Carnival Colors

Spectacular floats adorn the streets with people dancing without inhibition in their brilliantly coloured costumes while rainbow coloured masks and feathers adorn the faces of passers-by. Scores of entertainers from diverse lands and color are aplenty and the atmosphere is that of merry making twice over. Eager tourists can’t believe their luck as they take to their hand held smart phone cameras trying to capture the perfect ‘SELFIE’ and update their joy on social media saying – ‘It’s that time of the year again!’ We’re not describing the popular festival Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We’re talking about our own version of it, here in our very own backyard – The Goa Carnival.

Easily the biggest festival and unique and exclusive to Goa since the 18^th Century, The Goa Carnival is celebrated before the commencement of the 40 days of Lent; which is a period of fasting, abstinence and spirituality. It was introduced by the Portuguese, who ruled over the state for more than 500 years.

Although the three day festival is predominately celebrated by the local Christians, it has evolved to include some traditional Hindu flavour over the past decade as well as western music and dance form. Though it originally started as a celebration by the local population, it has crossed all geographical and cultural barriers with thousands of people thronging from all over the country and the world take active part in it.

Taking place between the 25^th and 28^th of February in 2017, the carnival will kick off with an order to start partying, from the legendary King Momo, or the ‘King of Chaos’, a character derived from the Greek God, Momus – The God of Satire. Following him, in procession, are flocks of dancers, bands, folk singers adorning costumes of fortune tellers, hawkers, older men and women in brightly coloured clothing and many more such delightful imagery and entertainment to watch.

The three days that follow is a time of unbridled festivities among the masses. Day long parades, accompanied with live bands, dance troupes, party goers wearing masks and costumes, sports competitions and colourful floats. It’s also a great time to treat your taste buds and indulge in the sinful local delicacies and wash the food down with a glass or four of the local Goan spirit, Feni. If you’re a late riser, don’t worry, you won’t miss a moment of the celebrations as they go on late into the night.

Back in the day, the procession would enact battle scenes, with boys and men armed with fake guns, loaded with coloured powder. There was no shortage of firecrackers that were lit in harmony with the beat of the drums. Local boys eagerly waited for the Carnival, as it became an opportune setting to profess their love for the girl of their dreams.

The festivities culminate with the ‘Red and Black Ball’ that has women dressed in red tops and black skirts while their male counterparts adorn red shirts and black trousers – this is held at the Clube National in Panjim and is a gala event attended by multitudes of people.

So if you are planning a trip to Goa plan to be there around The Goa Carnival.

Image credits: planetgoa and jattdisite and globalvisiontours

Beautiful Strokes

It is common in the US and Canada for artists to hone their craft by going to different locales, which inspire them in different ways. They also find the exercise more interesting and inspiring, and hence when they find locations in other countries, the trip becomes a holiday too. Suzanne Northcott, an artist from Canada, recently conducted one such art workshop for a motley group of art learners at the Aashyana Lakhanpal, Goa.

The group largely spent most of their time painting and doing yoga at the beautifully set Yoga Pavillion but when their schedule permitted and their curiosity got the better of them, they toured the culturally rich and social hobnobbing spots of the city where people from across the world took on the gay and languorous vibe of the city.

The experiences they enjoyed were many; they particularly enjoyed the performance of a RUSSIAN SINGER, who crooned beautiful renditions of Mozart, Bizet etc. on the very first evening of their stay at Aashyana Lakhanpal. The WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON BAZAAR at Anjuna Beach, which originally started as a flea market during the hippie era and has continued to this date on a larger scale. Shopping was a key attraction here. This was followed by a trip to the SATURDAY NIGHT MARKET at Arpora, which is similar to the Wednesday market but differs by having a large international food court with live music and dancing, making the night a lot of fun.

Located in the industrial area called Pilerne is the new MUSEUM OF GOA created by a Goan artist – this visit gave them a peek into the colorful history of Goa. One morning they took a BOAT TRIP on the Mondavi River where they caught glimpses of the city and its vegetation and concluded the day with a spectacular sunset. No trip to Goa is complete without a viewing of OLD GOA. So one morning they took a day trip to the SPICE PLANTATION and on the way back they witnessed the architectural beauty of old Goa and the BASILICA OF BOM JESUS where to date lie the mortal remains of Saint Francis Xavier.

A COOKING WORKSHOP was organised for them with Meera Chinai, who in a couple of hours gave them the basics of Indian cuisine, more specifically the Indian DAL. She shared with them the importance of TADKA (known as tempering in English) and also demonstrated how tadka was done in India. Since they were so intrigued Meera also taught them how to cook the simple and popular south Indian snack UPMA, the ingredients of which are easily found in all western countries and the method is quite simple. They found it easy to use and thoroughly relished the snack after tasting it.

LET’S MAKE SOME UPMA!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of semolina

1 tbsp cooking oil

½ tsp channa dal

½ tsp udad dal

½ tsp of mustard seeds

1 onion finely chopped

2 green chillies

4-5 curry leaves

1 glass of water

5-6 stalks of coriander/cilantro

1 lime cut into long wedges

THE BURPY TO-DO:

-     Roast the semolina in a pan on a medium flame until crunchy – this should take about 10 minutes. Once done take it off the fire into a plate to cool.

-     Add the oil to the same pan and once heated add the mustard seed and when they sputter add the udad and channa dals and stir them until they are slightly brown.

-     Toss in the onions, green chillies and curry leaves and stir till the onions soften.

-     Add the roasted semolina to the pan and stir well for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste.

-     Add a glass full of water to the pan (watch out for it sputtering) and stir quickly to avoid formation of lumps.

-     Cover the mixture for about 15 minutes on a low flame – the water will dry up and once the consistency becomes paste-like your Upma is ready

-     Take it off the fire and serve in a bowl – garnish it with fresh coriander/cilantro and wedges of lime

Suzanne and her students thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Aashyana Lakhanpal and have plans to come back again next year.