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| Basilica of Bom Jesus (from internet) |
From
Mahabaleshwar we headed towards Goa taking a day off at Kolhapur. At Kolhapur
we were given to understand about a site close by called Panhala. Not very well
know outside, it is an important place where Chhatrapati Shivaji, one of the
greatest icons of Maharashtra, is stated to have spent more than 500 days. It
is known for its fort which is supposed to be the largest of all Deccan forts.
Panhala’s elevation is more than 3000 ft; the fort rises another 400 ft.
affording a panoramic view of the valleys below. There was nothing other than
the fort and the
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| Goan sunset |
placeseemed to have had utter indifference from authorities.
It looked to me to be ill-kept. Panhala was in the news recently for vandalism
by Hindu Right-wing activists of the film sets of the film “Padmavati” being
shot by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, a film producer of note.
Two
days later we were in Panjim, now known as Panaji. We had bookings in the Goa
Tourism outfit at Panaji. Very well located, it had comfortable rooms. The
Mandovi River was only a couple of minutes away, and more importantly, close to
which we had found a restaurant
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| Colouful evening skies |
which used to offer Goan food. As it was close
to the Goa Secretariat lots of officials of Goa government used to patronize it
during the lunch hour. They would have a quick lunch with a shot of cashew or
coconut feni and rush back to office.
It was a Goan pub actually and not a
restaurant as along with food alcoholic beverages could also be bought and
consumed. The Goa Tourism outfit did have a restaurant but we found this pub to
our liking with lots of fish, prawns and shrimps in the menu done in Goan
style.
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| Church of Immaculate Conception |
Curries are what Goa is known for and. of course, the vindaloo. One
needn’t say that those were very delicious meals that we had. In 1979 strangers
as we were to Goan cuisine the food just overwhelmed us. During most of our
stay of a week we tried other such places but we found this one very good and
matching our tastes. My memory is rather
fuzzy about its name; I think it was Olympia or Olympus.
Portuguese
influence was still palpable. The colonial laid back style of functioning was
very evident. The most glaring example of this was the
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| At Anjuna Beach |
habit of taking afternoon
siesta that Goans had been unable to shake off till then. Most of the shopping
and office establishments would be shut during the siesta hours. Centuries of
Portuguese rule did have its impact. Portuguese was still spoken among many
families and they were generally from among the elites. Konkani was the second
language, we were told, spoken generally by Hindus. Goa used to have, and still
has a mix of religions with Christians, Hindus and Muslims living together in
the tiny territory. But, unlike in the rest of India where inter-religious
strife erupts frequently, peace and quiet prevails in
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| Gold of the Goan skies |
Goa – no religious
schisms.
One
could hear strains of Western music as the evening progressed. This was another
sign of the Portuguese influence. Close to the Tourism outfit boys and girls
would come together and either play on guitar or sing together what appeared to
be Portuguese romantic or love songs. This would go on for quite some time well
into the night but without, apparently, disturbing the neighbourhood.
We
took a few packages. The first had to be the one to Old Goa or Velha Goa. Velha
Goa was the capital of Adil Shah’s Bijapur dynasty in the 15th and
early 16th Century when it was wrested away by the Portuguese who
ruled over the territory for more than 400 years. The rule ended only when Goa
was annexed by the Indian Union. The
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| Stained glas windows of Basilica |
annexation was culmination of years of
struggle by Goans against Portuguese Rule. Nehru, the then Prime Minister of
India lost patience with the Portuguese when numerous freedom fighters were
shot dead in Goa. Though continuation of colonial rule in Goa was an
anachronism in the second half of the 20th Century the Portuguese
dictator Antonio Salazar never tried to acknowledge it. French had already
peacefully transferred their small Indian possessions to the government of
India in early 1950s. For the military action in Goa
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| Sun going down through a cluster of palms |
the Indian Government came
in for the heaviest criticism from Western Powers and President John Kennedy was
even reported to have said “the preacher (of non-violence) has been caught with
his pants down in a brothel”.
Portuguese
established their trading post and created a veritable religious town with
several churches and cathedrals at Old Goa. It is from here that the Portuguese
embarked on their spice trade across Asia. While the remnants of pre-Portuguese Goa have
been wiped out, there are several structures built by the Portuguese in their
early years in Velha Goa are still intact. The most outstanding is the Basilica
of Bom Jesus which also has the remains of St. Francis Xavier. Considered to be
the best example of baroque architecture in India, the Basilica was consecrated
about 400 years ago and is supposed to
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| Ruins of St. Augustine's church |
be one of the oldest churches in India.
From many aspects it appears as if the church is dedicated to St. Francis
Xavier with numerous paintings relating to his life and his mortal remains have
been kept in a silver casket and is exposed every ten years. I had an occasion
to see it during its Exposition in 1980s. There are numerous other churches and
cathedrals that are still standing and standing well. But the Church of St.
Augustine is in ruins.
Goa
is beautiful as you travel through its countryside to reach places like Madgaon
or Vasco da Gama. Coconut groves keep you company and what is perhaps more
beautiful is the sudden appearances of small impeccably white-washed churches
that seem to emerge out of the
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| Sun setting in a riot of colours |
lush green landscape. Every village apparently
has a church which is well maintained making it a sight to behold.
The
Goan beaches are what the tourists are taken to. We also did the rounds of
Calangute, Baga, Anjuna and Vagator. As we were not the type to strip down to
bare essentials and dive into the inviting waters, we wandered around beaches
peopled with scantily clad or even unclad white men and women frolicking under
the rather strong sun. They were apparently quite used to the hordes of
tourists
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| St. Xavier's effigy in the Basilica |
wandering around, sometimes some young men even ogling, but they
displayed supreme indifference to them.
It was the 1970s when Goa came into its own
with hippies swarming into it from all corners of the world. Hippies had just
discovered freedom and started migrating to freer pastures. Goa was excellent
for them and was different from other Indian destinations. The locals were more
used to the Western ways, whatever that might be, and were tolerant of their
uninhibited ways. Here, therefore, they had absolute freedom on the beaches of
Baga, Anjuna and Vagator. Arambol in North Goa was still to be discovered and
Colva and Mojorda in the South were yet to find favour with the hippies. Life
was amazingly uninhibited and liberated for them with day-long gamboling with
their partners in the sun and, as it went
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| Another view of colourful Goan skies |
down across the Arabian Sea, music
and dance took over, maybe, with a shot of alcohol or drugs. It was indeed out
of this world – sheer paradise.
A
word must be said about the Goan flea markets. While coming back from North Goa
we had a stop at a biggish town called Mapusa. And, lo and behold, there right
in front was a flea market in full swing. Most of the stuff was oriented to the
requirements of the foreigners but there were traditional items like village handicrafts.
The crowd was mostly of foreigners who took a break from the beaches to buy brief
apparels for their life on the beaches.
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