Lourdes Bravo de Costa Rodrigues, Retired Asst State Librarian gives a glimpse of the traditional Carnival of yesteryears as one of simplicity, throwing colour around the city in gay abandon and boys and girls willing to dance for free.
“Carnival today is totally different from what it used to be in the past. Then, we were very eager to participate in the four day Carnival celebration. Carnival then, had nothing to do with floats or loud music. It was more to do with people — groups or boys, decorating the city, going around, singing and throwing colour,” Lourdes Bravo e Costa recalled.
Carnival of yesteryears brings to mind the simple effervescence of the time, the contagious spirit of Carnival and the gay abandon with which people trusted each other and celebrated each others’ festivals.”We would go in groups, singing from house to house. Only two or three of us wore fancy clothes. Those days even wearing something other than a frock was considered fancy. Even wearing a saree was seen as fancy. Most importantly youngsters were willing to dance at Carnival for free,” Lourdes emphasised.
At the heart of all Carnival celebrations is the realisation that during the sixties, seventies and eighties there was not much money to have extravagant floats or even costumes. “We faced financial difficulties, no one offered us sponsorships. At the fag end of a tiring Carnival, volunteers used to hand us over some eatables (batatwadas) and soft drinks, since even sausage bread was considered a luxury.
Ruing about present day Carnival, Lourdes says, “Everybody started to look at the money which has changed everything about Carnival today. Commercial firms started to sponsor. Everybody started to gain interest in floats and sponsorship and the entire traditional Carnival got shipwrecked”.
“Due to commercialisation, in the 1980s the Goa church too got involved and called on Catholics to boycott Carnival celebrations. However, after it restarted, it again went back on the same track of having more floats and getting more commercial. And then the government started to fund the festival,” Lourdes pointed out.
Asked to comment on the present shape and form of Carnival, Lourdes said, “It is the government which manipulates the whole thing. This year it’s slow with (caretaker) government because of the Assembly elections. But municipal corporation (CCP) has taken over”.
Lourdes’ suggestion is that the Carnival should be taken over by people. “Let the people come and let’s go back to what it used to be, because it is not difficult. But they (vested interests) will not allow it due to the money (which comes in). They will not do it. People should be asked to join and it should be more participative and done on a voluntary basis. Secondly, Carnival should be celebrated in the villages,” Lourdes said.
