If you cut the noise, the bridgework and the constant
cacophony of traffic connecting the new urban Goa of Mapusa, Porvorim and
Panjim… you’ll see …trees of green, skies
of blue and clouds of white. And on a blessed day you might even see, “the colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the
sky and also on faces of people going by..
And as you drive down the straight
stretch of Guirim on one side and Socorroon the other and pause for a moment to
soak it all in, you may even hear Louis Armstrong sing ‘And I think to myself..
what a wonderful world”..
On a Wednesday afternoon, and this can
happen only in Goa, yours truly was headed back to familiar country, to Moira
and Aldona, with Bastora over yonder, in search of mirth and madness. Deepa and
Satya, are two fragments of revelry who have been a part of some of the most
memorable common Goa occasions, over the years. We are common journeymen, with
simple life goals where Goa, cliché notwithstanding, continues to be a way of
life.
Work does take Satya away to do the
stuff he does professionally, which in itself is a story, but you know what, –
and this is what this way of life is- no one wants to know or even cares too
much- of what you do or look at your car key or wonder if you have a fancy
address.
Fancy for us is the long tree and
field laced stretch from the main highway snaking its way to the village of
Moira, my old home near the St Xavier’s school, the football ground and the
Chapel frontage and the vast expanse of fields heading toward Nachinola. There
is a story and a memory at each turn and at every bend you remember someone or
something.
There was a unique soiree planned at
this little stretch of wonderment close to where they live.
Manga is a cottage in
Aldona, plonked in the middle of fields stretching all the way in the horizon
on one side and narrow village lane on the other. This is the delightfully, old
and brand new home stay that the couple Satya Veluskar and Deepa George nurture
as they let the first lodgers in. So that Wednesday was a bit of a house
warming, with likeminded eclectic and delightful folks, most of whom live here
because they just want to. We congregated, most of us devotees of Lord Bacchus-
to the sounds of Lester on the drums, Krishna an amazing new talent from
Andhra, a techie who belts out jazz and blues with mystic elan and Jason
Quadros on the keyboard, in the living space of Manga cottage. In the balcao
at the back, overlooking the pool and the fields, the ambassadors of mirth
chatted and relaxed. From a former head of design at Titan, Kaushik Ramanathan
who now creatively works as an industrial designer from his Aldona home and
seldom ventures out, to the cyclist Pooja Jawahar, who can do 150 kilometers
without blinking and also be a super mom juggling the demands of her work which
involves monitoring and working on air pollution.
Almost by instinct, and also because
the olfactory nerves were reacting overtime to the aromas of the kitchen, the
scene shifted to the drawing room and the kitchen which also doubled as the
bar. It was one of those days, when food overcame drink in a manner seldom
seen. The pork curry was straight out Deepa’s ancestral home in Kerala infused
with flavour which only those live in a land of palm trees can know. Standing
next to the pork curry on the Manga table was biriyani and an assorted
spread which clearly cut down talking as the focus shifted. We ate as Krishna
sang and Lester let the drums roll.
It didn’t matter that this was
Wednesday afternoon. We saw people in love with their lives and their choices,
which fundamentally were based on making decisions less than ordinary.
Decisions involving choosing Goa as
their own, doing everything to ensure that they add and take nothing away to
the essence of this land, cement friendships for a lifetime and give back. Manga,
(which is mango) is in a narrow village lane which has no name and in the
Panari area of the village.
In the stillness of the village, every
morning you hear the birdsong, the poders bell and your walks will take
you past homes which will be open and you’ll be greeted by hellos and welcomes
from all over.
As yours truly drove away, post lunch, from Manga and
Aldona, through the same paths once traversed, in the stillness of the
afternoon, time seemed so redundant, as you embraced timelessness.
