MYOLA JOANES\SAGUN GAWADE
AGASAIM: Joaquina Rodrigues is more than just your local tailor—she’s the village’s favorite multi-tasker. By morning, she’s hustling at the Panjim market, and by evening, she’s back at her home in Agasaim, balancing tailoring with tending to her fields. It’s no wonder villagers lovingly call her “the multi-talented lady.”
“I had no interest in anything, I thought academics would be hard, so I backed out,” Joaquina recalls with a chuckle. “My mother, however, was adamant. She walked me to my tailoring class for a week straight.” After her father passed away when she was just 8, her mother, a fish vendor, raised Joaquina and her four brothers in Benaulim, by the coast. Joaquina secretly worked in the fields to help support her mother, using the money to buy schoolbooks. By the age of 13, she’d mastered tailoring. “I completed just a month-and-a-half of classes before my teacher put me in charge of wedding gowns.”
At 15, Joaquina took on her first job as a tailor specialising in wedding gowns. By 17, she had opened her own tailoring shop in Cavelossim. In Goan Catholic weddings, the ‘saddo,’ a red dress given to the bride by the groom’s family, is traditionally cut by the master tailor. Joaquina became a trusted figure in these ceremonies, often stitching all the family outfits and bringing her sewing machine to the bride’s home for final adjustments. Health issues and a long commute led her to shift her business to her home, where she continued to churn out stunning outfits for weddings and festivals.
After marrying and moving to Agasaim, Joaquina opened another shop in Siridao. She ran it successfully for seven years, earning a name for herself and mentoring locals with cutting classes. “Students from as far as Verna came to learn from me,” she says. Joaquina even attracted the Goan-UK crowd, particularly for her intricate beadwork.
Marriage came with its own challenges, but Joaquina embraced them. Her husband had agriculture land, where his family cultivated paddy and local vegetables. Not one to back down, she learned the art of farming and began selling produce. Initially, she sold to vendors, but now she sells directly in the market. Her stall overflows with seasonal fruits and vegetables like mangoes, hog plums (ambadde), ladyfingers, pumpkin, red amaranth (tambddi-bhaji), sweet potatoes and breadfruit (neerponnos).
“I make friends easily,” she says with a laugh. At 2 am, she begins her day, heading to Panjim market by 6 am. After selling her produce, she returns to her tailoring duties and tends to her fields.
Now, at 51, health issues prevent her from sitting at the sewing machine for long periods, so she no longer takes wedding gown orders. Despite the physical limitations, Joaquina still goes to the market daily. “I can’t sit idle. We have a community, and there’s an exchange of products from north to south. I do it for the joy of working.”
Although this might appear daunting, rest assured Joaquina has a solid supportive team that rallies behind her. “My husband has been really supportive, and my daughter Marushka, a budding fashion designer, and son, Trolstroy, pitch in whenever I need help,” she says. Whether it’s handling market duties or working on the farm, the Rodrigues family knows how to keep things running smoothly.
Being a vendor isn’t just a job for Joaquina, it’s a badge of honour that she wears. “Selling my own produce is a joy like no other. I even sell ‘matoli’ fruits, and come Ganesh and Diwali, it’s a whirlwind of activity with advance orders flying in. The real delight, though, is sourcing from Canacona-Margao vendors and seeing the delight on the faces of ‘Ponjikars’ when they find exactly what they need. As for tailoring, it’s an art form—pure talent and creativity at work. I believe in sharing ideas and helping uplift others so we can all grow together. If you love what you do, you’ll shine in any field”, she concludes.