Getting our bearings in Siolim

by Salil Konkar

Today, 21st Dec 07, was the first visit to Siolim of our group (Milan, Reyna, Lorraine, Stacy and myself). At 8:40 in the morning Milan and I picked up Reyna from Panaji bus stand and set out for Siolim. Lorraine and Stacy, who are from Siolim, were to meet us at the St. Anthony's church in Siolim at 9:15. From my earlier trips past Siolim, I had somehow felt that it would take much longer than the half hour that Reyna had promised it would, but was pleasantly surprised when we did in fact reach the church in 30 minutes flat. The drive was along village roads, crossing the villages of Saligao, Nagoa, Arpora and then into Siolim. It was a pleasant drive spent chatting away - I learnt that Milan had earlier spent considerable time doing research work in Siolim, and that Reyna's ongoing research project had also been in villages around Siolim. I seemed to be the only one whose association with Siolim was limited to just driving past it to places like Morjim, Mandrem.

Lorraine and Stacy were waiting for us at the church and quickly told us about the places in the village that they planned to take us to - a string of names that I found difficult to digest all at once. After a suggestion from Milan and myself for 'chai' was politely shot down by the others, we set out on our 'exploratory' trip of the village, the first stop being 'tarikade' (towards the jetty/harbour ???). Lorraine led us on her two-wheeler (with Stacy on it), and we followed in my car.

Before the new bridge was built connecting Siolim to villages north of it, this used to be the point from which the barges would ferry people to and fro across the river. Consequently, buses from Panaji/Mapusa would offload or pick up people using the ferry and the whole area would be quite crowded and busy. Now, with the new bridge, the commuter crowds aren't there any more, but the fish and vegetable market still attracts a lot of people, even from neighbouring villages. The fish-sellers (women with voices that carry across the river) sit alongside each other on a narrow road along the river bank. The road has a parapet wall along its river side. The fish market reminded me of the much smaller one that we have in Caranzalem (close to where I stay), but this one seemed to have a much bigger repertoire - crabs, lobster, shells and fish of all shapes and sizes. We walked along the road and then returned back to the start of the road, where I noticed some particularly attractive looking kairis (raw/unripe mango) which one of the women was selling at a ridiculous enough price.

Lorraine and Stacy then proceeded to take us to the junction of the new bridge, and along the way an old woman carrying a bag full of sweets and a bent back very sweetly talked them into carrying the bag for her, since we were going in the same direction anyway. The girls obliged, which was nice - the bag seemed too big and heavy to be carried on a long walk by a woman her age. In a short time, we passed under the bridge and bade our goodbye to the old lady.

We then walked back to the market and I bought the kairis I had set my eyes on, ridiculous price and all (though Reyna did use her bargaining skills to get me an extra kairi). This time we made sure we got our cups of tea - we sat in the cafe in the middle of the fish market sipping it over plates of sheera and samosas. Over tea, we discussed about maintaining diaries and sharing information via the blog (this one).

We then set out for Gude Waddo to see the harvesting of shell fish from the river bed. This is done during low tide when the water recedes and one can just walk into the river for a considerable distance. There's no fishing involved here, just bend down and pick up the loot. The water can get at most up to knee deep, and though we reached at a time when the water had only just begun to recede, there were already a couple of villagers waiting to get into the water, and in fact a little way off, some had already got in and begun harvesting. From this place where Lorraine and Stacy took us one can see the Chapora hill (which has the Chapora fort on it) across the river. I've been to Chapora fort quite a few times and have seen this place from there; it was a good feeling to be on the other end of the view this time.

On the way to Gude Waddo, we had passed the maand where the zagor is held. On the way back we drove past Remo's house (he apparently performs at the zagor occasionally) and proceeded to the Sateri temple in Sheli. The temple was cool inside and had the serene atmosphere that I've found in Goan temples (lacking in most temples elsewhere in India which border on the chaotic). The word 'sheli' apparently means 'moss', and is associated with cooler places; temples are invariably located in such places.

From the temple we went on to our final stop - the paddy fields where the third crop (vaingan??) of paddy was being harvested. Flanking the two sides of the fields are the Marna and Sodiem areas of the village. We had already learnt that Lorraine lives in Marna and Stacy in Sodiem. We spent some time watching the people working in the fields, then bade goodbye to Lorraine and Stacy and went our way, back to the church from where we had started and then back to Panaji.