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There’s
something about completing 16 years in Goa. It firms up your status as a
domicile, allows you certain health insurance benefits from the government and
above all, puts a balm on the “outsider’ boomerang that comes your way once in
a while.
But -to use a very lovable and endearing phrase in Goa which
encompasses myriad experiences and situations in a way no propah english phrase
can do- ‘out and out’- a long stint in Goa, on its roads, in its villages and
eating places and at homes of so many friends, resulted in something universal,
The emergence of fixed picture frames in your mind about some journeys and
roads, which made the destinations reached through them so memorable. And this
is what makes Goa, a sum total of these picture frames, perhaps captured a
little better by some ‘outsiders’ who do not take Goa for granted. For most
readers, these are routes that have been traversed, each day of their lives and
yet come with consistent joys.
1 Cavelossim to
Benaulim: This is, in a sense the
heart of Goa, a belt in the forefront of agitations, protests and politics. A
belt of drama, and home to tiatrists, all joined together by football and bullfights.
In the early 2000’s, on long drives with the significant other, a fellow foodie
and discoverer, there is one piece of the road which is still transfixed, the
stretch from the Fisherman’s Wharf to the Cavellosim Church and after the bend
past what were earlier fields. In the stillness of the night, when there was no
traffic and hardly any light, all one could hear was the sea over yonder and
the wind. Betty’s Shack always did a live gig or two, with great roasts and
steaks and an eclectic crowd. After each Betty’s night, we would stop just
after the church to hear the sounds of silence and freeze this Goa moment.
2 Aggassaim to
Curca via Goa Velha: Flyovers, bridges
and by passes may change the landscape but some paths are there for life. It’s
a reflex image that comes to mind whenever you think of Goa. A long village
path cocooned by a canopy of trees, stretching as far as the eye can imagine.
For years, and till now, that has been the route most dipped into during Margao
to Panjim journeys. Past the bustling Agassaim market, with its tea stalls and
those selling fresh choris pao the road winds its way past Pilar and then cuts
right towards the Goa Velha panchayat. Just after the panchayat building and
speed breakers, the landscape breaks into a shower of greenery and space. The
visual sets off so many buttons and opens myriad windows of imagination. A
ramrod straight and narrow two kilometer road- a road so straight that you can
take you can let the car run without once taking your hands off the wheel and
almost every 50 metres has a huge coconut tree. And moving parallel to those
trees is the swathe of saltpans, which once supplied most of the salt that this
part of Goa needed. This road bends towards the military zone and the drive
through that hillside and then going down the slope towards Merces is an
experience, if you have the sense to soak this in.
But this stretch cannot claim absolute monopoly over its
straight roads and coconut trees. The road to Parra Church is perhaps a longer
one than this, but passes through more homes and new buildings and loses points
in this score. But on a cool December night, a drive through this, is close to
magical. It still ranks as THE go to road for ‘selfies with palm trees’. So
much so, the Parra Panchayat was forced to charge Rs 1000 from tourists for
each picture of the countryside. One doesn’t know if this surprising decision
is being implemented or not.
3 Loutolim- Raia-
Curtorim: This has been a route of
comfort and discovery for long. Nestled in the meandering interiors of Goa’s
rice bowl, this stretch is full of history and folklore. And it has been a
landscape for many stories for this column, which is entering its 16th year.
Here’s an extract from a Business with Pleasure Column in Herald on August 31 2014,
almost six years ago on this route:
“ We (self and significant other) were ambling along on our
regular weekend potter, this time headed for what could be a diminishing
national treasure – the countryside tavern. For long we missed this; the banter
at the bar, the best eats, and feni drunk in quarters and halves; pegs are for
the sissies. However, to get to the bars of Curtorim, you must undertake the
journey of listening to the stories that lie in each field and home. Much of
Curtorim’s history has been shaped in its taverns and its Church square with a
football field and a lake. And on summer afternoons, just a tad before sunset,
there's a divinity frozen each day when the reflection of the Church and the
field with a football game falls in the water of the lake. Goa as it once was.
Goa as we hope it always will be”
Nothing has changed since except this. Lenny’s bar where we were
headed to no longer exists and with it a piece of the heart of Curtorim is gone
4 Britonna to
Calvim Bridge via Aldona: This is a treasure
which is well worth protecting because the chance of it getting spoilt is slim.
The road hugs the backwaters of the Mandovi and its tributaries, meanders
through villages almost snaking itself between houses, enough for a motorcycle
to pass but accommodates buses and cars, challenging physics and road science
everyday. Past the whitewashed magnificence of the Salvador Mundo Church, you
see the boats of fishermen in the backwaters and then the village road goes
past charming homes fields, small chapels, a couple of football grounds till it
reaches Aldona and winds itself past the roads of the ancient village caressing
vintage homes, before it crosses the Calvim bridge and then narrows itself
towards the railway line, before it turns towards Bicholim. This is where one
must stop. Pause to soak in the image of the fields on either side stretching
for miles on the horizon, a railway train passing through the fields gently
cutting through the landscape, the rail crossing gates opening with locals greeting
each other and the guard and moving on.
These are just four picks from memory and will remain. The idea is that each day, as you move through Goa, do not stop being a sponge. Absorb, absorb absorb! The more you do, the stronger will be your resolve to protect it, preserve it and stop the army of those builders who might want to tarnish it.