Driving through the villages of Moira, Nachinola and Aldona in Bardez taluka can be a mesmerising experience, as the narrow lanes of the villages are punctuated with vast expanses of green fields that especially come alive during the monsoons. If merely driving through can be such a breathtaking experience, it comes as no surprise that, over the last few years, many noted personalities, including artists, designers, photographers, writers and actors, have come to call this place home. Dotted with institutes like One School Goa, Paradise School and the most recent place to put Moira on the cultural map, the Cube Gallery, it goes to show that this collective area is indeed a melting pot of all things creative.
Though originally
from Goa, it took noted photographer David de Souza 17 years to zero in on a
home in Moira; he is now neighbours with actor Rajeev Khandewal and his wife
Manjiri, and actress Celina Jaitely. “I was looking for a house in Goa for 17
years and I went through many places before finding this family home. I never
thought I would put a premium on clean air. Goa is great; the people we meet in
Goa are fantastic, the food we eat is great and it is a liberal society. One
can be creative anywhere in the world, even in a desert because creativity
should be inside you. However, the outside environment can influence one and
the green pastures should be within you too, metaphorically,” says David.
Interestingly, Moira
is also the home of the late Jack de Sequeira, a Goan politician popularly
known as the Father of the Opinion Poll. The current Archbishop of Goa and
Daman, The Most Reverend Filipe Neri Antonio Sebastiao do Rosario Ferrao was
born and baptised Moira.
Dr Cajetan Raposo,
Head of Department of Political Science of St Xavier's College, Mapusa, has
written a research book on Moira, titled, ‘Moira VS Maharashtra’, which will be
released in October this year.
The adjacent village
of Nachinola is donning hues of lush green that give visitors nothing back but peaceful
thoughts. Drive past St Elizabeth Church in Uccassim and the next huge house
that greets you is the One School Goa, a photography and multimedia school
founded by noted ad filmmaker and photographer Shantanu Sheorey. The A Grade
University certified school has completed four years in Goa and has a
three-year degree course (affiliated with Goa University) in photography and
multimedia.
“We decided to be on
this side of the highway and away from the tourist belt and Nachinola was spot
on; it is the perfect home. We have been living and running the school here for
the past four years,” says Shantanu Sheorey, Head of One School Goa, who, along
with wife, actress Kimi Katkar, and their son, Siddhanth, now call Goa home.
“The students who come from out of state or other countries live in the
neighbouring villages of Socorro or Mapusa and travel to Nachinola. The view is
scenic and the neighbours are very good,” he adds. The school will commence
from August 1, 2017 and One School Goa will open its Delhi campus by this
September.
Shilpa Mehta,
Director of Paradise School in Aldona, instantly fell in love with the
400-year-old Indo-Portuguese house where she resides and runs the school.
Paradise School, a secondary school, is a partner in Newcastle University’s
dedicated Self Organised Learning Environments (SOLE) research centre and is
the first SOLE school ever. “The village of Aldona lacks the commercialisation
of most of the villages in Goa and it feels like living in the Goa or yore,
before commercialisation. The school is based on the Aldona-Quitla border and
it is the most beautiful house I came across, with a huge courtyard and so much
history; that makes it apt for a school,” says Shilpa.
It was not an easy
find for Shilpa and she is happy that she was warmly accepted by the
neighbourhood. “I had been searching for a long time and it was a crazy search.
I was driving around different villages on the other side of the highway, like
Saligao, Sangolda and Nagao, when a friend told me about this property. I
persuaded the owners that I wanted to open a school here. I felt that it was
more important to open a school and enrich the area. The local people are very
proud of us which goes to show their attitude and sends out a very strong
message. The school has a very exquisite and elegant space,” explains Shilpa,
who is currently on vacation as the school will reopen in September for the new
academic year. She also reveals that the school has achieved their
International Cambridge Accreditation and is now an International Cambridge
School.
She
adds, “I feel that the villages of Moira-Nachinola- Aldona have their goodness
and innocence, which is very refreshing and shows the different flavours of
Goa.”