PARRA: The ancestral home of late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar at Parra remained closed on Monday as the mortal remains were kept at the BJP head office and later moved to Kala Academy, Panjim before the funeral pyre was lit at Miramar.
He last visited his ancestral home on September 14 to seek the blessings of Lord Ganesh and attended rituals. He has been performing this ceremony and observing these rituals for decades and despite his ailment he made it a point to visit his Parra residence. Despite being admitted in a private clinic in Candolim, he visited his residence which is eight kilometers away. He was there for around 20 minutes and returned to the clinic.
Parrikar would proudly say that he is from Parra, which is famous for watermelons. He was born in Mapusa in 1955 when the state was still under the Portuguese rule. He grew up in Parra and studied at Loyola High School in Margao. After graduating from IIT Bombay in 1978, he went on to become RSS Mapusa unit sanghchalak.
Parra panch Chandu Harmalkar informed Herald that Parrikar’s death has come as a shock to them.
“We are saddened over the loss of our Chief Minister who is from Parra. Everywhere in the village people are talking about him and his life. It feels like the loss of a family member,” Harmalkar said.
Another local Claudio said that the death of Parrikar is an immense loss to Goa and to the party. “He is originally from Parra but spent his childhood in Mapusa and Margao. He was a BJP great leader and could have done much more for Goa,” he said.
