Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Goa of the Sixties

Se Cathedral, at Old Goa (Goa Velha) India. (Sé Cathedral of Santa Catarina). A magnificent cathedral dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria. It is one of the oldest and most celebrated religious buildings in Goa and is one of the largest churches in Asia with an imposing facade. The style of architecture is Portuguese - Gothic. The exterior is Tuscan, while the interior is Corinthian. The church is 250 feet in length and 181 feet in breath standing at 115 ft. high.

Caladium - Pink Vein - Goa, India.

Caladium - Green Vein - Goa, India

Caladium is a genus of plants of the family Araceae.

As the summer drew to a close during the last days of the month of May, the folks prayed for rain, and as soon as the rains fell, this wonderous ornamental plant sprang to life almost overnight in various colours everywhere. I watched it grow out in the open along the perimeter of the courtyard of our ancestral home in Guirim, Bardez, Goa.


The first showers soothed the earth
So parched from the summer drought,
Roaring thunder, brilliant lightning;
The gentle wind blew across the land a whiff,
An earthy smell that till today
I cannot unravel, describe or tell.

"Hope it rains some more"
So we wished, as little boats from paper we made
Saw them glide through winding streams
Just enough rain for the wells it seemed
To make them fill to their brims
Yearning and hoping to have fun
On the day of the Feast of St. John.

Baga is a beach town in the state of Goa, India, which is 2 km north of Calangute. Popular with tourists and locals alike. Pristine brown sands and the meandering and scenic Baga Creek.
It is one of my favourite places that I visited during my childhood, summed up in the brief excerpt of verse below:
Grandma's annual dip
In the Arabian Seas
For a her aging knees
She thought was good indeed
She took me along on a trip
To a idyllic place called Baga
On the eight o'clock "Carreira"

Sultry were many a night
Starlit skies a great delight
As out in the courtyard on my back I lay
After futile attempts to count the myriad stars above;
Lost my count as I made a wish when a shooting star
That distracted me when it made a brief display.

"Grandma, tell me a very long story"
I would banter
And long before the tale was over
She shortly found me in deep slumber.

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