At one point in time Goa was home to approximately seventy
varieties but now barely forty reportedly exist. To make matters worse, Goans
consume perhaps four varieties of mangoes every season. The varieties that
exist are few and far in between. That is the sad state of the Goan mango.
Now after two years, the Ambeachem Fest (Mongo Festival) will be
held. It will commence on May 8, 2022 at the Montfort Academy Corlim, Tiswadi,
Goa. Marius Fernandes speaking yesterday to the media said it was important for
Goa to wake up to what was happening because if the current inaction continued,
mangoes in the state would disappear and they would be reduced to eating
mangoes that came in from other parts of the country. He said whatever mangoes
that were being eaten now were grown by ancestors eighty years ago. Marius said
it was important for the young generation to make the effort now, to conduct
research, get the grafters to the tree, take a few branches down and it was a
job that someone had to do now. He said there were some trees of the seventy of
varieties all over the state. He said there was a lot of information with the
older generation which needed to be passed down to the next generation. Marius
however said it was a great relief to see the response from the youth. He said
“There are over two hundred volunteers who will be assisting at the Ambeachehm
Fest”. A very serious effort is being made to make the fest open to everyone
and that includes people with disabilities.
The Bolcaocho Gozzali this year will be held under a mango tree,
with Miguel Braganza talking about care and conservation of the tree, including
removal of weeds (Benol) from the tree at regular intervals. This will be
followed by a mango tree walk with Dr Maryanne Lobo.
ICAR, Ela, Old Goa
will be displaying mango sampling and variety of mangoes and scientist Mrs
Sunetra Talaulikar will demonstrate several dishes of sweets and drinks made of
mangoes, at the festival. Activities at the fest will include caricature and
fun shop by well known cartoonist Alexyz, molla making, rotesao, flower garland
of abolim etc.
The festival starts with
the musical song channaichem rati with ghumot and kottieo. There will be a
Mango grafting session by Mrs Priyanka Naik. followed by a Kottieo dance
session on football skills with veteran football coaches Fabian D’souza and
Augustine Dias of Goa United Football Academy. Konkani songs by person with
disability Audrey Pereira, and Saish Gauthankar (NAB) will be performed at the
fest.
Pranil
Karanjalkar, a professional Ghumot player and his group will be presenting a
skit and a musical performance. There will be a display of products and skills
by people with disabilities including those with low vision, autism etc. A
variety of mangoes, mango products and mango grafts will be on sale. There will
be local home cooked organic Goan food, predominantly mango based. The festival
ends post lunch w ith a special programme called Ghumtacho nazz.