DOVORNEM - A PLACE TO REST

DOVORNEM

In the old days our Goan folks walked long distances from villages to the towns and vice versa. They also walked great distances to visit their relatives and friends. But some of the folks who grew vegetables, fruits and other produce carried them to the market place in huge baskets placed upon their heads.

Very often these folks could be seen waiting at one of these purpose built innovative structures called 'Dovornem' by the side of the road. These were constructed in laterite stone that enabled these hard-working folks to place the load they carried on their heads on these stone platforms and take a breather before proceeding on their journey either to or from the market.

The height of the 'dovornem' was purposely finished off at an average person's height so that there wasn't any need of another person to lift the load up back on their heads and proceed on their journey. What they merely had to do was slide the basket on the top flat surface of the 'Dovornem' onto their heads.

Often, people also waited for others to join them at such spots so that they would have company to travel in a group, thereby risking a lesser chance of getting themselves mugged or robbed of their jewelry or cash as they walked through lonely forests and hills.

When I was a young lad I have, on many occasions, accompanied my mother on such walking marathons, visiting my grandmother from Guirim to Siolim, and have comes across people who took some rest at such places, after from carrying the heavy load on their head for hours, so that they could cool themselves off from the over-powering heat, especially in the summer. 

These trips were often scary as people tried to hurry home through the hills before nightfall, specially through a very scary and sinister area called 'Sonar Khett' - apparently a well-known area in the old days for thieves hiding in the forest and preying on people making their journey through these hills and robbing them of cash or jewellery.

Such structures are now abandoned and some are still hidden among the overgrowth of bushes along the sides of some roads.