Photo Blog by Rajan Parrikar » 300L f/4 IS

Those Whom the Gods Wish to Destroy

Rajan P. Parrikar — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:20:21 +0000

Note: To see full-size images in this post, please view the original post by clicking here.

Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad. – Old jungle saying.

In the past 6 years, I have traveled the length and breadth of Goa, documenting the destruction of this erstwhile paradise’s natural environment and cultural heritage. I am the only Goan alive to have covered so much ground in such a concentrated manner, and to have seen the scale of the destruction first-hand. This pits me against not only the local politico-builder-land shark combine, but also the local ‘activists’ who have revealed themselves to be toothless poseurs and frauds.

I have now become inured to the widespread environmental and cultural crimes against Goa. Still, any fresh atrocity evokes sharp pangs of anger and disgust. I was meandering through the serene village of Keri (see Kesarbai’s Keri) this morning when I saw a beloved old temple torn down to make way for a new concrete turd. The exquisite work of Goa‘s master craftsmen of yore dismantled in favour of butt-ugly, unimaginative third-world rubbish, which will then be painted in psychedelic colours that not even Photoshop can tame. Alas, tearing down of heritage assets is now par for the course all over Goa.

These sites could have been restored carefully (“jirnoddar”), the rework informed by their original design and aesthetics. But when a society loses its moral compass and becomes culturally desiccated, this is what you get.

Vetal temple in Keri - not long ago
5D Mark II, 24-105L

What I saw this morning
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Intricately carved wooden pillars inside old temple
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Pillars now cast off with construction debris
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Old Vetal temple at Naveli-Sakhali
5D, 24-105L

New temple construction
5D Mark II, 24-105L

The Mahalaxmi Temple was one of Panjim’s treasures (see first photo below). This is how I remember it from my earliest days right through my late teens. Pleasing round pillars, an airy mandap, clean and simple – just lovely to be in and around. Then in the 1980s, brutes armed with Civil Engineering degrees came in and turned it into a hovel.

Original Mahalaxmi Temple in Panjim c. 1900
Photo credit: see Reference 1

The new horror
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

[1] Old photo of Mahalaxmi Temple above taken from The Hindus of Goa and the Portuguese Republic by António de Noronha (1923), republished in translation in 2008 by Broadway Book Centre, Panjim.

Once a luscious sight, now deflowered.

Church of St Diogo, Guirim
5D, 300L f/4 IS

Guirim church - 6 months later
5D, 300L f/4 IS

Ruins of Nossa Senhora de Saúde

Rajan P. Parrikar — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:31:36 +0000

Note: To see full-size images in this post, please view the original post by clicking here.

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

Crossing, Waiting, Walking

Rajan P. Parrikar — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:01:47 +0000

Note: To see full-size images in this post, please view the original post by clicking here.

These are candids of Goan ladies taken during a leisurely morning spent in the villages of Narve and Chorão.

Crossing
5D, 300L f/4 IS

Waiting
5D, 300L f/4 IS

Walking
5D, 300L f/4 IS

Another View of the Taj

Rajan P. Parrikar — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:21:14 +0000

Note: To see full-size images in this post, please view the original post by clicking here.

This is the third and final installment in the Taj Mahal sequence.

The Taj is seen at its refulgent best in the moments immediately after sunrise and preceding sundown when the marble glows in the honeyed light of the sun. Outside of these two fleeting windows, the exterior of the monument takes on a flat, white patina that is less interesting to the photographer. A monochromatic treatment is appropriate to the first image below, taken mid-morning from the balcony of the Amarvilas hotel.

Taj Mahal
5D, 300L f/4 IS

Thou shalt not clean or spellcheck the sign outside the entrance to the mausoleum.

Photography Prohibted (sic)
5D, 17-40L

Sé Cathedral

Rajan P. Parrikar — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 19:42:31 +0000

Note: To see full-size images in this post, please view the original post by clicking here.

December is a festive time in the historic village of Old Goa, now a World Heritage site. Sé Cathedral was elevated to the rank of a cathedral in 1533, and the final structure was completed in 1619. It is the largest church in India.

The second image below was taken from the hill at the Chapel of Mount Mary overlooking the Mandovi river. To the left of the frame is the Church of St Francis of Assisi.

Sé Cathedral, Old Goa
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

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

Last of Their Kind

Rajan P. Parrikar — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 06:10:41 +0000

Note: To see full-size images in this post, please view the original post by clicking here.

I have a good recollection of the Goan gentry of my young days, of their modes of dress, speech and mannerisms, of the old world charm, adapted from the Portuguese and synthesized into a uniquely Goan composite. That kind of codger is today a rare sight in Panjim. Likewise, the hardy Goan of the working class has been transformed by the times although a few still cling to the old ways – but surely not for long – even as their grandchildren conquer the new worlds of Facebook and Twitter.

These images were made while waiting for a sunset shoot in the village of Saligao. The 300mm telephoto lens enabled enough separation from the men for a candid shot. The mellow orange of the late evening sun was a bonus. As is my wont, I try to engage my subjects once the photographs are secure in my bag.

Julio Rodrigues wearing his loincloth (in Goa, called the caxtti) was returning with bags of livestock feed. For a tinge of nostalgia, notice the Hercules logo on his old bicycle. In the second image we see Jagannath Morajkar trudging home after an honest day’s work. There is something very Goan to their look, and soon sights like these will exist only in our memory.

On the way home: Julio Rodrigues
5D Mark II, 300L f/4 IS

Day's end: Jagannath Morajkar
5D Mark II, 300L f/4 IS

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

End of the Decade

Rajan P. Parrikar — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 08:29:33 +0000

Note: To see full-size images in this post, please view the original post by clicking here.

When the sun sets this evening, it will close out the first decade of this century. The image below was made in February 2008 in the village of Canaguinim in south Goa. The elevated plateau here has a spectacular view of the setting sun over the Arabian Sea.

Sunset viewed from the Canaguinim plateau, Goa
5D, 300L f/4 IS

Pebbles on the Beach

Rajan P. Parrikar — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 08:24:46 +0000

Note: To see full-size images in this post, please view the original post by clicking here.

I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. - Shri Isaac Newton

Some pebbles picked up by my camera on my morning constitutionals at the Agonda beach in Canacona, the southernmost taluka of Goa.

Yoga
5D, 300L f/4 IS

Pranayama
5D, 35L

Romance
5D, 300L f/4

Nirvana
5D, 35L

Panjim Promenade – Ponte de Linhares

Rajan P. Parrikar — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:07:12 +0000

Note: To see full-size images in this post, please view the original post by clicking here.

Ponte de Linhares, the causeway joining Panjim and Ribandar, was built in 1633, and is acknowledged as a signal feat of engineering. Measuring just under 3 kms in length, the route is flanked by River Mandovi on one side and salt pans embedded in Khazan lands – a remarkable indigenous hydrologic system predating the Portuguese, designed to control tidal flow – on the other.

From: Snapshots of Indo-Portuguese History – I by Vasco Pinho, pp. 25-26 (Published by Vasco Pinho, 2007).

The construction of Ponte de Pangim, which was subsequently renamed Ponte de Linhares, was ordered around 1633 by D. Miguel de Noronha, 4° conde de Linhares and 23^rd Viceroy (1629-1635). It provided a link between Pangim and what later on came to be called the Second Ward of Nova Goa i.e. Ribandar…The bridge has a length of 4448 covados (one covado = 0.66 metre) so that its length is around 2935.68 metres. It has 38 arches on the Pangim side, the sixth being the widest. In its middle section, the bridge has another 3 arches; and at the Ribandar’s end, it has 3 more, with the middle one being the widest…Much of this road-cum-bridge was built within a year’s time.

The main motive which led D. Miguel de Noronha, who was a Portuguese nobleman, to order the undertaking of this major project was his determination to spend locally the revenues of the Estado da Índia rather than have to remit them to Portugal…An estimate of its cost computed at prices prevailing in the mid-1860s put the figure at around Rs. 40,000/- (A. Lopes Mendes). A project of this nature and magnitude would have cost over a hundred crores today, according to experts…

For centuries Ponte de Linhares has held Goans in thrall with its visually soothing panoramas. But in the past 10 years, the explosion in motor traffic and the haphazard birth of hideous concrete structures on the overlooking hills have destroyed the beauty of the area and turned it into an eyesore.

These images were taken over a period of 3 years in varied weather and lighting conditions; the archival photographs adduced provide a ready historical perspective.

Click here for earlier installments of Panjim Promenade.

River Mandovi is seen on the left from the Panjim end of the causeway.

Ponte de Linhares seen from Panjim
5D, 300L f/4 IS

This image was taken soon after sunrise from the hill in Ribandar. To the left of the causeway is the Khazan land with its salt pans – tiny mounds of crystallized salt are seen on the lower left.

Ponte de Linhares looking from Ribandar towards Panjim
5D, 300L f/4 IS

The disgusting legacy of our deplorable builders and politicos in plain sight, looking over the Mandovi bridge (another Third World dud) from Panjim towards Ribandar. Notice the old white chapel of Our Lady of Remedios at the foot of the hill at the other end of Ponte de Linhares. You will see it again in the archival photographs.

View of Mandovi bridge and Ponte de Linhares from Panjim
5D, 300L f/4 IS

Ponte de Linhares from Panjim on a monsoon morning
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

Ponte de Linhares
5D, 300L f/4L IS

In this c. 1900 view from the hill near the current High Court in Panjim, both the Mandovi river and the Khazan salt pans are seen in their pristine condition. Look carefully for the Remedios chapel at the far end. This and the next image are photographs of photographs from the Souza & Paul collection now in the custody of Central Library in Panjim.

Ponte de Linhares c.1900 (Central Library Archives)
5D, 24-105L

Ponte de Linhares c.1900 - entrance into Panjim (Central Library Archives)
5D, 24-105L

The final two images are photographs of photographs from the book Postais Antigos do Estado da Índia by João Loureiro (sponsored by Fundação Macau, 1998).

Ponte de Linhares c.1900 - entrance into Panjim
5D Mark II, Zeiss 50 f/2 MP

Here the Remedios chapel in Ribandar is clearly seen. Take note of the unmolested hilltop and compare with image #3 above.

Ponte de Linhares c.1900 - looking towards Ribandar
5D Mark II, Zeiss 50 f/2 MP

Go here for earlier installments of Panjim Promenade.

Látrabjarg

Rajan P. Parrikar — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:13:19 +0000

Note: To see full-size images in this post, please view the original post by clicking here.

Around 10 miles in length and 440 metres high, Látrabjarg in Iceland is considered among the world’s greatest bird cliffs. We got there a little after 10 pm last night. It is a wondrous sight.

Látrabjarg was the scene of the dramatic rescue of the British trawler Dhoon in 1947. (Hint to the curious: use Google.)

Puffins at Látrabjarg bird cliffs, Iceland
5D Mark II, 300L f/4 IS

Puffin at Látrabjarg, Iceland
5D Mark II, 300L f/4 IS

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