The old Temple in old Goa

It was a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon when I met my friend Megha for lunch. I was prepared for this meeting since I had lot things to talk about. Megha being a literature teacher usually has something to say about whatever you bring up and hence it always becomes an interesting discussion about all kinds of random topics.

We were going to visit the Saptakoteshwar temple that day. This temple has a lot of history associated with it and we wanted to visit the temple and places near it to get an idea of what the temple might have witnessed through the centuries.

I had my scooter with me then and we first head to the ferry that would take us to Chorao island. Chorao island was where this temple was initially located, before the Portugese and before the time of Shivaji. We got on the ferry along with the scooter and crossed the Mandovi river to reach a spot on the island amongst the mangrove forests that seemed envelope the entire mass of land.

We started riding on the only road before us that took us through the never ending fields on either sides. The tiny hills in the distance were very reassuring about how we were now pleasantly disconnected from the city we came from. It was not long, before we approached a small church. Although it seemed like it was built using concrete, there was no way to tell how old it was. There was no sign of a year mentioned anywhere. As we walked out of the gate of the church without finding anything, we saw a tall structure in front of us. It was what it looked like a portion of a cross. A tall vertical section made of wood, standing on an elevated pedestal. There were symbols engraved in the front and the back. Some were easy to identify, a ladder, a crop and a bell. But the others, we were not sure what they meant.

Then we were on our way again, through the interiors of the land. Now we were passing through a growth of trees all around, interspaced only by pretty houses with tiled roofs and brightly painted walls. As we went watching the intricate details on their windows and their inviting verandas, we reached another church. This church was bright white in colour with a huge lawn in front of it fenced by a short wall. As we walked through the lawn, we noticed the growth of touch-me-not plants among the grass.

We could not see or find anything of historical importance here except for a small canon facing outward as if protecting the church from its enemies.

Drawn by the curious little houses, we walked down the road in front of the church which was completely covered in shade and so quite that it got us wondering if any people lived in these houses. Just then, I saw this lady looking out from her balcony. She said hi when she noticed that we had seen her. We seized the opportunity to ask her about this place. The lady told us that what we had just visited was a chapel and Chorao church was farther from this place. Megha asked the woman about the markings we saw on the vertical structure in front of the other church. But she had no clue what we were talking about.

Soon we were on our way to Chorao church. It was short ride from where we were. Upon reaching the church, we were looking for clues again. And this church was huge. There were paintings, slabs with names of people who had donated, a stone engraving near the main door, but none of them were showing dates older than the 1900s. We could only speculate if this was where Saptakoteshwar temple once stood.

There was only one way to find out more. And that was to go to the temple itself. We wandered about trying to find the temple. We had entered into a small settlement. There was a small temple there which was kind of incomplete. We payed a visit to this temple and I vaguely remember that the main idol was that of Krishna. Once we came out of this temple, we asked a lady walking down the road how to reach the Saptakoteshwar temple. She could speak English. But she did not know where the temple was. Just then, an old lady came by and she started telling us where to go. But we could not understand a word of what she was saying. Maybe it was konkani she was speaking. Seeing that we weren't able to follow what the old woman was saying, the other lady was trying to translate it for us. I could only appreciate her efforts because we still didn't know where to go from there. After a few moments of failed attempts, a man on a scooter appeared. The old lady stopped him and I guess she asked him where he was going. To our relief, from there, we had to just follow the man to reach the temple. We thanked the two women and went after the man on the scooter.

We followed the man till we reached a point from where we had to keep going straight. When we were passing through the trees and the houses again, suddenly the vegetation changed to a neatly arranged row of thin straight growing palm trees. It looked like a spice plantation. It was amazing to see how slender yet tall these trees can be.

Going further ahead, we saw a temple. At first we thought it was the Saptakoteshwar temple. It turned out to be a devi temple and we learned from a priest that it was a temple built for the God of a family that lives in the region. Hindu families generally have a temple dedicated to their custom God. The main idol was decorated excessively, the priest was doing his rituals and the door into the room where the idol was kept was lit by coloured serial lights. This was the fanciest kind of decor I had ever seen in a temple.

A little further ahead and we reached the Saptakoteshwar temple. Before reaching the main idol, we saw three other idols, each having a small temple of its own. We noticed the architecture of these temples. It made us wonder what might have influenced their unique style. The yellow and blue painted, tile roofed temple was the one that housed the main idol. It even had a tomb at its farther end. What we found inside this building was most unusual. It was a shiv ling (representation of the Hindu God Shiva) with the face of a mustached man on it. The face was made of metal plate and maybe it was just a mask, but it had strong features.

Reluctant to leave this place without knowing more about it, we asked at one of the houses in front of the temple about who would be able to tell us about the history of this temple. We were asked to visit the person who was in the temple's office room. A flight of stairs took us to a corridor of rooms. This is where we met an old man with a long white beard. When we asked him that we wanted to know about the history of this temple, he invited us into one of the rooms and started telling us about how the temple was initially in Chorao and was moved here when the Portugese had built a church in its place. He mentioned how the ling was used there to reach a well's pulley. He also told us that Jains used to live here when this temple was shifted and that Shivaji had built it in its present form using laterite stones when he noticed that the temple was in a pathetic condition. Megha at this point was curious about knowing how Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism are related. He didn't have much to say about this and went on to say how it is in Hindu religion itself to not hurt the sentiments of other religions. He claimed that Hindus have never took part in any destruction or  killings in the name of religion. Megha told him about the instances where this has happened before and despite being aware of it, he was trying to justify his own point. When I was starting to lose interest in where this discussion was going, he started talking about death and how it is the ultimate form of truth that exists. With this, he lead us to the way out and we thanked him for his time.

On our way back, I reflected upon how all our experiences are so unexpected and how we know so much more about something once we see it from the perspective of a stranger.

Meeting Old Friends and Wada Pav

One weekend, I thought I would leave for Mumbai. There was nothing much to do and it was long time since I met my friends in Mumbai. And Mumbai is just a night's journey from Goa. So I called my friend Nikhilesh and told him that I was going to come to Mumbai for a couple of days and stay at his place.

So, on a Saturday night, I got on my bus. It was sleeper coach (with beds you can lie on). It was all good until the bus started moving. The ride was so bumpy, I was in a different posture every time the driver hit the brakes or ran over a speed bump. I managed to sleep only in little bits. When I woke up, the bus had stopped at one of those remote restaurants. When I got out, I found that my wallet was missing. I came back to my bed. I couldn't find it. I asked the driver and he asked me to list the things I had in it first. After I described all the contents, he took my wallet out from a little box. He said somebody had found it lying near their bed. I was tossed around so much during the ride that my wallet flew off to some other person's seat! OK bed!

Soon, I was trying to sleep again. I woke up in the morning and saw outside. It was Panvel. I crossed the gate of the school where I used to study (my 11th and 12th Std) and I was eagerly waiting to arrive at Belapur and meet my friend.

I got down at the flyover at Belapur and started walking towards my friend's house. As I walked I saw how the place had changed so much with so many new shops and so much more crowd, but still remained the same with lots of greenery and wide roads. It was wet everywhere from the slight drizzle and the whole place had an old familiar feel to it.

Just then, I got a call from my friend saying another one of our people, Anup (from my 11th and 12th Std class) had arrived just today all the way from Jalandar (Punjab). He came to meet me outside and we walked to Nikhilesh's house. It was almost after 6 years that I met Anup, but I tell you, it felt like school got over just yesterday and we were meeting once again.

We reached Nikhilesh's house. There were a lot of people there. Nikhilesh's mom, dad and two of his cousins. Since I have been visiting Nikhilesh's place every now and then, I was a familiar face to Nikhilesh's mom and I always have an amiable chat with her despite my broken responses in Hindi. I briefly met Nikhilesh's father who was quite busy getting ready to leave for office. Nikhilesh then tells me that the plan is to go to this amusement park called Essel World and asks me to get ready fast.

In no time, Nikhilesh, Anup and I were on our way to Essel World. We took a bus to Borivali, got down, had a wada pav, got into an auto that took us to the jetty and got into the ferry that took us to the amusement park. From then on, we were on a frenzy. Although I was a little scared in the beginning, we didn't stop from flying around, hanging upside down, hanging upside down while flying around, looping the loop on a roller coaster, almost free falling without a parachute on a roller coaster, getting sprayed by a fountain while hanging upside down and ice skating on a fake ice lake! Yes, I know. Then we were all done, tired at last, we ate some pizzas, walked around and head out for the boat back.

Now we were in a bit of a hurry to head back because Nikhilesh had to go to one of his relatives' place. So we were thinking about what would be the fastest way back home. We asked some taxis and they were all too expensive. We then decided to take an auto. We got an auto for a decent price and we were on our way to Belapur. But after a while, the auto started coughing badly and we had to stop. After starting again, the auto continued to cough and the driver had to get down every now then to tighten some piece in the back of the auto. This went on, until we reached a somewhat familiar place and we decided to take a bus from there. We got a bus till Vashi. We got down at Vashi and found a car that gave us a lift. We parted ways with Anup at Jui Nagar station and then Nikhilesh and I got down at Nerul, which was the furthest the car took us towards Belapur. We then took the state transport bus and went all the way till Belapur. Phew! Home at last. And in good time. I was so tired, I dozed into sleep while trying to read a book.

The next day, I left from Nikhilesh's house to meet my cousin studying in a management college called NITI. I had to take a bus till Powai. After a long ride till Powai, I had a wada pav at a roadside thela and then took another bus to a slum area. I got lost in the slum area but I walked around for a bit and found my way to NITI campus. Now this place was quite excluded from the rest of Mumbai. The college campus was full of really huge trees, thick vegetation and some old buildings meant for academics.

It was beginning to become dark and was slighly drizzling. I met my cousin near the administrative building. He was leaving for a freshers' party, so he showed me to the guest room where I was about to stay and then the canteen. He told me how the campus is almost an extension of the Borivali National Park and leopards tend to enter every now and then. Wondering if I would spot any leopards, I walked to the building with my room on the sixth floor. Inside the room, I opened my window. It was darker now. I was in a forest looking at the city bustling with life. Just outside the window were towering trees almost making it impossible to see the ground and the small lake inside the campus. To my left, was a green forest that spread all the way till the little hills at the horizon. On my right, I could see the huge lake at Powai, lots of traffic on the roads, tall buildings all lit up and even the airport with an occasional plane landing.

The next day, I met my cousin again during lunch in the canteen. After a final word, I left NITI almost as if I had come for a 'night in the forest house' visit. Now I had to go back to Nikhilesh's house and take my bus back to Goa in the evening. I felt like walking a bit so I walked till the Powai lake and walked along the lake side and reached a bus stop. I took a bus to Vashi. As soon as I found a seat, I fell asleep and hardly realized how long the ride was. I got down at the bus stand in Vashi and walked to the local train station. The road was so familiar, I didn't even have to ask for directions. I stopped at the jumbo wada pav stall on the way and took a bite. I was looking at railway station and remembered the times I had came here with my parents, friends and even my special person. Feeling all nostalgic, I bought a ticket to Belapur and went straight for the platform. I always used to get nervous when the train arrived because these trains are usually very crowded and stop for only about 20 seconds. After getting inside the train safely, I was looking out at all the familiar places on the way to Belapur.

I was back at Nikhilesh's place again. I had to pack everything and leave for my bus. Nikhilesh's mom insisted that I have dinner before I leave for my bus and I couldn't say no! After quickly eating and saying goodbye to Nikhilesh's mom, dad and his two cousins (and Nikhilesh on the phone because he was in office), I left for my bus to Goa.

Back in Goa

Six years ago, I chose to do engineering. The only reason for this choice was because I didn't have a better choice. And that's how I left home, and found Goa. I studied here for four years and then worked for a year.

When I left my job in Goa, I head out of Goa looking for jobs and ended up doing freelance work for people. I was doing this in Bangalore for five months and then for about six months in Chennai.

I wanted to keep doing this but wanted to set my base at some place where I could stay forever. Again, the only place I could think of was Goa. My home away from home. Be it because of the people I knew from college or the people I used to work with or because I just love this place. So all I had to do was pack my bag and leave. And here I am, back in Goa.