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…
In one short verse, the great Goan poet Bakibab Borkar (1910-1984) captured the essence of what it means to be Goan1: Please Sir, God of Death Don’t make it my turn today, not today There’s fish curry for dinner. [1] Great Goans by Mario Cabral e Sa and Lourdes Bravo Da Costa, N.N.A.P. Publications, 1991….
Arabó is a tiny ward of the village of Dhargal on River Chapora in north Goa. The name, a Goanized form referring to “Arab,” furnishes a clue to its past. Arab merchants sailed here in their dhows in mediæval times trading goods with the locals. It is a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of place, a sleepy outlier…
This is Part 2 of the conspectus on the cafés of Panjim. The first installment outlined the city’s café culture and covered the iconic Café Central. Here we survey the pioneering houses of the genre that are still active and thriving. The menu at all these cafés has much in common. They distinguish themselves by…
