Rahul spoke to the Siolim Diaries group as well as members of the GoCreat group on 21st Jan 08.
Click here to see details and listen to the audio recording.
Monday 21 January 2008
Wednesday 16 January 2008
Synergising with GoCreat
by Salil Konkar
Around mid-January 2008, the Siolim Diaries group decided to work with the GoCreat group to make it possible for a larger set of participants to learn multimedia and digital storytelling techniques. GoCreat was initiated by Gasper DeSouza and Alito Siqueira, and since the Siolim Diaries also involved using multimedia techniques for documenting village stories, it made sense to work together. Gasper is a photojournalist by profession and Alito is a Sociologist at Goa University who is also advisor to the Siolim Diaries project.
After spending a couple of sessions analysing and finalising which stories to tell, we decided to work on the idea of a 'Market' - the village marketplace where locals from the area come to sell a myriad of home-grown produce and handcrafted wares, how their livelihoods are getting affected by the changing trends in consumerism and the onset of large commercial supermarkets that offer similar goods at cheaper prices, what are their survival strategies, how long they’ll last...
Tuesday 15 January 2008
The Rope Maker from Kerala
by Salil Konkar
During our first visit to Siolim, when we were looking at the farmers working in the paddy fields, Stacy had mentioned about this person who had migrated from Kerala and had set up a rope making workshop in Siolim, just across the paddy fields. We had decided that it would be interesting for all of us to meet him; accordingly, Stacy set up a meeting with him at his home, which is in the same premises as his rope-mak
ing unit, for 14th Jan 2008.
And so there we were, at Mr. Joseph Vadakel's workshop, talking to him about his decision to move to Siolim from Kerala (not a very obvious choice I thought – most Keralaites would have preferred to move to the Gulf, just as many people from Siolim do too), his experiences in Siolim and more specific information about – you guessed it – rope making!
Mr. Joseph took us through his life in Goa, which had spanned more than three decades already, how he came to a boarding school in Guirim as a student, took up a teaching position later (he taught physics), and later set up the rope-making unit that he was kind enough to walk us through, explaining to us and showing us firsthand the entire rope-making process. It was interesting to note that the raw material for the rope was brought in all the way from Kerala and not from Goa or other neighbouring areas.
Wednesday 9 January 2008
The Minimalists and the Outsider
by Salil Konkar
The Wednesday market in Siolim – noisy, colourful, crowded, even if it’s tiny in size compared to the Friday market in Mapusa. It starts at 7 in the morning every Wednesday and by 10 the show is over. Milan likened this ephemeral existence to the Cinderella story, my own thoughts weren’t too different – it seemed like a play that performs once a week – the stage is set, the performers troop in, the onlookers gather around – some even participating in the play, and the action begins. All for three hours, after which the curtains come down, the artists pack up and leave and everyone is back to being what they were. The street on which the market just happened returns to its original state, as if nothing had happened at all.
So what do they sell at this market, and who are these people who sell suc
h myriad stuff in such unbelievably small quantities? Small packets of seeds, a handful of sweet potatoes and radishes, a dozen raw mangoes, a few coconuts – it seemed as if they were just selling extra stuff that they couldn’t use in their own homes, and it certainly didn’t look like they were growing vegetables for business. I decided to buy some ‘padwal’ and asked the woman selling it to give me a quarter kilo, only to be informed by a kindly gentleman who was also buying from her that things were not sold by weight, just counted and sold according to how much money was being paid. So I changed by request to 20 rupees worth of ‘padwal’; a cursory glance at other stalls told me that the gentleman was quite right – none of the local vegetable vendors had any weighing scales or measures. Except the guy with the largest vegetable stall, who had ‘outsider’ written all over his face.
There used to be a joke doing the rounds when I was living in New Zealand – ‘Why don’t Indians do well in football?
Because whenever they get a corner, they decide build a shop on it!’ This ‘outsider’ looked like he could fit the description of the immigrant Indian in the joke; never miss an opportunity to make money where one exists, even if it’s only once a week for 3 hours, at the risk of having to put up with the condescending attitude of the local vendors. To his credit, he seemed to be doing really well; business was brisk and the turnover rapid. And it looked like most buyers didn’t care that he was not a local, after all how different could a vegetable from Belgaum be to one home-grown in the village?
Who else? A potter, a butcher and a bhajiya seller. The potter by her own admission comes to the market every week without any expectations of making a sale, more out of habit and to continue maintaining her space in the market than anything else. Any sale would probably be considered a bonus. Sure enough, for the hour that we were there, I didn’t see anyone even venture near her, leave alone buy any of the beautiful clay pots and urns she was selling.
The bhajiya seller had strategically positioned himself right in the middle of the small market, and from the looks of it, was doing good business.
The butcher was chopping away furiously at large slabs of meat in a makeshift tent from where he operated, as if his life depended on it (maybe it did too).
So many different things being sold in so small a market, for such short a time. There was even a stall selling combs, cheap toys and other ‘novelty items’. As Milan found out after some questioning, for most of the local vendors, this was the only market they would sell in; they didn’t feel the need to expand their business by selling at other places or in a regular daily market. Talk of being a minimalist, this way of working almost defied any logic for me, yet I found it admirable.
The Wednesday market in Siolim – noisy, colourful, crowded, even if it’s tiny in size compared to the Friday market in Mapusa. It starts at 7 in the morning every Wednesday and by 10 the show is over. Milan likened this ephemeral existence to the Cinderella story, my own thoughts weren’t too different – it seemed like a play that performs once a week – the stage is set, the performers troop in, the onlookers gather around – some even participating in the play, and the action begins. All for three hours, after which the curtains come down, the artists pack up and leave and everyone is back to being what they were. The street on which the market just happened returns to its original state, as if nothing had happened at all.So what do they sell at this market, and who are these people who sell suc
h myriad stuff in such unbelievably small quantities? Small packets of seeds, a handful of sweet potatoes and radishes, a dozen raw mangoes, a few coconuts – it seemed as if they were just selling extra stuff that they couldn’t use in their own homes, and it certainly didn’t look like they were growing vegetables for business. I decided to buy some ‘padwal’ and asked the woman selling it to give me a quarter kilo, only to be informed by a kindly gentleman who was also buying from her that things were not sold by weight, just counted and sold according to how much money was being paid. So I changed by request to 20 rupees worth of ‘padwal’; a cursory glance at other stalls told me that the gentleman was quite right – none of the local vegetable vendors had any weighing scales or measures. Except the guy with the largest vegetable stall, who had ‘outsider’ written all over his face.There used to be a joke doing the rounds when I was living in New Zealand – ‘Why don’t Indians do well in football?
Because whenever they get a corner, they decide build a shop on it!’ This ‘outsider’ looked like he could fit the description of the immigrant Indian in the joke; never miss an opportunity to make money where one exists, even if it’s only once a week for 3 hours, at the risk of having to put up with the condescending attitude of the local vendors. To his credit, he seemed to be doing really well; business was brisk and the turnover rapid. And it looked like most buyers didn’t care that he was not a local, after all how different could a vegetable from Belgaum be to one home-grown in the village?Who else? A potter, a butcher and a bhajiya seller. The potter by her own admission comes to the market every week without any expectations of making a sale, more out of habit and to continue maintaining her space in the market than anything else. Any sale would probably be considered a bonus. Sure enough, for the hour that we were there, I didn’t see anyone even venture near her, leave alone buy any of the beautiful clay pots and urns she was selling.
The bhajiya seller had strategically positioned himself right in the middle of the small market, and from the looks of it, was doing good business.
The butcher was chopping away furiously at large slabs of meat in a makeshift tent from where he operated, as if his life depended on it (maybe it did too).So many different things being sold in so small a market, for such short a time. There was even a stall selling combs, cheap toys and other ‘novelty items’. As Milan found out after some questioning, for most of the local vendors, this was the only market they would sell in; they didn’t feel the need to expand their business by selling at other places or in a regular daily market. Talk of being a minimalist, this way of working almost defied any logic for me, yet I found it admirable.
Tuesday 8 January 2008
Introducing Stacy
by Stacy Mascarenhas
My name is Stacy Mascarenhas, I am presently doing my M.A. in Sociology at Goa University. I am a member of the Goa-Nara Neighbourhood project.
What made me take up this project is that even though I have been staying in Siolim since birth there are many things which I am not aware of and this project gives me a chance to explore and understand my village in a much better way.
What strikes me the most is that even though Siolim is such a small village it is bound by a lot of tradition and cultural backing.
My name is Stacy Mascarenhas, I am presently doing my M.A. in Sociology at Goa University. I am a member of the Goa-Nara Neighbourhood project.
What made me take up this project is that even though I have been staying in Siolim since birth there are many things which I am not aware of and this project gives me a chance to explore and understand my village in a much better way.
What strikes me the most is that even though Siolim is such a small village it is bound by a lot of tradition and cultural backing.
About Blogs and Bloggers
by Salil Konkar
Monday 7th Jan '08, the Siolim team meets for an update.
Besides catching up on the progress made on the project, the more important part of the meeting is to understand how blogs are created and how to post to the blog, since we'd already decided to use this method to document and share our thoughts and observations while working onthe project. Using a projector and a laptop connected to the internet, we have a look at the Siolim Diaries blog (this one) that I'd created a couple of weeks ago. I explain to the team how to post text and images to the blog and we spend the next thirty minutes or so penning our thoughts in our diaries, the idea being that we should be able to post one of these texts to the blog right away so that the entire blogging process is clear to everyone in the team. 
While the others write away, I spend the time taking some pictures that we can include in the text.
We choose Lorraine's introduction of herself as the piece to upload, and after I crop one of the photos that I'd just taken to get an image of her, Lorraine and Stacy post the text to the blog (the photo doesn't go through because of some connection problems - I upload it from home later).
We then discuss the future course of action for the project, and agree to chase a few leads that we already have and to try and create some new ones to document stories from the village. During our previous trip on 31st Dec, we had met a family in the village, one of whose members was an elderly woman about to turn hundred! Would she share her stories about the village with us? We decided to meet her again to find out on our next trip, which we scheduled for Wednesday 9th Jan to coincide with the day of the weekly market in Siolim.
Monday 7th Jan '08, the Siolim team meets for an update.
Besides catching up on the progress made on the project, the more important part of the meeting is to understand how blogs are created and how to post to the blog, since we'd already decided to use this method to document and share our thoughts and observations while working onthe project. Using a projector and a laptop connected to the internet, we have a look at the Siolim Diaries blog (this one) that I'd created a couple of weeks ago. I explain to the team how to post text and images to the blog and we spend the next thirty minutes or so penning our thoughts in our diaries, the idea being that we should be able to post one of these texts to the blog right away so that the entire blogging process is clear to everyone in the team. 
While the others write away, I spend the time taking some pictures that we can include in the text.We choose Lorraine's introduction of herself as the piece to upload, and after I crop one of the photos that I'd just taken to get an image of her, Lorraine and Stacy post the text to the blog (the photo doesn't go through because of some connection problems - I upload it from home later).
We then discuss the future course of action for the project, and agree to chase a few leads that we already have and to try and create some new ones to document stories from the village. During our previous trip on 31st Dec, we had met a family in the village, one of whose members was an elderly woman about to turn hundred! Would she share her stories about the village with us? We decided to meet her again to find out on our next trip, which we scheduled for Wednesday 9th Jan to coincide with the day of the weekly market in Siolim.
Monday 7 January 2008
Introducing Lorraine
by Lorraine Fernandes
My name is Lorraine Fernandes, I'm presently doing my M.A. in the Sociology department at Goa University. I am a part of the Goa Nara Neighbourhood project. I got involved in this project as I found this project very interesting. Another motive behind joining this project was that I would also get to know and learn a lot of new things during the course of this project. As I come from Siolim it is an added advantage for me; being from the same village I can contribute something for my village by making it famous throughout the world through this project.
As a team we had our first trip on 21st December, which was very exciting for me because for the first time in my life I became a guide to myself and also for my team members.
My name is Lorraine Fernandes, I'm presently doing my M.A. in the Sociology department at Goa University. I am a part of the Goa Nara Neighbourhood project. I got involved in this project as I found this project very interesting. Another motive behind joining this project was that I would also get to know and learn a lot of new things during the course of this project. As I come from Siolim it is an added advantage for me; being from the same village I can contribute something for my village by making it famous throughout the world through this project.As a team we had our first trip on 21st December, which was very exciting for me because for the first time in my life I became a guide to myself and also for my team members.
Thursday 3 January 2008
The Siolim 'Zagor'
by Reyna Sequeira
Salil, Milan and I attended the traditional zagor festival at Siolim. The zagor was held this year on 31st December 2007 at Gude–Vaddo in Siolim. The zagor is jointly organized by the Christians as well as the Hindus of Siolim. There was a big fair surrounding the area of the maand.
People lit a lot of candles and offered flower garlands to a place where there was a small ghumti (small temple). Zagor is staged at the Zagreshwar temple. There was a big crowd in the temple; the vehicles had to be parked at a distance and we had to walk for around 10-15 minutes to the actual place of the maand. There is a small gathering which proceeds to the Zagreshwar temple from both the sides of the temple which is termed as suvaari. We proceeded towards the northern side of the temple to come along with the suvaari. We enquired from the local people about the actual place of the suvaari and we realized that some people did not have much knowledge about the same. When we went to one of the local houses to enquire, the family living there urged us to come and dine with them. The food was already laid on their table. It contained both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The family treated us warmly in their house. They narrated to us about how for the past 2-3 years the suvaari from this particular ward had been banned from entering the Zagreshwar temple due to some tension in the village. We had a quick meal with this family and chatted with them for some time. We then proceeded towards the site of the suvaari. It was at St. Anthony’s chapel. A big crowd had gathered which included Catholics and Hindus. Some men were beating drums and one young man had entered into a trance. People were shouting 'Don’t leave our children' 'Amchea bhurgeank soddun vochun naka deva.' I was amazed. We were all lost in the crowd. I climbed a newly constructed house near the chapel and climbed on top of it so that I could get a clear picture of what was happening in the chapel. Some women gathered in the chapel and the in a trance just came running out from the chapel and was dancing with the beating of the drums. Married women from the surrounding houses were offering sannas – a sweet made from rice, sur (toddy from coconut palm) and 
coconut which is a speciality of the village – to the possessed person. The person in the trance was considered as God. Some people were objecting to our clicking photographs but one gentleman told those people to just move so that I could click pictures. Later, an announcement was made to the people to not click pictures of the possessed person. At one point of time the possessed person ran away from the crowd where people made way for him.
Later we moved to the place of the maand. I saw many Catholic women participating in the zagor. I asked the women whether they had not gone for the midnight mass on New Year’s eve - they told me no they will be going the next day in the morning. When we went to the maand both Catholics and Hindus were singing and performing on the stage at Zagreshwar temple.
These zagor were being performed at various places in Goa, but it did not have a very high status in Goa and since they were performed usually in the night there were different things that used to occur. In such zagor the neighbour would be criticized, which girl or boy is in love with whom and other social issues used to be taken up in the zagor. Siolim Marna used to have three zagor first in Vaddy Keri but this has stopped since many years. Second in Marna in the church ward where the Catholics used to perform wherein they used to play the ghumot and madllim and perform in this zagor. It was usually performed on the day of the feast or on the carnival day till recently. And the third is Gudde zagor which is prevalent till date. The leaders of this zagor are the village elders later who will keep the tradition alive. Whole night there is a lot of gambling activity which takes place.
The Tiatr that is performed in the zagor is more like that of a natak (Hindu drama).The people play ghumot and madim, sing songs, make a lot of noise and take a procession from the
road to a place called Maand wherein there is a stage. They climb there and start singing and dancing followed by a suvaari(procession).In this suvaari only the males participate followed the leader of the zagor the zagorio who is always a Hindu comes with another suvaari. Then there is a custom called Barboria wherein they make a circle and dance on the stage. Then comes the Mavonni(wherein the men are dressed like the women) among this women there is one male. This is followed by a king who comes with his sword who dances on the stage and later followed by the bhonvor. The specialty of this zagor is although the Hindu brethren celebrate the zagor the songs which are sung are usually of the Christians.
Salil, Milan and I attended the traditional zagor festival at Siolim. The zagor was held this year on 31st December 2007 at Gude–Vaddo in Siolim. The zagor is jointly organized by the Christians as well as the Hindus of Siolim. There was a big fair surrounding the area of the maand.
People lit a lot of candles and offered flower garlands to a place where there was a small ghumti (small temple). Zagor is staged at the Zagreshwar temple. There was a big crowd in the temple; the vehicles had to be parked at a distance and we had to walk for around 10-15 minutes to the actual place of the maand. There is a small gathering which proceeds to the Zagreshwar temple from both the sides of the temple which is termed as suvaari. We proceeded towards the northern side of the temple to come along with the suvaari. We enquired from the local people about the actual place of the suvaari and we realized that some people did not have much knowledge about the same. When we went to one of the local houses to enquire, the family living there urged us to come and dine with them. The food was already laid on their table. It contained both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The family treated us warmly in their house. They narrated to us about how for the past 2-3 years the suvaari from this particular ward had been banned from entering the Zagreshwar temple due to some tension in the village. We had a quick meal with this family and chatted with them for some time. We then proceeded towards the site of the suvaari. It was at St. Anthony’s chapel. A big crowd had gathered which included Catholics and Hindus. Some men were beating drums and one young man had entered into a trance. People were shouting 'Don’t leave our children' 'Amchea bhurgeank soddun vochun naka deva.' I was amazed. We were all lost in the crowd. I climbed a newly constructed house near the chapel and climbed on top of it so that I could get a clear picture of what was happening in the chapel. Some women gathered in the chapel and the in a trance just came running out from the chapel and was dancing with the beating of the drums. Married women from the surrounding houses were offering sannas – a sweet made from rice, sur (toddy from coconut palm) and 
coconut which is a speciality of the village – to the possessed person. The person in the trance was considered as God. Some people were objecting to our clicking photographs but one gentleman told those people to just move so that I could click pictures. Later, an announcement was made to the people to not click pictures of the possessed person. At one point of time the possessed person ran away from the crowd where people made way for him.Later we moved to the place of the maand. I saw many Catholic women participating in the zagor. I asked the women whether they had not gone for the midnight mass on New Year’s eve - they told me no they will be going the next day in the morning. When we went to the maand both Catholics and Hindus were singing and performing on the stage at Zagreshwar temple.
These zagor were being performed at various places in Goa, but it did not have a very high status in Goa and since they were performed usually in the night there were different things that used to occur. In such zagor the neighbour would be criticized, which girl or boy is in love with whom and other social issues used to be taken up in the zagor. Siolim Marna used to have three zagor first in Vaddy Keri but this has stopped since many years. Second in Marna in the church ward where the Catholics used to perform wherein they used to play the ghumot and madllim and perform in this zagor. It was usually performed on the day of the feast or on the carnival day till recently. And the third is Gudde zagor which is prevalent till date. The leaders of this zagor are the village elders later who will keep the tradition alive. Whole night there is a lot of gambling activity which takes place.
The Tiatr that is performed in the zagor is more like that of a natak (Hindu drama).The people play ghumot and madim, sing songs, make a lot of noise and take a procession from the
road to a place called Maand wherein there is a stage. They climb there and start singing and dancing followed by a suvaari(procession).In this suvaari only the males participate followed the leader of the zagor the zagorio who is always a Hindu comes with another suvaari. Then there is a custom called Barboria wherein they make a circle and dance on the stage. Then comes the Mavonni(wherein the men are dressed like the women) among this women there is one male. This is followed by a king who comes with his sword who dances on the stage and later followed by the bhonvor. The specialty of this zagor is although the Hindu brethren celebrate the zagor the songs which are sung are usually of the Christians.
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