“When you read, it’s like you travel even though you’re stuck at home. Imagination is such a great thing. I advise people to read during this time,” says Desiree D’souza – a final year M.A English student at Goa University. She shares with NT GoGoaNow about how she has been coping with the lockdown and social distancing. Sheryl Gonsalves | NT GoGoaNow Desiree knows that she won’t be a student for long and has to one day step out into the world get a professional job. Being at home for 2 months and not wanting to waste any more time she decided to take up a 1-month online course from Harvardx about Shakespeare as she admires his works. She has also been improving her cooking skills and exercising to remain fit. Desiree describes herself as an introvert and therefore doesn’t really get bored and finds a lot of things to do at home. Reading has been one of her main activities. “The details in novels give vivid mental images. Reading can change a person’s mood. It can make a boring day at home fun. I especially like reading crime fiction and enjoy the suspense,” Desiree reveals. However, one thing that […]

“I’m looking forward to a new normal. I haven’t thought that far ahead. Let’s take one step at a time and this too shall pass,” says Sharmila regarding the lockdown and the Covid-19 situation. Sheryl Gonsalves – NT GoGoaNow Sharmila, the owner of ‘Kitsch Bits’ creates beautiful items out of waste material. The pandemic affected her sales, which she expected, as nowadays people are more careful with their money because of the economic situation.  During the lockdown, her time was spent doing housework, practicing woodburning, different painting techniques, experimenting with new waste products, and creating new looks for her works. The lockdown wasn’t boring for her. She even tried to knead her own bread when bread wasn’t available. However, Sharmila did get frustrated sometimes as she didn’t always have the material she needed to create her craftworks. All the housework led to tiredness, but what made her feel good was performing kind acts like feeding stray animals. She had plans to go to France this October but unfortunately had to cancel her trip. Sharmila suggests buying groceries once a week and carpooling instead of coming and going to the market so often and causing more pollution. She says: “We need […]

Are you one of those people under lockdown going crazy with boredom indoors? Here are some ideas to help you make your time at home fun and productive:   Catch up with family and friends There must be people you haven’t spoken to for a long time. Call them and recollect cherished memories together. Reach to those who are alone and support them during these times.   Learn something new Sometimes life gets so busy that we don’t get time for other things. Learn to play that piano that’s gathering dust in your house or practice new dance moves by watching online videos. Try your hand at stitching, embroidery, etc. You can even complete an online course, take up the task of speaking a new language, learn to do basic home repairs, programming, carpentry, and so much more.   Have an indoor photo-shoot This is an idea which can be loved by smartphone owners having social media accounts. Take selfies, dress up if needed, and capture creative photos indoors by making use of props, shadows, using window light diffused with shutters, taking macro shots of objects, etc. There are a lot of ideas online where people use items like sieves, […]

Goan cooking generally involves liberal amounts of spices giving dishes a strange taste and distinctive aroma. Particular combinations of spices have led to a number of styles of cooking, which have differing flavors; masala, vindaloo and balchao being some of the most famous. Chilies, particularly the dried red variety, are used widely to add pungency, flavor, texture, marinate meats and fish. The green variety is also used to make chutneys, pickles, give pungency and taste to vegetables, meats and fish. The Christians prefer to use vinegar, while the Hindus use ‘kokum’ and tamarind to get the tang in their respective cuisines. Another important product of the palm is jaggery, a dark colored sweetener that is widely used in preparing Goan sweetmeats. Jaggery made from sugarcane is also used which has got a lighter colour compared to the coconut palm one. The spice plantations of Goa are quite popular as a tourist attraction, for more details click on – Spice Plantations The various spices found in the Goan markets (Local Markets) or any General stores around you are; Fennel (Badisep)  Asafetida (Hing) Cardamom (Veichi) Cumin (Jirem) Pepper (Mirem) Mustard seeds (Sasvam) Cinnamon (Dalchini) Clove (Lovang)  Coriander Seed (Sukhi Kothmir)  Cubeb (Teflam)  Fenugreek […]

The 53rd International Film Festival of India to be held from 20th to 28th November 2022 in Goa will be Divyangjan friendly and accessible to all the film enthusiasts. IFFI comes up with facilities to the differently abled cine-enthusiasts like screening audio description enabled, sub-titled movies , conducting technical workshops in movie making and acting, in the infrastructure front  creating accessible ramps, tactile walkways, braille signboards etc. Featuring a Divyangjan Special section this year an initiative by the MIB and IFFI is a step towards making cinema an inclusive and accessible avenue for everyone. In this section, dedicated screenings for specially-abled audience will be organized keeping in mind their accessibility needs in terms of formats of film screening and venue infrastructure, and management. The films in this section will have embedded subtitles, as well as audio descriptions. The audio descriptions are specially created audio tracks that narrates the visual information in a film. The audience can listen to the same, and the content of the film is conveyed to the audience which is otherwise not accessible. Further, films, like Richard Attenborough’s Oscar winning Gandhi and The Storyteller directed by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, which will be premiered at IFFI in the ‘Divyangjan’ section will be audio-visually equipped […]