Plans are afoot to turn it into a full fledged commercial production.

This remarkable interpretation of the Ramayana uses the numerous traditional folk dances of Goa to tell the story of Rama. The Dhalo, Ghoddemoddni, Murulo, Talgaddi, Gudulya Gani, Taranga, Gof, Fugddi, Perani-Zagor and even the Mando feature in this performance. It was surreal to hear Sita longing for Rama when Hanuman asks her for a memento to take back to Rama – she sings...aimorecho vellu comesar zalo….

Ravana abducts Sita, a powerful scene with raging flexed muscles and tearful anguish in dramatic contrast.

A character in the traditional Perani Zagor, the oldest form of theatre in Goa, walks on stilts as effortlessly as on the ground.

The 50 odd artistes and viewers mingle backstage at the end of the performance.

Dr.Prakash Vazrikar (at left) is an eminent dramatist and critic of Konkani literature. Hailing from Vazri, Sanquelim, he joined the Konkani movement while he was schooling.

‘Ani Ek Butto Fullo', 'Gattan Konachem', 'Kanni tashi Junich', 'Sad Antar Manacho', 'Ani Ek Prashna Parva' and 'Partiche Vatter' are some of his earlier dramas. Vazrikar has done his Post graduation in Konkani, Marathi and Philosophy and is presently the head of the Department of Konkani of Government College, Kandola. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Konkani panel for the Sahitya Akademi, Delhi.

The musical instruments used included traditional instruments like the dhol, shimell, tashe, ghumot, tabla to create lively percussion moods.

One rare instrument is the dhoulli mandd, comprising of a hollowed wooden plank on which the ends of two doulle handles (a doullo is a ladle made from coconut shell) are rubbed in opposite directions to create a grating sound. This instrument falls in the membraphonic class of instruments (those using a membrane to produce sound)and is traditionally used during Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Goa.

Sleepy Nuem

2009-08-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

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Nuem is a little hamlet near Kananguinim in South Goa. Its tiny beach nestles in a cove where you can stand just waist deep for a long stretch into the water. The action of the tides is performed here like in a theatre. You can sit on the stone walls that frame the little beach and watch kids playing cricket and football one moment and then a few hours later watch the waves gambol and do their own thing in the same arena.

Up on that hilly plateau stands mining machinery rusting away. The strata here is rich in iron ore and was being mined upto a decade ago. The remains of a chute can be seen at the top and barge loading equipment lies around at the base of the hill. It's great walking up the hillock; you are rewarded with a magnificent view of the sea and the little chapel near the beach.

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Once we came here for a Sunday picnic and found the chapel feast mass in progress. I walked up to the plateau with the kids and watched the confraria in procession around the chapel, with a lovely Konkani hymn being played stridently. We climbed to the top of the plateau. I saw a few burnt out coconut leaf fronds on the ground. With no electric power on this barren top, villagers must be using these dried fronds as torches for their nocturnal journeys. Just as in the ancient days.

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As we walked down I showed the children a hillside cave. They walked in happily until I told them it was the lair of a tiger. They walked out cautiously, in great awe.

..My feet share a moment with the tiny insects that scutter around the sands bedore zipping back into their holes. Folks all over the world are not aware of this, but the dog in the pic below is actually the Happiest Dog in the World! He also thinks he is cooler than Snoop Doggy Dogg....

The tide has run out and a palm fringed highway stretches out before us. Up ahead villagers have laid a palm trunk across to act as a natural bridge. Just get your balacing act right, else you'll end up in the drink alright.

The jagged rocks lying around the beach are rich in iron ore. They have been battered by the seawaves for centuries and are now as sharp as razor blades, well almost!

And God so loved this place that he hired a bunch of clams to form a Hard Rock Heart. The shells haven't yet finished their job, but they are getting there...

Beethoven in Goa

2009-06-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

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Just at the entrance of a house in Gaunsavaddo, in the lovely village of Siolim, stands a statue of Beethoven. What's that, you say... yes, Ludwig Van Beethoven. The patriarch of the house Pinta Shapai (Grandfather Pinto) so loved music, that on his 200th birthday his descendants installed a statue of the great German composer and pianist in front of the house.

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A quote by Giuseppe Verdi on the marble plaque reads - "Before the name of Beethoven, we must all bow in reverence".

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Another quote by George Bernard Shaw says - " No composer has ever so melted his hearers into complete sentimentality by the beauty of his music."

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Shaw's quote must be read in its full intent - "And no other composer has ever melted his hearers into complete sentimentality by the tender beauty of his music, and then suddenly turned on them and mocked them with derisive trumpet blasts for being such fools. Nobody but Beethoven could govern Beethoven; and when, as happened when the fit was on him, he deliberately refused to govern himself, he was ungovernable."

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Yet another line from Goethe reads - “More concentrated, more energetic, more intimate, I have never yet seen an artist. I can very well understand how singular he stands in his relations with the world.”

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The original German quote by Goethe reads - "Zusammengefasster, energischer, inniger habe ich noch keinen Künstler gesehen, ich begreife recht gut, wie er gegen die Welt wunderlich stehen muss".

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The word 'inniger' has been variously translated as intimate/fervent/tenderly and so on. But in one study, it reads as "“More concentrated, more energetic, more inward, I have never yet seen an artist. " Another essay says "...I can well understand he must stand a stranger against the world.” Goethe, who was not particularly liked by Beethoven, also called the composer "an utterly untamed personality".

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So the quotes by Shaw and Goethe also refer to Beethoven's arrogance, tempestuousness and near neurotic nature at that time.

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A more sentimental quote by Manuel Sousa Pinto says - "Like every Goan, Ludwig was born with a fiddle in his hand. I thank God he is now here, quite at home in my beloved Goa."

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Ludwig ne'er a fiddle play'd, he was a pianist. But if he were born with a grand piano in hand, that would have been quite traumatic for Frau Beethoven. So a literary fiddle it shall be...

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The maestro is indeed at home in Goa. During San Joao festivities, he even dons a 'kopel' alongwith other revellers as mentioned by chronicler Vivek Menezes.

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The coat-of-arms of Pinta Xapai's clan stands above the main door. The compartments show a book, a harp, ships on water and a farmer ploughing his field. The arts, adventure and hard work. Labore et Honore. Work and Honour. A noble Goan world view indeed! Well said.

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The gentleman (in white cap and kurta) standing at the entrance is veteran Gandhian Gurunath Kelekar. When he had been to Delhi to invite then President Abdul Kalam to inaugurate a new statue in Margao, Kalam told him gently but bluntly – “In India, we know only how to erect new statues, but we do not take care of the existing statues”. On his return to Goa, Gurunathbab got the government to set up a committee to study the state of statues and memorials in Goa. So it was that your truly (as part of the team) trudged up and down Goan terrain last year to shoot the men of marble and bronze.

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On our stop at Siolim, we met up with Konkani tiatrist and activist Tomazinho Cardozo and the cheery cartoonist Alexyz (below) who took us to see Ludwigbab.

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Wikipedia says:

"Music is an essential ingredient of Goa, and more so in Siolim. Pinta Xapai (the grand old patriarch who died at the age of 114) put up the statue of Beethoven in his courtyard in Gaunsavaddo. The rare landmark symbolises the love for the magical arts and music Siolcars are famed for. Famous musician Remo Fernandes hails from Siolim (Guddem).

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Another well-known musician was Johnson (of 'Johnson & his Jolly boys' fame). Rosario “Tequila” Basil was a famous saxophonist. Writer-trumpeter Reginald Fernandes, played for Hal Green, Nelly Batliwalla and her orchestra. Known as ”Romansincho Patxai”, he has written a record number of Konkani novels, nearly 100. A musician of high repute, he has left behind several Goan Konkani compositions, which are played still on All India Radio, one of the well-known ones being the melancholic “Adeus Korchea Vellar” sung by Allan Costa. Antoninho de Souza was a music director and music recordist for Emissora De Goa & All India Radio, Panjim."

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The plaque says the statue was installed for the bicentenary of Pinta Xapai in 1978, so I doubt the patriarch himself put up the statue. But he definitely inspired it.

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A Beethoven Night was organised in 2007, where accomplished musicians and music lovers gathered to celebrate the maestro’s legacy. Les Menezes writes about the event on the Heritage Jazz site. These two photos are by the lovable and dedicated Joel D’Souza.

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"......four professors from the Vienna University of Music and the Performing Arts had journeyed to Goa to celebrate his 237 th birthday. Mariaelena Fernandes (piano) had enthused Heidrun Lanzendoefer (flute), Gottfried Pokoeny (bassoon) and Wolfgang Klos (viola) with this enterprising odyssey. "

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...Wikipedia says this about Beethoven's death - ".....Friends and visitors before and after his death clipped locks of his hair, some of which have been preserved and subjected to additional analysis, as have skull fragments removed during the 1862 exhumation. Some of these analyses have led to controversial assertions that Beethoven was accidentally poisoned to death by excessive doses of lead-based treatments administered under instruction from his doctor."

Michael Jackson passed away yesterday, probably of a cocktail of painkillers given by his possibly well intentioned doctor. History runs its loop.

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A short distance from the house stands this unusual cross. Methinks it was originally a dovornnem, a masonry platform used to relieve the head loads of travellers in an era when there were no motorized vehicles of any kind. The cross was erected later, keeping the dovornnem still functional.

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Work and worship. Relief for the body and the soul. Beethoven's music aspired for the highest of high. So that we who work wearily may lift our souls heavenwards on the wings of song.

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Thank you, Ludwigbab. We are honoured to have you in Goa.

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Sleepy Nuem

2009-06-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Once we came here for a Sunday picnic and found the chapel feast mass in progress. I walked up to the plateau with the kids and watched the confraria in procession around the chapel, with a lovely Konkani hymn being played stridently. We climbed to the top of the plateau. I saw a few burnt out coconut leaf fronds on the ground. With no electric power on this barren top, villagers must be using these dried fronds as torches for their nocturnal journeys. Just as in the ancient days.

As we walked down I showed the children a hillside cave. They walked in happily until I told them it was the lair of a tiger. They walked out cautiously, in great awe.

The jagged rocks lying around the beach are rich in iron ore. They have been battered by the seawaves for centuries and are now as sharp as razor blades, well almost!

My feet share a moment with the tiny insects that scutter around the sands bedore zipping back into their holes. Folks all over the world are not aware of this, but the dog in the pic below is actually the Happiest Dog in the World! He also thinks he is cooler than Snoop Doggy Dogg....

The tide has run out and a palm fringed highway stretches out before us. Up ahead villagers have laid a palm trunk across to act as a natural bridge. Just get your balacing act right, else you'll end up in the drink alright.

And God so loved this place that he hired a bunch of clams to form a Hard Rock Heart. The shells haven't yet finished their job, but they are getting there...

Tiebreaker

2009-06-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

Like two gladiators facing off in a Roman arena, they stare down each other, with the lone ball standing 'tween them. The ball is a weapon. It will blaze from the swift footed Maximus Mascarenhas and sear past Commodus D'Costa into the goal. Or will the brave barefooted Costa punch it away with a mighty thrust of his brawny hands?

This Roman crowd (Christian and Hindu alike) at Benaulim wait with glee to cheer the fall of either warrior. No 'Cool Zone' this...the heat is on...the TieBreaker hath commenced...

Spreading his limbs like a scrawny Spiderman this Gladiator has worn his favourite football shirt today. His web stretches behind him.

Football runs in the blood of Goans, though many a laddie is seen playing cricket nowadays. Salgaocar, Dempo, Churchill Bros and dozens of other clubs large and small have inspired boys and girls from all over Goa. These boys and men await the recovery of the errant football from the road.

.ootball from the road

How old is football in Goa? As old as the poskotto...an inflated pig's bladder! But on a more academic note, indianfootball.com says "Football was brought to Goa in 1883 by Rev.Fr.William Robert Lyons, who came to Siolim, in Bardez, from Udipi...to recover from health problems...he founded a school at Siolim and introduced the sport there...The first reference to a football match played in Goa is in 1900 at Panjim at the Largo do Conceicao..."

Doesn't our foot sometimes move involuntarily in sympathy with the footballer about to blastoff?

For some pics of men practising Goa's favourite sport, click here. And here. And here is a picture of Salgaocar Sports Club players posing with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru!
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India may have been unceremoniously booted out of the T20 Cricket tourney, but Goa won the Santosh Trophy 2009 by defeating West Bengal 4-2 ! The finals were held at Tamil Nadu and ended in a penalty shootout. Shootout, gladiators, same thing...

You are never too old to wear those stripes. And wear them proudly on your shoulders. After all you wear your heart on your sleeves!

Random shots in Margao

2009-06-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

Some mornings in Margao can start with standing in a queue. The line to pay telephone bills can be quite long. In these days of e-payments and credit card transfers one wonders how this comes to pass. But then again, this is 'queue therapy'. Standing in a line with people in front of you and behind you can be very therapeutic in this increasingly lonely world. And what a sense of achievement when one finally pays the bill! Can the click of an e-payment offer this sense of elation and triumph?

And the telephone bills we pay go to build these beautiful poles that lean elegantly across the road, hanging like the Sword of Damocles on the unwary pedestrian. Well, not really. This photo was taken when the cables were buried underground and the redundant poles were being axed. The axeman could not take out this proud pole the previous night, he only succeeded in making it bend a bit. It went down the next night.

Damocles sword or not, the people of Margao and neighbouring villages browse happily through the wares hung out for the feast fair. The man studying the red dress has to look straight up- upskirt- something he would not do if the said red dress was duly filled.

Earthen pots are also laid out at the fair of the feast of the Holy Spirit Church. Curry or any other Goan dish cooked in earthen pots tastes better, specially if cooked on a wood fire. Some earthen handcrafted objets d'art are also displayed. Clay art is a well explored field in Goa, some of the pottery studios in Bicholim produce excellent work. Zilu Harmalkar has carved and fired a name for himself.

So what are we going to cook in our earthen kunnem during the rains when fish is scarce? Dried fish curry of course ! Purumentachem fest is a feast of provisions for those lean days. Thank God for that umbrella, else our vendor would get pretty dried up herself. She can sell you some sun-heated grams as well.

That's it for the feast. But since we are playing a tag game, what do feasts and this photo have in common? Music! Johnson & his Jolly Boys were a famed dance band back in the sixties.

Domnic Fernandes writes : "The one band which was almost always in attendance at weddings all over Goa was “Johnson & his Jolly Boys”. Every member of the band, including the drummer, was well-versed with solfas (music notes); it was like a mini symphony orchestra! João, known to all as Joãozinho/Johnson (1913-1996) and my father, Roque J.R. Fernandes (1909-1983) who also was a mestre and a violinist and double bass player, were colleagues until my father left to play for the GREEN HOTEL in Bombay in the early 1940’s.

Johnson provided music to Goans for over four decades from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was an avid listener of Radio Ceylon. When at home, he sat by the radio, wrote down music notes of popular songs broadcasted on Radio Ceylon and introduced them in his band. Johnson traveled with his group in “caminhão” (bus) from Siolim to every nook and corner of Goa to play for weddings, dances, feasts, etc. A caminhão was required mainly to transport the “bonkanv” (double bass) and the drum set. For close by functions, separate persons carried these instruments on his/her head."

The grill paying tribute to Johnson & his Jolly Boys is at the road level (ventilating the basement) of a building that houses the Margao branch of Bank of India.

Fabrication Art can be found at the road level as well as slightly above it, in the form of a cycle tailpipe. Let us call it Aspirational Art. Someday this lad will own a vehicle with a real exhaust pipe and real turning indicators. Until then, a slightly bent aluminum pipe dream will do.

Cycles. They have to share the road with motorbikes, trucks, buses, cars and... yes, you got that one right... buffaloes! In Dubai where I am camping right now, one cannot see dogs, cats, pigs and cows on the roads as we can in Goa. Not even camels, such a sterile city. So thank God for buffaloes. Carry on tinkling your bells, dear chaps. You are welcome to our roads, hell, they were your roads before we took over your land.

A buffalo's gaze embodies WH Davies' poem Leisure very well. What is life indeed, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare. Or sit and stare, as this leisurely gent does outside Kohinoor Opticians at the Municipal Square.

Leisure and speed are brought together fluently at Bombay Cafe, a short walk from the Municipal Square down Station Road, formally called Francisco Luis Gomes Road. The fare is cheap, served fast for the folks shopping at the New Market, and yet there is time to chat and chill out. Touching one side of one's nose may be interpreted as a lewd gesture to a woman, but this gent must be thinking his moustache needs a trim.

And this is where he would probably go to. Again a short walk back to a small building opposite the Municipality. This place houses the famed Lorenz Studio on the first floor, where my brother Eddie works. And on the ground floor, in a small barberia, reflected in the mirror sits Kirk Lourenco, my beloved son.

Just outside the hair cutting saloon sits this old Gauddi woman contemplating her day and her life. Drumsticks, chikoos and a few mangoes are on offer alongwith some green leafy vegetables, to be sold at the close of another long, hard day. Did I say hard...yes, hard, but its therapy again, 'hard work therapy'...elation and triumph and a well earned night's sleep.

Shine on Silvery Light, bless the good people of Margao and stand guard as they sleep...

Early printing in Goa

2008-12-03T01:06:00.000-08:00

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One of the galleries at the Goa State Museum has these amazing ancient printing presses.

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Wikipedia says:
1556 - D.Joao Nunes Barreto, the Patriarch of Abyssinia (roughly corresponding to the current-day Ethiopia) introduced the printing press to Goa; situated at the Jesuit College of Saint Paul at Old Goa, it was the first in all of Asia. The first book published that year was called Conclusiones Philosophicas.

1557,a year later, the printing press published its second book, Catecismo da Doutrina Christa, posthumously, five years after the death of its author, St. Francis Xavier."

There's a lot of authoritative information on the fortunate circumstances by which we got the first printing press in Asia in Manoharrai Sardesai's History of Konkani Literature .

The picture below is of a rack of print types.

Here are some copies of prints from the first printing press in Goa,
The Life of Saint Peter, the Apostle in verse form :

(Below) A government bulletin '(Boletim do Governo) printed on the early printing press.

In his History of Konkani Literature Manoharrai Sardesai says "...it was only in 1821, that the press reappeared in Goa with the starting of a weekly called "Gazeta de Goa" followed by Chronista Constitucional de Goa (7th Dec.13thJune 1835) and Boletim de Governo do Estado da India (7th December 1837).

I found the plate below very interesting and a challenge to my limited lingual skills.

This plate is from the "Doutrina Christa – Rachol 1622" , an early Christian primer. Given below are my renditions in Old Konkani as it appears on the text, modern Konkani and a rough translation in English.

Old Konkani :

G: Satemanita, anny vcharita, aisse mhannatassi quitea?
S: Quitea bhauarthia Christauana, IESV Christachy see satema nuchy, taissichi, zari yecade uello ti muqhi ucharunchy zaita, tari tichè qhatira maranna paualoi tari, muqhi ucharunchy.

G. Mannussu Christao zalea nimitim, connu manu, conni uhaddiua taca zoddata?
S: Paramesparacho dharma putru hounu, suarguicho ddaizy zata.

G: Anny Christau nhoe to?
S: Ho aissalo saitanacho gulamu. Anny suarguinchea ddaizaea chucata.

G. Christaû nãua conna upraunu amaca labalã?

Modern Konkani :

G. Soth manta, ani vicharta, oxem mhonntat kiteak?
S: Kiteak bhavarthi Christão-ano, Jesu Christ-achi see soth-manchem, tosench, zor ekadim yelo ti mukhi ucharunchy zata, tori tiche katir moronn pavlem tori, mukhi ucharunchy.

G: Munis Cristão zalea nimtin, konn manu, kosli vhoddai taka zoddta?
S: Pormesvoracho dhorm put zavun, sorgincho daiji zata.

G: Ani Cristão nuim to ?
S: Ho oslo soitanacho gulam. Ani sorginche daiz chukta.

G: Cristao navam konnache fatlean amkam lableat?

English:

G: I believe, I ask, why do we recite so?
S: Because devout Christians must believe in the truth of Christ. In the same way, if he lives, he will speak the truth and even if he dies, he will speak the truth.

G: By becoming a Christian, what respect, what greatness does he attain?
S: By becoming the son of God, he attains the kingdom of Heaven.

G: And he who is not a Christian?
S: Such a man is a slave of the Devil. And he does not attain the Kingdom of Heaven.

G: After whom have we been given Christian names?

This plate reads out the "I believe" (The Creed) in Latin, Hindi (Devanagari script) and Hindi (Roman script).

The Goa State Museum

2008-12-03T00:38:00.000-08:00

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Filled with desire to share Goa's glorious past with my kids and nephews and nieces, I bundled seven of them into the car and went off to Panjim. The Goa State Museum at Patto Plaza in Panjim is located at the end of a godforsaken road with no signs to guide any potential visitors.
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The building itself is a woebegone two-storied concrete structure with no pretensions to any kind of architectural style. The structure is so ashamed of itself that over the years it has been trying to sink itself in the weak backfilled soil of Patto. The settlement of the structure has caused cracks in the floor and walls in several place. So much for the Glory of Goa, my kids were not impressed by the inglorious state of the museum!
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The staff were helpful though, and provided us with brochures and directions. A large rath, a wooden temple chariot stands in the central court of the museum.

The Goa State Museum has sorted out its collection into these categories : Sculpture, Christian Art, Banerji Art Gallery, Religious Expression, Cultural Anthropology, Contemporary Art, Numismatic, Goa's Freedom Struggle Gallery, Menezes Braganza Art Gallery,Furniture Gallery, Environment and Development Gallery and other displays.

That''s quite a lot to ingest in one trip. It's best to view just a couple of galleries in one visit. Else the historic and aesthetic significance of the objects is diminished in the visual overload. Here are a few statues of religious figures from the Christian Art Gallery.

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This stone statue is of a Portuguese queen, Dona Maria II. Check out the history of the Portuguese Coat of Arms. But I could not find information on the COA displayed on the shield in the photo. The other shield shows a Medusa head. ...

.......Maria II was born with the name "Maria da Glória Joana Carlota Leopoldina da Cruz Francisca Xavier de Paula Isidora Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga de Áustria e Bragança" . Thank goodness she had staff at hand to fill in her school admission forms! ..............
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One of the art galleries had these beautiful paintings. The one below is titled Queimada, which neans ''burn''. There is a film titled Queimada, starring MarlonBrando. The first photo shows the painting as well as the ghostly viewers in the museum. I tweaked the contrast to get the second picture, a darker and eerier image. It also looks like the fire is in its later, more anguished stage.

Another painting displayed (pic below) is titled Melancholia. The giant caterpillars and beetles and plants aptly conjure up the spectre of an overpowered life, whereupon the victim lapses into a brooding sadness. One of my favorite artists Edvard Munch has another portrayal of Melancholy.

The kids were quite taken up by the statuette blown by the wind.

This ironmonger towers in the photograph, but he is actually only a few inches tall. A clever camera angle does the trick. That's the way we must be, always larger than life!
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One of the largest single exhibits is the complexly(!) intricate Lottery draw machine of Provedoria. I guess they really did things in style those days. Today we would pick a crumpled lot from a jar to decide the winner.

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Road workers in the Portuguese era. A bull drawn roller stands in the background. I like the pose of the entire photograph, the men standing almost defiantly. In the lower photo, four men hoist a rammer, sharing the load equally on their heads.

This picture is of the Igreja da Immaculada Conceisao, the Panjim Church. At the right you can see the hillock which would be cut to form a route (called Corte de Oiterio today) to Fontainhas and Mala. Corte means cut in Spanish. Otero means hill, the word eventually became ''oiterio''. Cut in the hill!

Here's a Goan native in"''Christian dress''. The raw ethnic look in her face tells of a different time and circumstances altogether.

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Photography at that time involved standing still for long periods of time, to enable the image to be registered on the photographic plate. If the subject moved or sneezed, he was likely to be turned into a ghost in the photograph as below! The building behind had no such difficulty in standing still. Centuries later it is still standing still.

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The historical bulletin dated 23rd December 1961, after Goa had fallen into Indian hands, I mean liberated by the Indian Army.

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The kids had a whale of a time. They were energized and intoxicated enough by the knowledge they had imbibed, to try and lift the massive anchor that lay in the rear courtyard of the museum. They eventually hoisted it and tossed it into the Mandovi. Really.

The website link to the Museum is here http://goamuseum.nic.in/thecollection.htm

Most of the links within don't work. A crying shame for a glorious land whose historical exhibits should have been trumpeted and celebrated in a much prouder way.

Io re io re pavsa!

2008-06-12T06:43:00.000-07:00

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The rains are here. The days of ragged raincoats, soggy socks and ubiquitous umbrellas are here.

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A tiny red Ganapati sits snugly on the dashboard of a car, the Remover of Obstacles for the car on wet and slippery roads.
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The parched earth drinks deeply of the monsoons. Last year we had a long monsoon, almost half the year. Good for the groundwater levels. What was that good old line...Io re io re pausa, paus zala motta, paisa zala khotta....

Some local boys have assembled a makeshift hangout with some culvert pipes. They call themselves Pirate's Boys. This cow and her calves bestow bovine blessings upon them for the shelter in the storm. Maybe there's some one-eyed buccaneers inside the pipes as well.

Fields of Gold

2008-06-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

The blue skies of Goa's paddy fields. The colours, the scents and the breeze are so beautiful you just want to dive into the waters and be a part of this godly painting.

Francisca is taking us to see the fields getting readied for the monsoon crop. Her husband's name is a saintly coincidence - Xavier. Both were probably named after St.Francis Xavier, the Spanish Jesuit who came down to Goa to harvest souls for his Master.
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We cross a small stream of kneedeep water. A photo from the water level makes everything look larger.

The four women inspect the fields and pray for a good crop. Women work hard at farming in Goa. The men are good for nothings who spend their time drinking feni at taverns and taking photographs of paddy fields!

Fish laid out to dry on a high platform covered with netting. A tired old dog was grateful for the cover. He lifted his head as we passed by and then went back to sleep.

Buffaloes lounge in the waters of a pond completely covered with a water weed. Weeds like Salvinia and water hyacinth are causing havoc in the waterbodies of Goa. They clog up waterways and suffocate ponds like this one. When the buffaloes come out of the water, they look like FTV models in green designer wear!

. A good catch of fish from the pond. The khazan lands are actually swampy lands bordering rivers, which have been reclaimed for cultivation by our ancestors. In the rains the water will become freshwater, allowing for paddy to be grown. The salty waters of the sea come in during the summer, allowing for salt extraction. There's some fish harvest too. This ingenious use of land is being slowly destroyed by illegal filling, construction and neglect of the sluice gates that self regulate the flow of salty and fresh water.

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Local boys place twigs in the water to prevent unauthorised fishing with nets. They must have won the auction bid for this pond, which gives them the right to the fish catch later, and also the burden of preventing others with fishy intentions!

A haystack stands amid freshly ploughed fields. Come June and the rains will pour down and the paddy seed will be planted in these waiting furrows.

The narrow pathways of a small farming community. No scope for compound walls here. The walls are freshly thatched with coconut leaves for the monsoons.

Dulcina weaves a palm frond into a mat which will be used for rain protection or waving at the falling grain during harvest time to seperate the chaff from good grain. There's probably a hundred uses for such a mat, but plastic sheets are fast replacing them. A pity, because the coconut mats biodegrade well. After one rain the plastic shreds just flutter in the wind like our environmental conscience.

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Statue Quiz

2008-06-09T06:56:00.000-07:00

Can you identify the locations of these statues and memorials? Clue: They are all in and around Panjim, our capital city.

Who is this lady who has been gazed upon by countless visitors, but has no name!

Who does this square cut face belong to? Some days you're the statue and other days you're the bird...

What rests atop this tall pedestal ? Does it represent a silver lining in the dark clouds of India's present and future?

. This block itself looks like some avante garde art, but it stands near a much larger and taller monument in the heart of Panjim.

Whose bust 'tis, that glimmers against yon blue skies and white clouds in the waters, 'pon granite stone?

A long hand of warning, leave Goa alone, she's in a class of her own!

One fist is clenched, for what we held in the other is gone...

Sail, sail sail your boat merrily down the stream, for when the barge and casino collide, we won't have time to scream!

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I have not turned my back on you, my brothers and sisters. I'm just keeping a watch on the Mandovi...

Colours of Eve

2008-06-04T04:46:00.000-07:00

The streets of Goa's cities bustle with working women, housewives busy shopping and young college going teens, alongside their male counterparts. A few colours here, of womanhood in Goa, albeit on the fringes of the ratrace.

A young lady in blue peruses a photo exhibition by P.Sainath at the DD Kosambi Memorial lectures at Kala Academy in February this year. The pictures she is seeing are of the exploited girls/women who get paid barely ten rupees a day in these times, in parts of rural India. Sainath, a true rural foot-soldier journalist delivered a sobering and yet inspiring lecture on the state of Indian journalism today. Meanwhile the countryside girls live through their working blues...

"Want tabla, Madam?... very cheap..." intones the street hawkers who consider whites their legitimate prey. But Madam is not impressed and she knows her man tagging along will take care of them after a while. But for a good stretch they all follow her like rats after the blonde-and-striped Pied Piper.

The orange poster promises a good time at a Carnaval party, with Purple Rain et al. But the orange clad lass seated below the coconut tree at Majorda has a knowing look in her eyes. She caught me focussing on her and launched into a "Hallo sir, photo... massage...cheap..." The coastal belt has a limited vocabulary, but those who buy and sell have mastered it well....

Living in the love of the common people...It always feels better to walk the weekly market of Assolna, far from the beaches of sensual sleaze. Yellow, orduo, is the colour of the bananas and the young fruitseller's dress. She does a quick calculation of what a fraction of a dozen should cost.
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Red is the colour of youth, turning to grey as the years roll by, just as new orange rooftiles take on seasoned brown hues after many gruelling monsoons. Old country tiles with curved profiles stand alongside modern Mangalore tiles with their sophisticated curves and grooves.

A young sari clad woman dashes past the Fatorda Rosario Chapel laden with her burden of the day. But lightly doth she tread...oh, the litheness of youth!

The familiar blue, white and red colours of the kapodd of a Gauddi woman. She knelt at the cross in front of the Chapel at Monte Hill in Margao and sang her prayers in a singsong chant. Her heartfelt wailing seemed to hark back to a time before Christianity and Hinduism... to an era when human beings just fell to their knees and prayed to the unknown in the face of adversity. She remained there for more than an hour, lost in her transcendental communion.

Let's just walk by this grey old picture, shall we... we are already late for work, or to get home or whatever...

Death of a Coconut Tree

2008-05-31T00:35:00.000-07:00

A sad day at Velim, when it is decided to cut down three coconut trees that are leaning precariously over the house. After years of replacing cracked tiles and after carrying out expensive repairs to the roof and false ceiling, the hammer finally falls on these tall and robust soldiers.

The paddkar surveys the trees carefully. He has to calculate how many sections the trunk has to be chopped into, and where the cuts have to be made. If the tree is not too inclined, he can salvage some good lengths to make vanshe (coconut rafters). But if the risk of damaging the house is great, he will chop the tree into four or five smaller parts which he will slide down the trunk as the pictures show.

Easy does it. No engineering degree, but these men have a sound working knowledge of weight, pulleys, fulcrum, strength of materials and tons of courage. One of the trees was dead long back, its crown of leaves was gone and it was just a vertical column of rotted wood, without the vitality and flexibility of a live tree. The paddkar was at Maximum Risk at the highest cut, but he just did it, coolly and professionally.

A condemned tree stands at half mast. Its only crime...being planted too close to the house.
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Even in death, the coconut tree continues to give. These three 'canoes' will be equipped with sails and painted by the kids for a craft project. The treecutter distributes the honey he has found at the top. He has also been instructed to extract the murund, the tasty core of the efflorescence, from whence all coconuts come. Rafters, firewood, leaves...no part of the tree goes to waste. Truly a Kalpa-Vruksha!

Paddkar and Gaunkar are professional coconut pluckers and cutters. They treat trees like their own children and consider themselves their guardians. They were not pleased with our decision to cut these trees. I overheard them:

"Why are they cutting these trees?"

"They are too close to the house."

"Why did the fool plant them so close to the house?"

"It wasn't his fault, his father must have done that."

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The saddest part of the treecutting was when they brought down a couple of woodpecker babies from the crownless dead tree. The children were delighted and wanted to take care of them. But I said they were too small. The paddkar said they wouldn't survive. I left them near the compound wall to die peacefully.

But the kids wouldn't have it and they made me bring the babies back into the house. They fed them with water from a dropper. I dug up some worms for food. They took care of the nestlings for two days. The third morning, Mia came to me with the box without saying a word, tears in her eyes. I buried them next to Joey, our mongrel who had passed on last year.

Notes from the Windshield - 2

2008-05-14T04:51:00.000-07:00

Mourners amble past waiting traffic at the Holy Spirit Church road. They are headed for the cemetery near the Hospicio Hospital, to pray at the grave of their loved one. Black, white and varying shades of blue are traditional mourning hues.

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This minibus is dead too and its wellwishers heave and push, trying to get it to chug to life. They succeeded within five minutes of pushing it up and down in a short space of barely six metres!

Who says grown men play only with big cars! These 'banjo band' musicians toting their clarinets et al have housed their battery and amp in this little orange tugalong. The orange matches their boots and jackets. The suit clad clarinetist is probably the leader. A motley crew of topi and kurta clad gentlemen patiently wait in the background.

The shop glass and scooter mirrors reflect the streetscape of Margao, but this young girl's face reflects her total absorption in her cellphone chat. The sign above her offers 'Chocklet' Barfi among other delicacies.

What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs, And stare as long as sheep and cows:

Stand and stare is exactly what this travelling dog is doing.

This truck is clearly apologetic towards all the other vehicles he may have brushed or dented along the way. So am I for being away for so long. Hectic work deadlines compelled me to keep aside my beloved blog. But I have a lot of stuff ahead for you, so as the radio jocks say, stay tuned!

Cheers

Jose

The river life

2008-03-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

Walking down a pathway through the mudhouses of Mandur, we see a tree symbolizing the Rakhonndar, the guardian spirit of the place. The villagers have celebrated gulal at this mandd last night and the ground bears hues of vibrant colours.

But we are here for a site study and we need the depth of the water in the rivulet. Kashinath Shankar Naik takes me down midstream in his canoe. His little vessel with a single outrigger is loaded with bamboo nets.

It looks like hard work, rowing, working with the tidal flow to get where we want. But the wiry Kashinath does it effortlessly. "Nustem borem mellta re?", I ask him. "Gavta tashem..." he replies wryly. He describes the exact profile of the river bed as though he has lived underwater on this river all his life. And after dropping me onto the bank, he is off.

A massive anchor stands at the entrance of the Captain of Ports headquarters at Panjim.

More Carnaval pics

2008-02-05T06:40:00.000-08:00

Carnival in Margao

2008-02-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

The Brazilian influence was more evident this year. But raw sensual samba may have been too much for Goa, so the dancers were not as wild as the RiodeJanueiristas.

Carnival in Goa is the best time for drag queens and brings out the more graceful side of Goan men!

Once upon a time Fiats and Ambassadors ruled the Goan roads. Now they are souped up for Carnival junk car rallys. You can get a Fiat for less than ten thousand rupees nowadays.

Thor joins Bacchus in these three days of merrymaking!

This gang of Joalharias had a good time. With large mock implements their float showed how traditional goldsmiths plied their trade.

The irrepressible Emiliano as a bootilicious pamprel!

The Budweiser babes get rocking! The world's favourite beer had the prettiest girls. Polka dots may just be the next hot thing.

An aspiring air-hostess plying her trolley. Her unshaven legs and wobbly bustline may have jeopardized her chances!

A bhatcar of yore enjoys a good feni. Have a great time, folks! Viva!

Notes from the beach

2008-02-01T23:05:00.000-08:00

The idyllic sands of Utorda beach at noon. Boats dry out their joints while tourists soak in theirs.

A mother-daughter duo is framed at the entrance of Cafe Coffeday at Colva. The worth of an Espresso would keep them going for at least a couple of days.

Bamboo sand traps lie waiting at Miramar beach. This is an effort by the authorities to prevent beach sand from blowing onto the road barely a few metres away. Man made structures have been built where sand dunes stood. Those dunes were Nature's way of buffering land from sea. Will these bamboo sentinels do their job? Bob Dylan knew the answer.

A tourist examines belts at a roadside shop. Some of our visitors are very fastidious. I once watched an European complaining to a gadda owner on Margao's station Road, that the lighter he had purchased a few days back had stopped playing music. The lighter cost just ten rupees, but he had come all the way back from Palolem to protest.

The sun sets at Candolim beach. But it never sets on the spirit of entrepreneurship on the coastal belt. Make sure you don't get cheated by buying fake fakes.

Margao gets a new statue

2008-01-28T07:01:00.000-08:00

On the night of 24th January, a statue shrouded in white stands on a granite clad pedestal at the historic Lohia Maidan in Margao. It will be unveiled on the next day, the eve of Republic Day.

On the morning of the next day, veteran freedom fighter and convenor of MARG (an NGO working towards road safety in Goa) Gurunath Kelekar is busy getting things organised. He was instrumental in getting this statue installed.

Five in the evening. Political heavyweights Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Luizinho Faleiro are among the 'machier boslele manest'. Kelekar, still wearing his trademark white cap, orates on the background of the statue and this historic venue, which he calls Margao's sacred temple. It was here on the 18th of June 1946, that the great nationalist Dr.Ram Manohar Lohia gave a call to the citizens of Goa to assert their rights in the face of a clampdown on the civil liberties of Goans by the Portuguese regime.

At around six o'clock, the statue of Dr.Ram Manohar Lohia is unveiled and the crowd throngs to pay their respects to the leader who is remembered on every 18th June on Goa Revolution Day.

The aam admi's Chief Minister bites into a snack at the end of the event, with his eyeglasses perched high up on his forehead.

I found it interesting that most of the people who offered flowers at the statue also walked around the statue in a clockwise direction, a ritual observed in temples where the devotee walks around the garba graha (sanctum sanctorum).

Open to Sky

2008-01-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

It's time for the triennial opening of the house roof. Mangalore tiles are taken off and battens and rafters are inspected for termite damage. If good care is taken of the roof, this '105 not out' old house will go on to take a stand for many more centuries.

Santolin and his gang at work. They are traditional roof repairers who work with very basic tools but with great skill and speed. Men like this are increasingly harder to find with the younger generation not taking an interest in this kind of hard work. They use very quaint terms for joinery and roof parts, which I suspect have some Portuguese origin.

Noughts and Crosses on a celestial board anybody? Once in a long time we get to see the sky through the roof. And the stars cut out in the false ceiling let in bright sunlight, revelling in their breath of fresh air.

Notes from the Windshield

2008-01-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

Travelling around Goa is always fun, except for the traffic jams and dug up roads and loutish drivers and the...maybe it's not really so much fun! But there's always life throbbing around outside the car window. A Hare Krishna group wield their way through a street in Margao. There's a little boy sitting snugly inside the cart keeping the deity company.

A couple of tourists hitch a ride probably headed down south to Palolem.

The eternal wait at a manned railway crossing. The track passes through many villages in the coastal talukas. The young and restless among motorbike riders often lift the guard bar and scoot off before the train arrives.

This cyclist believes in carrying his music along with him. So what if he doesn't have a CD player. That will come later when he upgrades. The ladies behind are headed to the St.Augustine tower at Old Goa.

Any vehicle will do for a bunch of picnikers and this gang passing through Navelim has chartered a truck. It is not uncommon to see a pickup crammed with standing passengers headed for a mass or some event, bravely risking life and limb and the RTO inspectors. Just Blow Horn, OK.

A rickshaw driver pushes his crate as a crowd gathers to watch suspected jewellery robbers get nabbed in Margao.

A Boat, a Compactor and a Lady. May not work as a title for a film, but it will do for this picture. This busy road in Panjim runs alongside the Mandovi river with all its ferries and yachts and barges and canoes vying for waterway.

Somewhere behind all those bags and sacks is a determined rider. Helmet, what's that, he says, I have enough to cushion my fall.

A for Animal, B for Bondla

2008-01-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

A quick slide show of a visit to the wildlife sanctuary at Bondla. The elephant gets readied by his mahout. Padding is placed on its back to hold the seat-frame for the brave riders who await.

This sloth bear was the saddest creature at Bondla. It paced up and down the edge of its 'island' at least twenty times as we watched.

These leopards were a happier lot, gambolling around and chasing each other in mock fights. Their leader strikes a pose.

The Gaur or Govo reddo (Indian Bison) is the state animal of Goa! A healthy male can weigh in at almost a ton.

The king of snakes, a cobra admires its kingly reflection in the green and murky depths like a beautiful black Narcissus.

This well fed python like its compatriot in the pit below is too lazy to respond to a touch, even though the toucher may be dressed in a python-skin top!

Life rocks for this croc. Bondla also has porcupine, deer, a large collection of various snakes and an elephant skeleton display among other attractions. A small canteen takes care of hunger and thirst. Worth a visit. Well we don't have any other options in Goa, as far as a zoo goes!

Pik-Pik Lights

2007-12-30T07:55:00.000-08:00

Soco's Dance Floor at Chinchinim is all lit up, as couples twirl on the floor at a wedding. It's festive season and every road in Salcete is lit up by pik-pik lights and stars. In my childhood we just had standard bulbs in the decorative lights, but now you have rice lights, colour changing LEDs and the works. The amber and green glow at the base of Soco's compound wall is actually through embedded empty beer bottles.

A birthday party at Velsao combines Xmas sentiment, a family reunion and New Year enthusiasm. A funky remix of 'Juliana' and 'Farar far zatai ranatu..." punches the air.

A leggy guest croons "I will Survive" at a wedding at Verna, striking up a nice parallel to the long red columns.

Giant ten-feet tall stars stand at Betalbatim and Assolna, with wishes from "Boys of Binvado" and "Bad Boyz Blue". It is quite the thing for young lads from a locality to mark an area as their own turf and to put up a Christmas star or Old Man effigy for the New Year at that spot. Must be an identity thing. The banner near the Seraulim church wishes all employed (empregad) and laidback (susegad) gentry a Merry Christmas.

The evergreen Dr.Francisco Colaco jamming with musicians onstage at Assolna. A week of festivities runs from Christmas right up to the 2nd or 3rd of January, in most villages in Salcete. A stage is put up, the local crowd gather to watch their kids perform, or a band jamming or a tiatro, just good wholehearted fun at the end of the year.

This Christmas tableau stands in Monteirovaddo, Utorda. 'King Herod's castle', as the sign proclaims, has a Moorish influence. The boy standing near the installation informed me that there was an even bigger one at Arossim, where you could walk through the tableau. Maybe in time to come, a whole village will become a tableau.

This one at Tolecanto,Velim was more artistically executed. Piyush Sarkar, the creator of this work, sat nearby puffing on a bidi. He is a carpenter by profession, a Bengali Christian who came to Goa in 1988. "I have been setting this up every year since 1992," he says, "Look at the tree roots I have put over the crib, to make it look real..." A platter of notes and change lies near the Infant Jesus. A couple of tigur (catfish) swim in the shallow pond below the 'waterfall'. Herod's Castle looks more medieval here, with turrets and rusticated walls.

"They call me Pius here" adds the creator of this remarkable scene.

So SEZ the people!

2007-12-29T22:19:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, the SEZ protest 'wagon' rolled into Chinchinim. The Central government has proposed and approved seven Special Economic Zones in Goa. Just fresh (or fatigued) from a battle to revert the disastrous Regional Plan 2011, the people of Goa are now up in arms against the establishment of these zones. The logic is simple, say the protestors. Lakhs of jobs will be created and taken up by outsiders. Ten lakh 'bhaile' alongwith their dependents will swarm into Goa. The demographics of Goa go for a toss accompanied by physical and cultural erosion that will destroy the Goa that we know today. Goans become an endangered species.

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The truck here has been modified to act as a mobile meeting platform with chairs, a mike stand and lights. The activists wait for a crowd to gather at the Chinchinim market square. "Tumi uloupachem re, ami uloun uloun jaam zale!" tells an activist to a villager. Dramatic graphics with slogans like 'Jaag Goenkara' and 'Don't sell Goa, Preserve it!' set the mood. .

A ravenous gorilla with pierced nose, eyebrow and tongue glares hungrily from the rear poster. A look at real estate websites like realtygoa.com shows that a villa in Goa can fetch almost a crore. Goa is hot property today and everyone wants a piece of the pie.

News reports say : "The Goa Movement Against SEZ (GMAS), which has been demanding scrapping of all special economic zone projects, on Sunday threatened to intensify the agitation if the State government failed to scrap the projects.
The GMAS comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Goa Suraj Party and activist-groups.
Besides the GMAS, the SEZs were being opposed by the Goa Church-affiliated Action for Social Justice and the Goa Bachav Abhiyan, which spearheaded a successful agitation against the controversial State Regional Plan 2011."

"Last year on 18th December on the eve of Goa liberation day (Goa was liberated from the Portuguese rule by the Indian army on 19th December 1961) Goa Bachao Andolan's (Save Goa Movement - GBA) massive rally in the capital city of Panjim brought down the state government to its knees. The GBA successfully fought to scrap the controversial regional plan of 2011 which sought to convert large acres of agricultural and forest land for settlement purposes.

One year down the line the Goans are again fighting to protect their land this time from the monster of SEZ which has come to haunt them. Come Friday 14th December Goans will be meeting in South Goa- Margao – to raise the banner of protests against the SEZ in the form of a massive meeting. ...."

Merry Christmas !

2007-12-25T07:01:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas eve in Panjim, the capital city and everyone's dashing around for last minute gifts or just to get home. The Immaculate Conception church stands lofty on its perch of a zillion steps. They have put up a giant crib of sorts, with cutouts placed at the first steps landing. Sensible, it keeps the tourists busy clicking pics of themselves and allows for peace at the church front where preparations for midnight mass are on.

We attended mass at Velim, where a 2000 strong congregation turned up. There's a different charm in a 'midnight mass', be it for Christmas or New Year or Easter. The reading of the Gospel was accompanied by a film clip projected onto a side panel. The vicar ran faster than the film and he had to take a long pause to allow the relevant moment to come up, which was Mary and Joseph entering the inn. In that silence, one of the elderly backbenchers began snoring and he could be heard loud and clear, provoking titters in the crowd.

Coffee and cake was served after mass and general camaraderie prevailed with hugs and kisses generously dispensed all around. Star and crib competitions are the order of the day alongwith carol singing. My kids triumpantly declared that their gang had made 427 rupees the previous evening.

A large star hanging in Baga, Velim. The club there belted out carols all night long on the loudspeaker. Huge stars and elaborate scenarios of the Nativity scene deck the roads all over Goa in Christmas season. They will be taken down only after the Feast of the Three Kings on the 6th of January.

Neureo, cocada, kormollam, bath'k, dodol, bebinca, doce in the consoada, a collection of Christmas sweets exchanged by neighbours.

Merry Christmas everyone ! Cheers! Un-unit Natalanchim Porbim! Mog, moipas, bolaiki ani shanti amkam sogleank !

Christmas at the Communidade

2007-12-23T05:51:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday and the footpath near the Communidade building at Margao has turned into a free-for-all Christmas decoration market. Stars, caps, cribs and loads of shiny frills are sold by peddlers sitting, standing and strutting their stuff.

This elegant Art Deco building is an understated masterpiece of modernist minimalism, with its tall slim columns and simple railings. The window grills have a well proportioned sunburst motif. Okay, okay, this isn't the architecture blog, but I can't help admiring this graceful edifice.
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At first sight the young lad seems to be playing with his toys, but he has a job to do and miles to go before he sleeps... May God keep him happy and make life easier for him in the coming years.

A Sunday of Hard Rock

2007-12-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday our young band of explorers took off to experience some hard rock in Quepem taluka. First stop was a cave at Rivona. We missed the first cave that is listed by the ASI heritage list, but found another large cavern way off the main road. The kids are standing on a platform with steps, probably some ritualistic altar of sorts.

The view from inside the cave. There was an impressive anthill at the entrance, well sheltered from the ravages of the monsoons. Man and ant must have lived together peacefully. That reminds me, what did the elephant say when he stamped on an anthill?....He said "Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant...!" You have to be a Goan to understand that joke!

On the trail of the mysterious Stone Age rock carvings, they trek past mining dumps on the Pansaimol plateau. The rock here is rich in iron ore and boulders here look like jagged metal.

A man made lake catches their eye. Green pristine water stands where man and machine once dug for the reddish ore. We walked on to where a stream bubbled over well polished pebbles. The cool water was too tempting and what greater joy than to dip your feet within and skim some flat stones!

As they frolicked in the water, a scooterist drove right into the stream and began washing his steed. In Goa bikers and truckers think nothing of driving their vehicles into the nearest pond to give them a good bath. Pollution, billution be damned!

At the Rock Art site at last. The bank of the stream abounds in carvings of animals, traps, figures, symbols of Mesolithic period cosmology. They date back to at least 3000 to 5000 years BC! They are called Petroglyphs in archaeological jargon. Petroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surfaces by incising, pecking, carving or abrading.

A small stone phallus, placed mischievously, completes the picture. The same stone plays the role of an eye in the previous photo of a deer.

This bull carving actually depicts the internal organs. Water is poured in the grooves to give better contrast in photographs. On a previous visit I recall the guide on the site referring to this image as "X-ray of a bull". He wasn't giving us any bull, really.

I call this tree standing near the carvings - the "Hell Tree". It looks like there's some tormented figures trying to escape some hellish nightmare. Just my imagination! But do you see what I see in the tree below?

Goenchea Saibachem Fest

2007-12-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

It's the feast of St.Francis Xavier at the Velim Church and mass just got hi-tech with TV monitors displaying an inside view of the altar for those who stand outside the crowded church. Parish populations have gone through the roof and the old churches cannot accomodate them. For Christmas, Good Friday and Easter many parishes put up pandal enclosures on the church grounds. The picture on the monitors is grainy and the inspired videographer focuses on the statues in the side altars during hymns.

The faithful shuffle along in double file on the road. The band playing is interspersed by exploding fozzne, gunpowder bombs which give off a loud enough report to make little children clutch their mothers and make older parishioners temporarily deaf. Any vehicle trying to cross now will have to wait until the whole procession has passed.

What doth he think of, his son on the ship or the sorpotel that waits at the festa jevonn? Some walk with their hands clasped in front, some walk swinging them free, this pensive walker has a dignified gait.

Probably deterred by diminished vision this gentleman watches the procession from the bandstand.

The procession winds up back at the church entrance having circumnavigated the football ground and manouevred through the steel rods, sand piles and incomplete compound walls. An extension is being built to the parish school.

The intrepid five gather near the devoutly named Devtanarayan icecream vendor to figure out their budgets for toys, ring games and of course, icecream. My grandmother, god bless her soul, would give us one rupee each to splurge at the fair. We had to carry out similar planning.

Mestre Josinho and his blowers strike up the right notes as the mass ends. Sax, trumpets and trombones from men in their fifties and sixties. Young Goans nowadays prefer learning keyboards, guitar and even violin, but wind players are on the decline. Josinho is a busy man, his schedule is packed with tiatros, but he always makes it for his church feast. They swing and sway as Santa Lucia, Manha de Carnaval and other standards fill the air.

Children at Play

2007-12-14T19:03:00.001-08:00

Japanese inspired toys like Pokemons and those expensive fancy spinning tops were all the rage some time back and every kid wanted one. But these kids follow the hallowed tradition of making their own spinner-cutters. A soft drink bottle cap is flattened and two small holes punched in at the centre. Tie a piece of sturdy string through the holes and voila, your spinner is ready. A few whirls to wind it up and the circular 'blade' spins like a rotary cutter. Two cutters can then compete to 'destroy' each other. The cost...zero! I remember playing with these in my childhood.
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Some decades back, the terms 'pinch hitter' and 'Pitcher's Mound' would have been Greek to Goans. But here's a match between Mustifund School of Panjim versus St.Bartolomeu's of Chorao! I don't recall baseball figuring anywhere in my childhood!
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A bunch of schoolkids dashing around a park in Panjim while their less privileged counterparts, probably daughters of migrant labour, play on the swings. The girl child from poorer communities in India still has a long way to go.

The spirit of children at play, which adults could do with a little more, is frozen in metalwork at the circle near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at Fatorda, Margao.

Assault on Cabo da Rama

2007-12-11T06:15:00.000-08:00

It's evening and we race to get to Cabo da Rama, a 17th century fort in Canacona taluka, to catch the sunset. The farmers on the plateau are busy stacking fodder for their cows. Cabo da Rama means Cape of Rama, it is believed that Lord Rama stayed here during his exile. I'm sure he enjoyed the view and his stay.

Light is falling when we get there and all I can get of the densely overgrown moat of the fort is this hazy shot. The fort is in dilapidated condition and the government has recently commissioned a conservation agency to prepare a restoration report. Many turrets have crumbled and their long laterite stones can be seen in the moat below.

As we enter the plastered premises which are used sometimes by the weather observatory chaps, we are greeted by a funky graffitto which seems to spell 'music' or 'jung'. Old Carl Jung would say it depends on your archetypes. I noticed Jesus and Maria in the names there.

The fort walls have slits in the masonry to fire muskets from- in three directions! The laterite is nice and seasoned with 328 monsoons, considering the fort was built in 1679. It is the largest fort in Goa, covering an area of 179600 sq.metres! The Rajas of Sunda controlled it till 1763 when the naughty ol' Portuguese led by the Viceroy Conde de Ega captured it.

Now under the control of Captain Kirk Lourenco and four other kids, the cannon is readied for battle! Rulers and princes have come and gone and governments in Goa change even faster, but these hardy walls and their cannons endure the tests of time.

They roared and destroyed the marauders in ancient times, but this cannon does duty as a viewing bench in peacetime.

The Church of Cabo da Rama dedicated to St.Anthony lies desolate with a few lonely crosses and a mini goalpost for company. This was a whole throbbing village once upon a time. Now the small parish still congregates every Sunday and for feasts. Note the tall maddi tree which stands in front of almost every one of the 159 parish churches of Goa.

A large black crucifix and a wooden statue frame await the Holy Week. In those days the Cross will be erected for the enactment of the Crucifixion and the frame will be adorned to form the image of Mother Mary as she looks up at her suffering son in the traditional Good Friday tableau.

Movie Cameras at the Film Festival

2007-12-08T23:23:00.000-08:00

The Films Division of India had put up this amazing exhibition of movie cameras and other equipment at the 38th International Film Festival at Panjim. Here's a brief overview.

Steenbeck 35mm (Four Plate) Used for film and sound sync , track making and final editing.

Westrex 35mm Triple Reproducer - 40 years old - Used to play 3 audio tracks for mixing.

Mitchel Camera

"The emergence of sound films had an immediate dampening effect on the use of handheld shots. By 1929, camera manufacturers and studios had devised shells called blimps to encase the camera and dampen the mechaical noise to allow the cameras to be free of booths. When the soon to be ubiquitous Mitchel Camera emerged in 1934, it weighed 135 pounds. This clearly precluded any handheld usage. The aesthetic style of films from this period thus reflcted their available technology and handheld shots were for the most part avoided."

Moviola Editing Machine made in USA. 35mm picture and sound track used for film editing. Used in 70s and 80s.

The Arriflex 16ST is a very small reflex 16mm camera with electric drive and bright viewfinder. It takes 100ft of film in the body and can take 400ft magazines for longer running times. in 100ft mode the camera is very small and portable. widely used in 70s.

35 mm Bomb spotting camera, make - Bell & Howell, Chicago. Used in wartime for aircraft bomb spotting.

This piece of heavy artillery is a 800mm lens on an Arriflex camera. The Arriflex 35 IIIA is one of the most significant movie cameras of all time. It is in use from 1953 and has 180 deg shutters.

Nutan, one of the most accomplished actresses of the black & white era smiles happily at the IFFI curtains reflected on her face.

This is a classic photograph of Madhubala, a sensuous apsara who would probably make the Gods swoon.

More lovelies from the yesteryears of Indian cinema. They were sensual and yet demure compared to the in-your-face oomph of today's vixen-stars.

Nistem zai ge!

2007-12-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

A relative wants to prepare fish molho, so off we go early in the morning to the 'wholesale' fish market at Margao. It's a messy place, with melted ice creating a mucky playground. But oh, the heavenly smell of fish!

Come one, come all, bid what ye may! The wholesaler (or is it wholeseller!) sits with his wad of notes and panttes of sardines as watching fisherwomen contemplate a deal.

Ice slabs are offloaded. They will provide 'open' refrigeration for the baskets of fish. Dig the cool rusted cycle with its classic green striped bag.

What should I buy...that chonok looks good, but yesterday's stock didn't move fast enough...maybe I'll stick to bangdulleo today.

Solefish, kingfish, swordfish and the works! A young buyer weighs the options.

You can have your fish and chop it too. This skillful lad performs his 'choppery' artfully, it's a joy to watch. The ground below is not so aesthetically pleasing, the fish entrails are dropped there. But the cats that abound do not complain.

Sisters in arms. A couple of fish 'coolies' clown around. Mostly from the laamani tribe, these colourfully clad women carry fish baskets over long distances, unmindful of the chilly ice melting down their shoulders.

Lights, Shadows and Action!

2007-12-01T00:26:00.000-08:00

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Shadows play across the INOX courtyard. The 38th International Film Festival of India is being held in Panjim, with films screened at INOX, the Maquinez Palace, Kala Academy and a couple of city theatres.

Film buffs mingle as the heavenly light of the Celestial Director shines on them. Not really, I tweaked the brightness on this shot! Life is hard when you're shooting with just a cellphone camera.

Can't really make out who are the celebrated directors and who are the bums! Ze girls are very charming. One PYT sat next to me and after coyly glancing at me, asked "Sir, who are you?" I contemplated for a moment..should I tell her I am a director or actor...or a casting agent...She was from Andhra, studying MBA in Communications. We communicated briefly before moving of to the Maquinez theatre to watch Ernst Lubitsch's To Be Or Not To Be. Great film, on par with Chaplin's Great Dictator as a classic wartime comedy.

A corridor in the Old Goa Medical College building, now HQ for the IFFI organisation. Where the film fraternity now hobnobs, there once walked sick and worried people praying for merciful deliverance.

First Holy Communion

2007-11-27T23:28:00.000-08:00

Young Leander has received his First Holy Communion and it's celebration time with his family and friends at his home in Chinchinim.
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A thanksgiving prayer at the home altar. The uncle of the young lad exhorts him to be good. Prayers of the faithful are said and a rousing rendition of San Francis Xavieraaaa... rounds off the prayer session.

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The altar, with St.Anthony at the apex, is a miniature model of the 'trono' style retable seen in many Goan churches. The niches flanking the altar mimic the 'iconostasis' arrangement also popular in many churches.

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The cake for the occasion is chalice-host shaped with gold-coloured icing. The elaborate centrepiece for the cake was crafted by the artistic uncle.

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Leander's cousins take the mike to sing 'Bandra festak gellom hanv tea nimnea aitarak...'

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A couple of songs by the kids and the seniors got into the mood. 'Encosta tua cabecinha' and 'Haha novro mhaka zai' sang the ladies. A tiatrist friend also belted out an Alfred Rose favourite.

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One and a half dozen cousins and friends...the perfect company for a lad's party!

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It's buffet time, with sannas, pulao, chana masala, chow-chow, chicken, fruit custard, bebinca and other mouth watering delicacies.

The Facilitators

2007-11-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

Afternoon at the Passport Office, Patto Plaza, Panjim. Official facilitators help out in filling forms and checking them. Goa has a large overseas population and the passport office is always crowded. The other 'passport office' that is equally crowded is the Portuguese Consulate with Portuguese passports being greatly in demand for entry into the European Commonwealth.

A railing pillar becomes an impromptu office desk as the 'unofficial' facilitator gets to work. He solicits the unsure passport seeker with an air of confidence and pockets his modest fee. Hard work in a poor environment. He sometimes puts up a plastic sheet over his pillarpost. Can't afford some crowshit ruining a neatly filled form!

I got tired of waiting for my friend standing in his queue and I strolled out. Out on the street was a huge march, er marcha. Morcha actually. Hundreds of workers from various industrial firms chanted 'Murdabad murdabad' and 'Zindabad zindabad' alternately marching under the towering buildings of Patto Plaza.

They all marched up to a corner of Patto Plaza and their chief honcho gave a speech. The sun was scorching overhead and the women wilted in the heat.

The cops were all at the ready, prepared to take a few stones on their heads. Huddled with their transparent shields they look like Roman soldiers waiting for Obelix to arrive.

The rear of the police force is more relaxed, the constables are deeply engrossed in studying their female counterparts. The security guards of the building also seem to share their appreciation.

I left the facilitation of the workers woes to their aggressive leader and ambled back. A jungle man squatting by the pavement offered to take away the pain of all the passersby. His pots and pans contained an exotic concoction of roots, barks, leaves and assorted parts of half a dozen endangered lizards and godaloneknowswhatelse. "Many fellows say they have cured Rajas and Maharanis with their medicines. Look, I offer no such false proof!" he claimed. Having confused his audience, he proceeded to rub some of his magick oil on his accomplice's shoulder and then pulled out some imaginary spirits from his ears with a scrap of newspaper. The bloke to the left promptly parted with a few rupees for the magic oil. The jungle man kept up a steady flow of sales talk peppered with philosophy and ancient wisdom.

The heat was killing and a soothing glass of sugarcane juice facilitated the quenching of my thirst.

Kaddio boddio ani Chonne

2007-11-23T04:53:00.000-08:00

Our Lady of Rosary Church lit up at night. The parish church of Navelim is around 410 years old and was founded by a French Jesuit. Today it is the most populated parish in Goa. The feast was celebrated on the 21st of this month. The fair will be here for over a week.
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Gorom gorom chonne-biknam! Naked bulbs light up the numerous stalls laid out in front of Rosary school. The traffic arrangements were perfect this time, with none of the traditional jams.

A toy-seller helps a young buyer make up his mind. Today toy shops at feast fairs are an amazing array of colourful, plasticky gizmos most of which are guaranteed to break down in a week's time if they are not dismantled earlier by the children who buy them. Speaks poorly of toy quality but highly of the scientific mind of our kids!

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Kaddio-boddio (made of channa flour, jaggery flavoured with ginger) and bright yellow ladoos and tiddeos (revddeos in Bardez) made of hard boiled jaggery rolled in til seeds. The sweet seller is exhausted at the end of the day and his stall is not as neatly laid out as it was in the morning.

Twelve men and a Ball!

2007-11-21T22:53:00.000-08:00

Now that's a man's game! An early morning workout with other beefy friends on the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium grounds at Fatorda, Margao. "Danny, pass, pass!", "Camil chedechea, kit' korta re!" alongwith other colourful yells fill the morning practice.

I shot this on the way to my daughter's school. As I walked away I could hear one player remark "Ai saiba, Camil, atam tuge baille kott'olem, tum misa gel'na mhunn" (O God, Camil, now your wife will know you haven't gone for mass!)

The Walk of Life

2007-11-21T09:59:00.000-08:00

"And after all the violence and double talk

There's just a song in the trouble and the strife

You do the walk, you do the walk of life"

- Dire Straits

A girl walks home on a Mapusa street, shielding herself from the sun. After a few days of chilly mornings, it's warmed up again. There doesn't seem to be three seasons in Goa anymore. Just six months of rain and six months of heat. I like the almost Oriental look of this young lady's walk. Traditional Indian attire, yet a chic modern look.

Rice paddy being dried on the edge of the Carambolim lake in Tiswadi . A lot of migratory birds haunt this waterbody. This is the traditional way of turning over the paddy by walking through it every half hour or so. The bamboo mat is called aator in Salcete and dai in Bardez. You can buy them readymade at the Wednesday Mapusa Market, though some families use a tarpaulin now for convenience. Amazingly a large 20 sqm bamboo mat will fold down to a pack small enough to be transported in the back of a jeep.

An elephant ambles through Navelim in Salcete with its food stock and mendicant mahout on its back. The ponderous animal will occasionally halt to gingerly stretch out its trunk to a generous motorist and collect a ten-rupee note. It looked healthy and well cared for, no worry for the SPCA here.

So whether your food is in your bag or under your feet or strapped on your back, you do the walk, you do the walk of life!

Ferry Crossing at Rachol

2007-11-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

School, Bull and Lights!

2007-11-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

A gaggle of schoolgirls at 1.10 pm. A cacophony of parents and their wards breaks loose onto a street in Mapusa.

A fighting bull gets hosed down by its proud owner at Raia. Bullfights or 'dhirios' are banned in the State, but a few do take place clandestinely with the covert support of politicians who seek to equal the bull in machissimo!

Margao gears up for the Dindi festival. Lights are up at the Hari Mandir Street.

"Dindi is Margao’s biggest religious festival. It draws more people than any other event – cultural, religious or political. Few would know, or imagine, that Dindi is not a homegrown fest. The almost century-old event was started by immigrants settled in the town." - Valmiki Faleiro

Fish to die for

2007-11-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

What is life without fish! Baskets and baskets of bangdde, mudd'oshe, chonnok and pamplitt et al are devoured by people in Goa every day. These pics are at the Margao SGPDA market.

The noble Fish even has a 'monument' in its honour at Miramar, Panjim. Children at play run through the giant fish. Perhaps adults looking at the wide-open mouth should reflect on the views of Konkani writer and thinker Ravindra Kelekar. He mused that all their life Goans eat fish and that at least when they are dead, their mortal remains should be buried at sea so that the fish could eat them. Not a bad thought.

In his chapter on 'Eating and Drinking' in The Prophet, Khalil Gibran says:

When you kill a beast, say to him in your heart,
“By the same power that slays you, I too am slain; and I too shall be consumed.
For the law that delivered you into my hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand."

Random shots

2007-11-19T01:00:00.000-08:00

Shoppers and vendors ambling down Station Road in Margao, officially called Francisco Luis Gomes Road. The great FL Gomes would frown on the chaotic conditions on this busy lane, but would approve of the throbbing economic activity. Few know that he was a great economist and wrote about the communidades and much needed economic reforms. Modernity and tradition, the young and the old walk side by side here.

A tailor working on putting together the giant shamiana covering at the Bom Jesu Basilica at Old Goa. The feast of St.Francis Xavier is coming up on 3rd December. The Basilica looms in the background. Difficult for tourists to get those nice long shots of the entire Basilica these days.

Tourism kicks into top gear on the North Goa beach belt. But couples holidaying in Goa must use protection - for their heads. Helmetless travel can be highly injurious to health.

Hilly Fruits

2007-11-17T23:44:00.000-08:00

There's an exhibition of 'Hilly Fruits and Vegetables' going on at the Lohia Maidan in Margao. For some of our city people, those strange looking vegetables and fruits must have seemed quite alien. But this is one annual exhibition where visitors always walk away with something in their hands, be it a plant, fruits or just seeds. Very inspiring, specially for children, ignites the spark of farming or at least kitchen gardening in their tender minds.

Amchem Bhangarachem Goem

2007-11-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

Whoever visits Goa, our lovely land nestling on the western coast of India, is bound to be bewitched by it. One of the prime holiday destinations in the world, Goa is loved for its green fields, white churches, golden sands, red forts, multi-hued temples and equally colourful cuisine. And the warmth of the Goan people. The folks here are so warm that they are real cool!

Travel brochures flash photos of sunny beaches and carnivals et al, but how does life in Goa really go on? A few random photos every day should reveal the real beauty of Goa and its people. This blog is specially dedicated to all my Goan brothers and sisters all over the world who love and cherish their Goem wherever they may be.

Mog asundi
Jose Lourenco