A supremely serene pre-sunrise moment in the lovely fishing village of Siridona, Goa. (Siridona is also known as Siridão.)

Dawn in Siridona, Goa
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

First rays of the sun
5D, 35L

PS: The muck at the bottom of the pool, the obscene sidewalk, and the uninspiring shrubbery brought to you by the boors of the Indian government (Archaeological Survey of India).

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 atmospherics were different this morning at sunrise (which was at 1:54 am). The same Kaldbakur mountain at Bjarnardalur in Önundarfjörður seen here yesterday, now draped in the warm light of the early sun.

Early morning at Bjarnardalur in Önundarfjörður
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50mm f/2 Makro Planar

A February morning in my ancestral village of Parra in Goa. My last name derives from it: Parrikar means of/from Parra.

The first two images were made in a paddy field, currently looking wild and untidy pending cultivation during the monsoon season. The glistening grass following a night of heavy dew sharpens the foreground and the low mist in the distance imbues a picture of serenity.

Intercepting the first rays of the sun at the edge of the field is the Church of St. Anne (1649), seen in the third photograph. The Sunday morning mass was in session and a lone devout figure at the side entrance to the church caught my eye (last photograph). She was absorbed in the proceedings and took no notice of me.

For earlier installments of Morning in Goa, click here.

Dew, Mist, Colour
5D Mark II, Zeiss 50mm f/2 Makro Planar + Singh-Ray 2-Stop Reverse GND Filter

Sunrise
5D Mark II, 135L + Singh-Ray 2-Stop Reverse GND Filter

St Anne's Church (1649)
5D Mark II, 135L

Devotion
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

This image was made on a still, misty morning standing in the salt pans of Curca and looking over Batim, both tiny villages in Goa.

Misty morning in Batim, Goa
5D, 70-200L f/2.8 IS

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

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