Breakfast this morning was at the tiny Café Shubham in the beautiful coastal village of Morjim in north Goa.

Bhaji-Pão-Chao: Rs 14 ($0.28).
Taste, Service & Warmth: Priceless.

Chao (tea) served in faceted glass
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

A leisurely start - Vishnu Shetgaonkar of Morjim
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Dipping 'kanknam' (crisp bangles) in chao - Anthony Fernandes
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

My breakfast
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Upon hearing a great piece of music, my music guru Ramashreya Jha “Ramrang” was fond of quoting Kabir:

mann mast hua tab kyon bole?
(Why open your mouth when the mind is filled with bliss?)

I am often at a loss for words in the midst of Iceland‘s landscape and Kabir serves me well there.

Mountain Hestur and farm Eyri on Seyðisfjörður in the Westfjords
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Wide angle
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

Note: This is Seyðisfjörður in the Westfjords, not to be confused with the more well-known fjord and village of the same name in the Eastfjords on the other side of the island.

Taken yesterday at the thread ceremony of my nephew Yash. The Facebook generation comes of age. (Point driven home subtly by the placement of a toy made by a company named after a fruit.)

My nephew Yash following his thread ceremony
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

This installment of Panjim Promenade puts the spotlight on Tobacco Square (Largo do Estanco in Portuguese).

The Tobacco Square is bounded by the General Post Office, the São Tomé chapel and Casa da Moeda. What is now the General Post Office originally started out as a depot for trading tobacco whence the name of the Square. The premises then went on to serve as the Police Headquarters for some time. Finally it became the centre of operations of the city’s postal services (Repartição dos Correios).

Within the perimeter of the Tobacco Square was the notorious pillory. It was here that the Portuguese executed the plotters of the Pinto Conspiracy.

Panjim was conceived by Portuguese designers and that vision was brought to fruition by Goa‘s master craftsmen and masons. What emerged over time was a beautiful city unlike any other in India, pleasing to the eye, with the whole in harmony with its parts. That Panjim is now being dismantled and rubbished (read Indianized), the beauty of the old structures supplanted with ugly, low-quality concrete ratholes. It is as if a different species has taken over.

This image of the General Post Office was shot from the location of the aforementioned pillory.

General Post Office, Panjim
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Around 1900
(From: Postais Antigos do Estado da Portuguese Índia)

Capela de São Tomé was built in 1849 and received a substantial makeover in 1902.

Capela de São Tomé and Hugo Menezes house (19th C)
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

São Tomé chapel c. 1910
© Souza & Paul (Central Library Archives)

Morning mass at São Tomé
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Velho building (19th C)
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

Torre de Belém (1920s) and Hotel Imperial (1940s)
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

All the posts in the Panjim Promenade series may be accessed here.

In the lovely village of Seyðisfjörður in the Eastfjords of Iceland.

In Seyðisfjörður, East Iceland
5D Mark II, 24-105L

The village of Reis Magos in Goa‘s Bardez taluka is exquisitely located on the waterline across the bay from Panjim, and is named after the three biblical Magi Kings. Among its treasures are the eponymous church and fort.

The beautiful Church of Reis Magos, built in 1555, is among Goa‘s oldest. Symbols in bas relief around the steps leading up reveal the existence of an earlier Hindu temple at the site. The handsome east-facing façade must be seen in the warm glow of the rising sun (first image below). The annual feast at the church in the first week of January is an important event in the Goan calendar.

The Reis Magos Fort was built by the Portuguese in 1551 soon after their conquest of Bardez and later revitalized in 1703. When the Marathas took over Bardez in 1739, the Portuguese used the redoubts of Reis Magos and Aguada to barely hold on.

The archival photo adduced below discloses the glorious setting. Too bad the barbarians are now at the door, shovels in hand and trucks of concrete in tow.

Church of Reis Magos, Goa
5D, 35L

Seen from Reis Magos fort
5D, 24-105L

Devotion
5D, 24-105L

Reis Magos Fort - first rays of the sun
5D, 24-105L

Art by Mario Miranda
Reproduced with permission of the Mario Gallery

Reis Magos Church and Fort c. 1900
© Souza & Paul (Central Library Archives)

A Northern Lights display on a cold night at the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river in north Iceland. See an earlier post for another assay.

Northern Lights at Jökulsá á Fjöllum in north Iceland
5D Mark II, 14L II

Legend has it that a group of sages on the island of Divar in Goa undertook penance to propitiate Shiva. It took seven crore (sapta-kot) years for the Great Yogi to take notice of their exertions. When He finally showed up, the sages petitioned Him to take up residence in the village of Naroa (also called Narve). Thus came about the great temple of Saptakoteshwar in Naroa-Divar, one that enjoys a special place in the Goan psyche for its singular role in our land’s turbulent history.

Saptakoteshwar weathered intrusions first by the Bahmani sultans, and later by the Portuguese who destroyed it. The first mass conversion of Goan Hindus to Christianity took place here on August 15, 1560, cleverly engineered by the Portuguese on the day of Gokulashtami, traditionally the most important celebration at the temple. The provenance of one of Goa‘s popular folk tunes, Hanv Saiba poltodi vaita, can be traced to this event.

At the original temple site in Naroa-Divar today stands the Chapel of Our Lady of Candelaria, and nearby lie the remains of the temple tank. The ancient linga has its own tale of woes to tell, even serving as a pulley for a nearby well. Finally it made its way across the river to be reinstalled at a new site which came to be known as New Naroa, today’s Narve in Bicholim taluka. The temple was restored by Shivaji in 1668.

Saptakoteshwar Temple at Narve, Goa
5D, 24-105L

Saptakoteshwar
5D, 24-105L

Saptakoteshwar Temple by Mario Miranda
(Reproduced with permission of the Mario Gallery)

Temple musician Dattaram Ramkrishna Narvekar
5D, 24-105L

These photographs were taken in a single session along Badwater Road in the Death Valley National Park in California. An impending storm had given rise to conditions atypical in Death Valley – soft, diffused afternoon light that accentuated the colours on the Black Mountains.

Colours
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Black Mountains
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Palette
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

Folds
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Rugged
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

Black Mountains
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Glow
5D Mark II, 24-105L

The Church of Nossa Senhora de Saúde (Our Lady of Health) in the village of Sancoale, Goa, was built in 1606 and destroyed in a fire in 1834. All that remains today is the shell of its façade. It enjoys a delightful setting by the Zuari river, and the ruins provide clues to what must have been a magnificent edifice.

I photographed the site several times over a number of years. The first image below was taken handheld on a dark monsoon morning from the bridge across the Zuari river.

Nossa Senhora de Saúde at Sancoale, Goa
5D, 300L f/4 IS

First rays of the rising sun
5D, 300L f/4 IS

The remains
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

Ruins of Nossa Senhora de Saúde
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Frontispiece
5D, 24-105L