Glenn Costa in Quepem
It was a hot day with usual traffic of Margao. Once we crossed the 3MTTR military area, then the traffic eased out and though there was the occasional bus to slow things down, the drive till Quepem was smooth.
The minute you entered Quepem and entered the ‘chai dukan’ which sold ‘bhaji’ and ‘paratha’, one was immediately transported to a time two years ago, the whole town was dusty and brown and you were greeted by the snarling motors of the 10 tonners that were travelling – some with ore and some empty.
If one cursed the trucks in those days, one was immediately struck by the now quiet and the lack of movement now.
It is very quiet these days, I remarked to the waiter who brought me my moog ‘bhaji’ and ‘parathas’. “Mining sir, he said. Everything is slow.’
Soon on the road to Cavrem you notice the trucks parked outside the houses, relatively well maintained. Also the roads are empty. Once upon a time driving on these roads was a nightmare. But going to Cavrem was like going back into the past, of the Goa of the seventies. We stopped for directions at a shop, and for some soda.
Slowly sipping the soda, we listened to the matronly shopkeeper remark that life had slowed down since mining stopped. People stayed home and travelled and shopped less.
When I pointed out to bags of dried chillies that were lying on a bench she said that those were for sale, and it was something that she did to augment her business.
Cavrem, in the news for its opposition to a small but very controversial mining company that has almost swallowed the village is probably the only place in the whole belt where there is a genuine going back to the fields for cultivation.
For those with an eye, Cavrem is full of symbolism. Quepem which is surrounded by sugarcane and nestled innocuously among the green is a Shree Sai Puncture shop, all bolted up. Mines and shops are shut amidst the vast open of green fields
The mines in the Cavrem area are shut though there is the presence of a skeletal security staff. However, one does not see the bouncers who were conspicuous during the heydays of mining, but the more regular, agency guards.
Curchorem, Sanvordem and Sanguem are quite dead and even the trucks parked outside residences show major signs of non- maintenance in sharp contrast to the ones in Quepem which are generally in better condition. Some of these trucks transport rubble.
The general ambience is as if they have all gone to sleep, puncture shops and places where the hired drivers used to live are locked up and trucks lying all over the place.
