The Shades of Vibrant Journey

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Early days in Narve.                

My ancestral house is located at Diggi, in the village of  Naroa - erstwhile, Estado da India* -Portuguesa India,  referred to a present day Narve in a Bicholim Taluka of North Goa, India. 

Narve, in those days was a village sans transport, health services and wealth. The nearest  market place was Bicholim, around eight kilometers away from the village. The roads were made of mud and the common mode of transport on these roads were bullock carts. Once in a while a four wheeler might zoom by, leaving dust clouds in its wake. These belonged to Fazendars* - Landlords who hardly stayed in the village. They resided in the far away larger towns.  They would come to visit their property to harvest the crops or for other major issues, once or twice in a year. The best known transport that linked to the capital city, Panjim  was via Wafor* - mechanised wooden boats, crossing the Mandovi River.

The village had a charm of its own. The  local vaidya or voiz/voizin* would be a practitioner of herbal medicines, a “zhadapalyacho voiz”, who would prescribe plants and roots to be boiled or prepared for the ills of life.

The village had no medical facilities. With no hospital within the vicinity and no means of transportation, on many occasions it resulted in the death of the village dwellers due to lack of medical facilities.

The local voizin  functioned similar to a “midwife”. Any complications or delays in delivery/childbirth would most certainly mean death,  or sometimes defects in the newborn by mishandling. The qualified Voiz - a doctor,  with a medical degree, trained in Western medicine, would be available at Bicholim or in Panjim. With the scarcity of Western medicine trained professional practitioners, being a Voiz or Voizin practising in zadapalyache vokhod* - herbs and plant medicines,  was regarded as one of Goa’s traditional and respected (?) occupations and Goans patronized them without hesitation. 

Farming was the primary  occupation of the villagers. Most of them would be Mundkars* or tenants who tilled the farms of the Bhatkars and some would be  Vavraddi* -daily labourers.  The means of earning daily bread were limited. In fact, no local villagers owned land in the village. The Bhatkars, who were from the elite class created by the then Portuguese conquistadors were either from Panjim or Bicholim. Hectares of farm areas from Narve Tarir to Narve Tirthar were owned by the Bhatkar from Betim, Reis Magos. That land was under the tenancy and supervisory control of my grandfather, Arjuna. He would then sublease or allocate the marked areas of acres of fields to other villagers, collect Foro* -rent and deliver it back to the bhatkar. 

Narve Tarir had few dwellers - hardly ten families resided there. The road from Narve Tarir leads to Bicholim with an intersection forking out to the 12th century built Saptakoteshwar Temple. On the main road's western side were two houses. One owned by the Narvencar Family and the other by the Salcar family. On the right side, you could find another  house owned by a widow Jayastree Bai and adjacent to that was a small tea stall run by Kashinath Devli. One could get  hot fresh tea and `laddu’ for one “Char Paise” - four paise or one Ana.   Behind this was a small afframento* - cordoned off private property,  that was known as Govlan and there lived two families: Tucarama and Pandurang. I was told that they were our distant relatives.

On the Eastern side of the road in Diggi there resided about six families. All these families were known by their pet names, referring to  birds or dogs. Why these pet names were prevalent,  or who gave them these names used to puzzle me, but this is what I’ve gleaned.

At the beginning of the “vado” -locality is our house that was of Arjuna. This house was known as ‘poptager”, or ‘babushager” - the residence of popot (parrot) or Babuso, after my uncle and granduncle The villagers would call my uncle a popot or a parrot because apparently he enjoyed eating  raw chillies straight from the farms. My grandfather's cousin was called Babuso because he was much  loved.

The second family resided about three hundred meters away from our house. It belonged to  one Vaingancar  and it was known as “petyager” -  the residence of peto, or a dog. It seems his poultry/fowl  would constantly be eaten by the fox from the nearby area. So, he  kept a vigil, caught and killed the fox and thereby came to be known as peto, fondly referred to as a dog.

In the middle of locality  was a small hut, wherein there lived an old widow called  Shantu. She was the only one in the vicinity  available to assist  houses around with their domestic chores and was  called  “shantulyager” -the residence of shantu.

The third family inhabited a house that was roughly two hundred meters further from Shantu’s hut -  belonging to one Dada, our distant relative. That house was known as “voizager” : the residence of voiz or a doctor. He was a practitioner of  zadapalyache medicine, and so the name seemed apt. 

The fourth family, located at the extreme end of the pathway and at the entrance of the forest, was on Divcar and that house was known as “‘shillayager”, the residence of shirlo. or chameleon. It appeared that the owner would disappear into the woods so that no one could find him easily.

At the rear end of our house was an area called Bhaddar* -unfertile land. There were only two houses here - housing the 5th and 6th families. The fifth family was known as “ravlager”, the residence of ravool - an anthouse. Their family name was Ravool and coincidentally behind this house touching their wall was a huge mango tree with large “ro’ins”*, mounds of white ants.

The sixth family was known as “apager ”, the residence of apa, one of the most senior village elders who lived in this statuesque  house, complete with wooden staircases and grand balconies. It was a very old, unkept and almost dilapidated house that looked like it would collapse at any moment. Only an old couple stayed there and their children would arrive during the annual Ganesh Chaturthi festival. 

Narve was a sleepy village - The villagers were illiterate and lacking ambition to do anything beyond labouring for daily bread by toiling fields.  I was told that in those days, they were never allowed to wear good clothes in front of landlords. Whenever they passed in front of their Bhatkar's residence, they had to remove the chappals off their feet, hold them in their hands and cross the pathway for a few hundred meters. After treading a few meters away from the Bhatcar’s residence, they would wear the chappals again. Several of their ancestors and generations were born there. And were ruled by a certain class who called themselves elite, educated and privileged. Socially and politically by the Portuguese. 

Due to the abundantly endowed greenery on the landscape, Narve was incredibly serere and presumably one of the best places for the poetic minded and inspirational souls to reside.

My mother told me that she had a complicated pregnancy and delivery. She endured a log of labour pain prior to my birth. The delivery date had passed and my mother was uncomfortable and in a lot of pain.  My grandmother asked her husband to go and seek Prasad - Pakli* -divine blessings from the temple, to aid my mother. So my paternal Grandfather, Arjuna walked all the way to the Vargao village temple, covering a distance of almost ten kilometres  at night,  on foot, across the jungle. He crossed the streams of the Mandovi tributary by canoe to reach the village Vargao early the next morning. In this village resides the Temple of Shri Devi Shantadurga. In times of distress, he would seek the Kaul Prasad and the blessings of the Goddess Shantadurga at Vargao. 

He came to the temple and sought the Prasad-Pakli from the Goddess Shantadurga and prayed for the smooth delivery of his daughter in law (my mother). Devi gave the positive Prasads for Dayecho, Arogya and Rakhan* - Mercy, Health and Protection. He took the ashes and flower petals offered by the priest and started his long journey back. On his return trip, he faced heavy  rainfall and windy weather. With great courage, he paddled or rowed  the canoe across  the river, alighted at Totyan and walked to his house. Before he reached home  he received the news of my birth from a local Taryo* -  a canoeman, who would ferry the villagers and field workers from Narve to Akhado island.

It was common practice for them to attempt home remedies before going to the voiz. Very often, the first line of consultation included the village bhat* - a temple priest.  Villagers consulted the village bhat  as they believed that an illness is a result of evil eye or divine retribution. And they would seek Kaul Prasad* - divine  blessings from the local temple with the help of  Gurov*  - like a bhat - in charge of religious duty at the temple.

So in the times of distress or and due to the socially followed customs, traditions and community beliefs, in the times of grave sickness the similar route my grandfather followed. He had a lot of faith in the Goddess Shantadurga of Vargao. So, he went to the temple at Vargao to take Prasad-Pakli from the temple deity.

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