One scene, many moods.

Sodiem is a tiny ward in the village of Siolim in north Goa. I explored this luscious setting over a period of many months, photographing it in varied conditions.

Misty dawn
5D Mark III, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

First rays
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 100 f/2 MP

Monsoon squall
5D Mark III, TS-E 24L II

Late evening
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Spider on the sun
5D Mark III, 100-400L IS

Survey of the city’s old barber shops.

The few surviving barbearias (Portuguese for barber shops) of Panjim are reminders of a zeitgeist in which the simple pleasures of life could be enjoyed in a placid, languid setting. It was a civilized Goa. (No, this is not romanticization of an imaginary, distant past. There are photographs to attest to those times and some of us who lived through them are still alive and not that old.) These hangovers now seem incongruous, unable to keep up with the more contemporary hair saloons and stylists that blot dot the city, mostly staffed by outsiders since it is very hard to find a young Goan willing to adopt the métier.

Most of the barbearias of my childhood have closed shop. Notable among them was the one located inside the municipal gardens in the city’s centre. As was customary at the time, every family in Panjim usually had a chosen shop that its members patronized (similar loyalty obtained in matters of tailors, grocers, cafés, and so on). Barbearias were also the chat rooms of that era, an important community router directing news and gossip.

Our own affiliation was to Barbearia Nova, founded in 1958. My father would haul this little twerp there and furnish detailed instructions to the head barber on the kind of ‘cut’ he wanted for me. I had no say whatsoever in the matter.

A couple of years ago, I took an excursion of the town’s barbearias. At Barbearia Nova I was stoked to see that the old kids chair made by Takara was still around. (For a brief history of the barber chair, see this.) Barbearia Real is still managed by its original owner. The oldest of the survivors is Barbearia Indiana, seen in the final photos below. I managed to track down Ramchandra Velgenkar, barber emeritus at Indiana, and had a delightful chat with him at his home.

All my blog posts devoted to the heritage of Panjim are consolidated here.

Barber’s chair made by Takara of Japan
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Barbearia Nova, 1958. Founder: Ramnath Kundaikar
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

Kids chair, Barbearia Nova
5D Mark II, 14L II

Armed and Dangerous: Barber Vishnu Virnodkar
5D Mark II, 14L II

Takara chair specs at Barbearia Nova
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Members of the early staff at Barbearia Nova
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Barbearia Real, 1958. Founder: Datta Sakhalkar
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Datta Sakhalkar in action
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Barbearia Indiana, 1926. Founder: Hari Borcar
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Tools of the trade
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Ramchandra Velgenkar – retired barber from Barbearia Indiana
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

In two different moods.

The coastal village of Anjuna was the first enclave of the hippies from Europe and North America when they arrived in Goa in the late 1960s.

A rainstorm in progress
5D Mark III, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Warm glow of the setting sun
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

An old way of life comes under assault.

The historic village of Taleigao in Goa was once renowned for the quality of its fresh produce. For hundreds, if not thousands, of years agriculture here had been the province of the Gaude tribe, among the earliest settlers of Goa. But now, the times they are a-changin’. Developers and builders have moved in and commandeered fertile fields, laying concrete turds in their wake. The area available for cultivation has shrunk so drastically that an important traditional occupation is in its death throes.

For the past 5 years I have tracked the vicissitudes of the Gaude in the tiny ward known as Nagale.

Working the fields in Taleigao, Goa
5D Mark II, 135L

Sweat of his brow: Mukund Kuttikar
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Nisha Tivremkar with fresh kohlrabi
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 100 f/2 MP

Gulabi Kuttikar, tending to her chillies
5D, 35L

Growing red amaranth (tambdi bhaji)
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 100 f/2 MP

Gomati Gauns, never before photographed, too shy to look into the lens
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 100 f/2 MP

Laxmi Sirvoicar, washing fresh batch of radish
5D, 35L

Sitabai Canconkar, in her patch
5D, 24-105L

Rohidas Kuttikar, proudly holding on
5D, 35L

The fast disappearing fields
5D, 24-105L

Greetings to all on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. It is one of the major festivals in Goa and this year the celebrations fall on September 18 through 20.

The heavily forested taluka of Sattari in Goa‘s northeast holds some of the most remarkable surprises. This ancient image of Ganesha, embraced by the roots of a tree, lies outdoors by a secluded, seasonal creek in the village of Ambelim. It remains submerged under water during the monsoon months. Nobody quite knows its history.

Ganapati sculpture in the outdoors at Ambelim, Goa
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Ensconced in the tree roots
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Wider view
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

All posts on the Ganesha theme are collected at this link. And my old photo essay on Huffington Post is here.

What Goans live for.

Goa‘s poet laureate, the late Bakibab Borkar said it best1:

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.)

The Goan term for fish curry is hooman. Subtle differences in this coconut-based preparation obtain as one traverses the state. The central plot remains the same, it is the retelling of the story that offers opportunity for creative spin. In addition to variety over regions, differences in expression prevail across lines of caste and religion. (Note that the same is true of language.) The Goan Catholics have their own method as do the Hindus, and even within these groups, the individual castes put their own individual stamp.

The items featured here are served at a small family-owned eatery named Sharda in Bambolim. The food is cooked at home by the lady of the house, Chandravati Gauns, in the style characteristic to her community, the Gaude/Gavde (among Goa‘s earliest settlers), using vegetables and herbs farmed locally.

Goan Fish-Curry-Rice
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Up close
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

Chef Chandravati Gauns of Paliem
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 100 f/2 MP

Clusters of lakes in the Icelandic Highlands.

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

Seen on a morning drive through the lovely Goan village of Salvador do Mundo (Saviour of the World).

Church of Salvador do Mundo (1565)
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Clara D'Souza of Salvador do Mundo
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP