MARGAO: Carnival this year was a real damp squib in Goa, especially, in the villages where the traditional intruz and programmes related to carnival were held aplenty in yesteryears but were sorely missing this year. While the taluka headquarters had the Carnival float parade which is the commercialized version of carnival the real fun and frolic associated with the festival was missing.
In villages, khells used to be organized in practically every ward and these were usually sponsored by politicians in the form of either the MLA or aspiring MLA. However, as Goa is in a state of limbo right now where who will be the MLA of a place is unknown, no politician was willing to sponsor any khell and hence this regular part of carnival in villages was missing.
To give an example, last year, in Sao Jose de Areal there were khells galore in practically every ward and in some of the wards there were two or three shows in a day. However, this year the khells were held only at Don Khuris on all three days of Carnival in the evening on a stage specially erected for the purpose.
Even these khells were sponsored by the local youngsters who are working abroad or overseas because they wanted to keep the old traditions alive. This would well serve as a lesson to Goans not to depend upon politicians for everything.
Another reason for a scarcity of khells this year is that some of the tiatrists who used to produce these khells have stopped doing so for various reasons including health and in some cases that it is more profitable to be associated with the professional stage than the traditional khell.
Adorning fancy attire and attending the khells was another local and pleasurable way of celebrating carnival with some visiting households and enacting a short skit or a monologue or singing a ditty. However, since there was no khells, this form was also not seen in most of the villages in Salcete.
Although the cocoteos had disappeared some years back wherein mud pellets would be thrown at people, even the simple practice of sprinkling talcum or indigo on friends and known people was missing this year.
And even in the towns where float parades were held, other carnival related activities were not much evident because the councilors did not participate with their usual enthusiasm and fervor. The float parades were organized by government servants who informed the councilors that they could not be on the dais due to code of conduct being in force and this was used as an excuse by most to stay away from organizing carnival programmes and even attending the float parade.
Although there was a good crowd and encouraging number of floats participating in the parade at Margao, the wards of the city were totally neglected as no khells were held there as was the norm usually.
