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 not yet (thankfully!) listed on any map or travel brochure.

Arabó piques contemporary interest on at least two counts. One is the subject of this post – the Desai House, unique in the state. Arabó is also the birthplace of the great music composer, the late N. Datta (Datta Naik), whose collaboration with the poet Sahir Ludhianvi gave us many enduring film melodies (see the end of this post).

The Desais are among the earliest Gaud Saraswat Brahmin families of Goa, and were for some time feudatories to the Bhonsales of Sawantwadi. The Desai House presents an incongruous sight with its striking exterior of exposed laterite and turrets on either flank. The original house belonged to a Muslim merchant who sold it to the Desais. The structure seen today dates back to around 1890 when the Desais gave the house a makeover.

These photographs were taken over a span of several years. During the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi in 2007, I was invited by the Desais for a private tour of their home.

Desai House in Arabó, Goa
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

Notice the holes punched in the laterite to accommodate gun barrels.

Facet of the laterite exterior
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Balcony in the foyer
5D, 24-105L

The interior layout hews to a traditional Goan Hindu design with its characteristic Rajangan (quadrangle).

Rajangan - the central courtyard
5D, 24-105L

To this day the Desais accord space and reverence to the Islamic flagpole left behind by the earlier Muslim owner. Every year on the occasion of the Moharram festival, the local Muslims are guests of the Desai family.

Islamic flagpole
5D, 24-105L

Inside one of the turrets
5D, 24-105L

Top view
5D, 24-105L

This sketch, reproduced in Ethnography of Goa, Daman and Diu by A.B. de Bragança Pereira (Penguin Group, 2008), depicts the original house. The tree is still there (see first image above).

Sketch of Desai House

PS: Selections of N. Datta here and here.

These images made at daybreak on the Chapora river in the Goan village of Colvale exude an air of serenity. Mornings here are indeed refreshingly calm and punctuated by birdsong. But they also reveal a dark side. Seen on the canoes are the hordes of migrant labour brought in by the criminals builders to service Goa‘s destruction construction boom. This sand mining of the river bed has already destroyed the fragile riparian ecology.

Mornin' on River Chapora, Goa
5D Mark II, 135L

Sand mining
5D Mark II, 135L

Colvale
5D Mark II, 135L

The first rays of the morning illuminate this lone fisherman’s canoe on the Chapora river in Siolim, Goa.

Lone fisherman on Chapora river
5D Mark II, 135L

Early mornings in Goa are were like nowhere else in the world. Not long ago, Goans arose to a serene landscape serenaded by birdsong. We took the quietude and beauty of our surroundings as our birthright. But good things don’t last long (especially in today’s India). The assault on Goa‘s environment by builders & miners in cahoots with local politicos, and the unsustainable influx of outsiders into Goa have lead to a calamitous depreciation in what was perhaps the last surviving idyll in the land. In this series, I shall attempt to convey the visual essence of the Goan morning as we have known it, now on its last legs.

The present post features images made earlier this month from the bridge on River Chapora in Siolim. This is a magical locale, one that I have staked out numerous times. As the position of the sun changes through the year, so do the crepuscular atmospherics leading into sunrise. February mornings bring low hanging mist to the terrain. For a different take from another time of the year, see this.

Since the height of my tripod barely exceeded the height of the fence ringing the bridge, I had to perforce shoot handheld. As luck would have it, on this particular morning a fishing vessel appositely moored provided foreground interest to the composition. Upon the sun’s arrival, the first rays illuminating the coconut trees behind me in the village of Chopdem was another sight to savour.

Sunrise over River Chapora in Siolim
5D Mark II, Zeiss 50mm f/2 Makro Planar + Singh-Ray Reverse GND Filter

Mornin' in Siolim
5D Mark II, 135L

Coconut fronds lit by the first rays of the sun
5D Mark II, Zeiss 50mm f/2 Makro Planar

It was overcast with the promise of a squall this evening when I found myself on the banks of the Chapora river in the village of Colvale (home of the internationally known Goan fashion guru Wendell Rodricks). With the murky conditions not friendly for photography, I was about to leave when I had a chance encounter with a local fisherman who offered me a ride in his canoe. The riparian sights & sounds interspersed with banter were a great pleasure.

These photographs were taken hand-held with the TS-E 17L lens with zero Tilt and Shift – effectively serving as a 17mm manual focus prime.

Waters of the Chapora river in Colvale, Goa
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

Sanjay, the boatman
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

The quaint village of Siolim in northern Goa stirs to life as the first rays of the sun irradiate the waters of River Chapora.

Sunrise in Siolim
5D, 300L f/4 IS