DOVORNEM - A PLACE TO TAKE SOME REST

DOVORNEM

    

THE 'DOVORNEM'

"Take a load off Annie, take a load for free

Take a load of Annie, and you put the load right on me".

(Lyrics from the song by 'The Band')

DOVORNEM

In front of the Chapel
of Our Lady of the Rosary
Canca - Verla - Parra
Bardez - Goa

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, bananas and other produce carried them to the market place in huge baskets placed upon their heads.

Very often these folks would be seen waiting at one of the structures called 'Dovornem' by the side of the road with their loads placed on these platforms, while having a casual conversation. These were constructed in laterite stone. They enabled these hard-working folks to place the load they carried on their heads on these square-shaped structures and thus allow them take a breather before proceeding on their journey either to or from the market.

By design, the height was intentionally finished off at an average person's height, so that there wasn't any need of another person either to lower or lift the load up back on their heads. What they merely had to do was slide the basket on the top flat surface of the 'Dovornem'.

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. In Konkani, this would be known as travelling in 'sangath' or in company of one another.
  

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 come across people who took some rest at such places, after carrying heavy loads on their heads for hours, so that they could give themselves a break or cool themselves off after walking for long distances in the over-powering heat, especially in the summer.  

These trips were often scary, and the merchants, daily vendors and ordinary folks tried to hurry home through the hills before nightfall, specially through a slightly frightening, eerie and sinister area called 'Sonar Khett' well known in the old days for thieves hiding in the forests, and preying on people who walked alone making their journey through these hills.

The walls of this mass of rectangular shaped stones were bonded and finished off with a typical cement-mortar mix often used in Goan masonry construction methods. My guess is that the inside of the entire block was perhaps filled with rubble and rough fragments of stone or 'xenkare'. (Konkani. coloq.) The average top surface could be estimated at being 6 ft.x 4 ft., large enough to easily accommodate 3 or 4 average size baskets. 

In the old days these simple laterite structures that have withstood the test of time and weather conditions, may have perhaps beckoned the weary passerby to lessen his burden, but nowadays some of these structures lie abandoned and neglected, a few of them barely visible or recognizable amid the overgrowth of bushes along the sides of some roads.

These structures are found in many places along the Goan countryside roads. I'm not sure who constructed them in the old days - was it the local 'comunidade' or government?  The shapes of these are almost the same everywhere except that some are slightly different having two levels. Some of them have a Cross attached. In the case of the one pictured above, it would have perhaps been constructed after the completion of the chapel - and being in front of the Chapel it does not need a Cross. The siting and placement of this 'dovornem' seems appropriate so that not only the faithful could take some rest, but could say a prayer too!

It would very interesting to delve into the etymology of the word 'Dovornem'. At this point in time I would assume that it is derived from the Konkani word 'dovor' meaning 'to keep' - hence 'dovornem' - meaning: 'a place to keep'. I hope the panchayats will try to maintain these old 'masonry platforms' as unique Goan heritage artefacts. 

The location of the photographs of the 'Dovornem' featured in this article were taken in Verla/Canca - an area familiar to me since my childhood.

View location in Google-Earth/Panoramio

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/102241437