Resident of Goa or visiting this state, GoGoaNow is your one stop to the sights, sounds and taste of Goa. Here you can plan your weekend or your holiday with things to do, see, visit, eat and drink.
From exhibitions, concerts, dance, food and drink to performing arts, libraries and more, GoGoaNow is the definitive guide to events in Goa.
Featured Events
An exhibition entitled ‘bigfuttsart’, a distinct form of art with nostalgic and folk connections created by young talents and initiated by Maendra Alvares will be unveiled at Big Foot Art Gallery on March 1. The exhibition will remain on view till March 12, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Ancestral Goa – Big Foot, Loutolim. Details: www.ancestralgoa.com/ www.bigfootgoa.com
Kala Academy Goa is organising its 45th Konkani Drama Competition from March 1 to March 26 with the participation of 21 Konkani theatre groups from Goa. The competition will be held at Master Dattaram Sabhagruha, Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir, Ponda Goa. The event is organised in collaboration with Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir, Ponda. The competition will be held in adherence to all COVID-19 protocol. The shows in this competition will commence daily at 7 p.m. and tickets of `50 per person per show will be available at the ticket counter of Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir from 4 p.m. onwards on the day of the performance. Details: www.kalaacademygoa.co.in
A workshop for travel and food lovers on travel writing, conducted by Shikha Tripathi (Nat Geo published) will be held on March 6, at 11 a.m. at Barefoot Goa, Parra. A vegan lunch by Okapi Vegan Kitchen will follow. The workshop is a stepping stone to writing professionally, and will help participants find their voice, develop story ideas, and edit right. Fee: `2000. Details: 9820816965
The 18th Senior and 13th Junior National Para Powerlifting Championship 2021 will be conducted by Karnataka Sports Association for the Physically Challenged under the aegis of Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) on March 20 and March 21 at Shree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru. The age criteria for juniors will be 20 years and below; and for seniors will be 20 years and above. Only state registered and players who are PCI license-holders will be allowed to participate in the competition. Those who are interested to participate in the championship have to pay state registration and PCI license fee. Interested players from Goa should register their names by February 28 to Goa Paralympic Association by email or via WhatsApp. Details: goaparaass@gmail.com/ 9422970919/ 8381011646.
Up Next
An exhibition entitled ‘bigfuttsart’, a distinct form of art with nostalgic and folk connections created by young talents and initiated by Maendra Alvares will be unveiled at Big Foot Art Gallery on March 1. The exhibition will remain on view till March 12, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Ancestral Goa – Big Foot, Loutolim. Details: www.ancestralgoa.com/ www.bigfootgoa.com
Kala Academy Goa is organising its 45th Konkani Drama Competition from March 1 to March 26 with the participation of 21 Konkani theatre groups from Goa. The competition will be held at Master Dattaram Sabhagruha, Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir, Ponda Goa. The event is organised in collaboration with Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir, Ponda. The competition will be held in adherence to all COVID-19 protocol. The shows in this competition will commence daily at 7 p.m. and tickets of `50 per person per show will be available at the ticket counter of Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir from 4 p.m. onwards on the day of the performance. Details: www.kalaacademygoa.co.in
A workshop for travel and food lovers on travel writing, conducted by Shikha Tripathi (Nat Geo published) will be held on March 6, at 11 a.m. at Barefoot Goa, Parra. A vegan lunch by Okapi Vegan Kitchen will follow. The workshop is a stepping stone to writing professionally, and will help participants find their voice, develop story ideas, and edit right. Fee: `2000. Details: 9820816965
The 18th Senior and 13th Junior National Para Powerlifting Championship 2021 will be conducted by Karnataka Sports Association for the Physically Challenged under the aegis of Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) on March 20 and March 21 at Shree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru. The age criteria for juniors will be 20 years and below; and for seniors will be 20 years and above. Only state registered and players who are PCI license-holders will be allowed to participate in the competition. Those who are interested to participate in the championship have to pay state registration and PCI license fee. Interested players from Goa should register their names by February 28 to Goa Paralympic Association by email or via WhatsApp. Details: goaparaass@gmail.com/ 9422970919/ 8381011646.
Essentially Goa

GoaMiles is now Goa government’s licensed app based taxi service
The State Transport Authority under the Department of Transport, Govt. of Goa has granted approval for operations of GoaMiles app-based taxi service in accordance with the Guidelines for App Taxi operators in the State. This approval from the Goa Transport Department now makes GoaMiles the state-run app-based taxi service and throws open its doors for all categories of registered vehicles to sign up and boost the State’ first and only app-based taxi service – GoaMiles. Following this approval, the aggregator can now aggregate taxis in the category of AGT(All Goa Tourist), Yellow black taxis and AITP taxis, Yellow Black Motorcycles, Rent a Cab, Rent a Bike etc as per the guidelines formulated by STA. Goa has around 30,000 registered tourist taxis operating across the State. GoaMiles which was launched last year by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation has already achieved success and had been appealing to local tourist operators to join the new service which has proven beneficial to the hundreds of taxi operators already in service with GoaMiles. GoaMiles is managed by a local Goan company called FrotaMiles Pvt. Ltd. created as an SPV as per the requirements of the tendering process. This SPV is the subsidiary of the […]

Backpacking Guide: Baga
Want to experience the nightlife as well as the serene beaches during a tight vacation? Baga is the place to be! Baga is indeed one of the most serene yet commercialized places in Goa. Baga, a small village, along the coast of Goa is nothing but beautiful for the traveler who is on a time limit. Baga creek Baga creek is the perfect place for you to sit and watch the sunset. Right next to Baga beach lays the creek and it has one of the most beautiful views. The picture perfect place makes it a get-away to few locals who come fishing daily and also a view of the ever buzzing Baga beach. The creek is surrounded by beautiful rocks with the waves clashing against it. Saturday night market Another place to visit whilst in Baga is the Saturday Nite Market. As the name specifies, the market is open during the nights. The vast number of stalls sell clothes, jewelry and other kinds of artistic pieces. They also have food stalls that’ll help curb that mid-night hunger! They also have an open stage which gives upcoming talent showcase their work. Baga tibetian market Baga Tibetian Market is another flea […]

From Grandma’s Kitchen: Potato Bebinca
The original bebinca takes a lot of effort and is cooked layer by layer. Potato bebinca is like a mock bebinca and is easier to make. Ingredients: 3 big sweet potatoes 6 eggs 1½ cups sugar 4 heaped tbsp flour 2 heaped tbsp semolina 1 cup coconut milk (thick) 6 tbsp butter 12 cardamoms (powdered) Method: Boil the potatoes, peel them, and mash them. Make syrup out of the sugar. Mix the semolina and flour with a bit of coconut milk. Add only the eggs yolks one by one. Beat lightly after adding each of the eggs. Add the rest of the coconut milk and the potatoes. Then add beaten egg whites. Heat ghee and pour it in the baking tray. Then put in the batter and bake till ready. Let it cool and cut.

Traditional sweets of Goa
We have all heard about the famous Goan fish thalis, prawn curries, sorpotel, chicken cafreal, and vindaloo. Now it’s time to celebrate the sweets of Goa. The people of Goa still make traditional sweets from recipes passed down from generation to generation. Here are some of the famous traditional sweets of Goa: Bebinca This is a type of layered pudding. The ingredients which usually go into it are all-purpose flour, eggs, sugar, coconut milk, nutmeg, and ghee. It takes time to prepare this lovely dessert as each layer has to be baked first before adding the next one. Bebinca usually has 7 to 16 layers. In many places, it is served with vanilla ice-cream. You can eat all the layers at once or peel one layer at a time and savour each one. Dodol Dodol is made using coarsely ground raw paddy rice flour, black jaggery, coconut milk, and cashew nuts. The coconut is ground and the juice/ milk is extracted. It is traditionally cooked on firewood. The end result is a pudding-like sweet which almost melts in your mouth. It is mostly made for Christmas. Sugar isn’t used and so dodol gets its taste from the delicious Goa jaggery. Its […]

From Grandma’s Kitchen: Mango Miscut
Tangy and delightful Ingredients: 10 correl mangoes (washed and cut into square bits and put for pressing with salt the previous day). {Pressing entails keeping the mangoes in a colander with a weight on top and a vessel at the bottom so that the water from the pressed mangoes collects in the bottom vessel). 2 tsp methi 6 grams hing/ asafoetida 4 tsp mustard seeds 1½ tsp black pepper 1 tbsp of coarse salt 3 tsp sugar 1½ tsp turmeric powder 100 grams chilli powder (preferably small chillies) (mussoreo red chillies) Method: Boil the water that comes out when the mangoes are pressed. Let it cool and keep aside. Take salt half of the mustard seeds, methi seeds, pepper, and dry roast them. (Each of them have to be dry roasted separately). After roasting, mix them all together. In a vessel, take half cup oil and put in the hing. When the hing is browned, remove it. Then in the same oil mix in the chilli powder and turmeric powder. Put mango pieces in a vessel and apply the sugar to it along with the oil mixed with chilli powder and turmeric powder. The other half of the mustard, methi, […]

The lockdown doesn’t stop the love for Books
While a lot of activities came to a standstill during Covid-19, the Bookworm Trust in Panjim came up with activities to keep nurturing their love for books. NT GoGoaNow finds out what they have been up to. Here are some of the long-distance activities the Bookworm team has been doing during the lockdown (as shared by Anandita Rao): About Stories Like the fish that is not aware of the water, in our day to day work, we rarely pause to think about stories. The lockdown enabled us to offer an in-house workshop on the role of stories in our lives, the relationship with stories that affect our response to stories and the nature of stories. We read, discussed, reflected and kept Sujata busy with finding creative ways to get the entire team engaged in online mode. Saturday Games Every Saturday for the past month, we worked in small groups to participate in Games that involved Bookworm’s richest resource, the collection. Teams that had good readers did better than others but always there was the spirit of fun and camaraderie present. Games included scavenger hunts from books, cryptic clues for decoding a mystery message, crosswords and search and finds. […]

Award-winning musician talks about life now
Music is a language everybody understands. Alvaro Pereria, the musician who has helped boost classical Western music in Goa, talks to NT GoGoaNow about his days during the past few weeks. Sheryl Gonsalves – NT GoGoaNow This Goa State Cultural Award holder spent his days mostly playing badminton, reading, and practicing classical music. He was supposed to perform at a music concert in June but it had to be called off due to the pandemic. “We worked on a whole new Schubert trio (for the concert) to try something new. It takes more than forty minutes to perform,” Alvaro reveals. They also practiced Beethoven pieces and a Mozart trio. Alvaro usually composes church music and performs at weddings but all that is now cancelled. He feels that music can help quite a lot and didn’t find the lockdown boring. He says, “Inspiration is there everyday whether there is a lockdown or not.”

Konkani film ‘‘Amori’’ released in Goa
The premiere of Konkani film ‘‘Amori’’ directed by Dinesh Bhonsle was held at Inox, Margao. The chief guest for the same was Minister for Power, Nilesh Cabral while the guest of honour was Fr Jose Costa and the special guest was Leader of Opposition, Digambar Kamat. Produced by Opus Gala, the film aims at showing to the younger generation where water comes from, for example, aquifers, ponds, springs and streams that nourish all life and how precious a resource it is. The dialogues in the film highlight socio-environmental issues are affecting Goans today. The film also shows how those working for the betterment of society are met with resistance from multiple places along with the negligence of the ecosystems and occupations and the allowance of the cultural traditions to become commercialised, etc. The cast comprises Salil Naik, Sobita Kudtarkar, Mayur Mayekar, Prashanti Talpankar, Tanmay Kharpe, Shaina Mirashi, Daksha Shirodkar along while the crew comprise of director, Dinesh P Bhonsle, screenplay and scriptwriter R M Vardhan and music director, Schubert Cotta among others The film is being screened simultaneously from September 13 onwards at Panaji, Margao, Bicholim, Valpoi, Vasco da Gama, Cuncolim and Curchorem. The producers of the movie have appealed […]

College students how well can you spell?
In a bid to enable students to test and improve their spelling skills and cultivate a healthy competitive spirit, The Navhind Times in partnership with the event management department of SS Dempo College of Commerce and Economics is organising Spell-Bee 2019 for college students. NT KURIOCITY caught up with some teachers, parents, and students to find out their views on spellings MARIA FERNANDES | NT For those learning English, especially those for whom it is a second language, different categories of sounds and words could be difficult and confusing. “Spelling is a sequence of letters representing a sequence of sounds. One should not think of the pronunciation of the word while spelling it. Those who do not understand the relation (or the lack of relation) between English speech and spelling will inevitably tend to spell words as they hear them,” says associate professor of English, St Xavier’’s College, Mapusa, Sunita Mesquita. Agreeing with her and listing a few more reasons why spellings are difficult, associate professor of English, SS Dempo College of Commerce & Economics, Bambolim, Augusto Pinto adds: “English is a peculiar language and the script is not phonetically-based like the Devnagiri script. It draws words from a […]

A talk with a lady who creates Beauty out of Waste
“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 […]
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