Festivals

At a particular time of the year, rain clouds roll overhead and water the land of Goa heralding the monsoon season. As beautiful as this season is, some ingredients and other things aren’t available at that time. Many locals of Goa start collecting twigs, wood, and coconut shells, and carry it home to use as firewood before the rains hit. Sheryl Gonsalves | NT GoGoaNow Here are some other ways Goans deal with the rainy season:- – Chillies: Drying red chillies (Kashmiri, musureo, Moira chillies) in the sun and storing them. – Coriander seeds/ jeera/ turmeric: Mix salt and water in a vessel. Put the coriander seeds in that water and mix well. Take it out from the water and leave it in the sun to dry. You can do the same with jeera (cumin) and whole haldi. This is to avoid insects from attacking it during the moist rainy weather. – Dry seafood: Goans store dry fish and dry prawns as there may be fish scarcity during the monsoons. – Pulses: They dry pulses like beans (vousane) and small white beans (meerulio) in the sun. – Tamarind: Remove the tamarind seeds and discard, apply salt, and pound a little […]

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.”

Goa got to see wonderful English plays because of a certain creative lady called Isabel Vas. NT GoGoaNow catches up with her to find out what she’s been up to these days. Sheryl Gonsalves – NT GoGoaNow “During the lockdown I was alone. Traffic had stopped. Everything was completely silent. The silence brought the birds back into my garden which I enjoyed. For some days I wasn’t able to get groceries but something wonderful happened. Neighbours and other people helped me get food which was very touching,” Isabel reveals. She kept herself occupied with a bit of reading, gardening, and writing. The days were peaceful and relaxing and she used to sit quietly and enjoy the silence. Isabel reveals that she was holding auditions for a new play of hers, but it got cancelled. Having any plays now is a big question mark for her. She has noticed that people like writers, painters, and musicians have become extremely creative during these days. “Coming up with a play is a slow process so I haven’t done anything specific,” says Isabel. She misses her students at Goa University. When asked about the future, Isabel replies: “I’m looking forward to changes in this […]

A question about why India has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup inspired 14-year-old Curchorem-based singer Nadia Mascarenhas to write and compose her first original song, ‘Oh My India’, which was released yesterday. The idea came during a conversation with her father while discussing the FIFA World Cup. Nadia, a Class 10 student of Sarvodaya Educational Society’s High School says she wanted the song to encourage people to support football and believe that India could one day qualify for the FIFA World Cup. “It took me a month to write the song. My school schedule allowed me to spare only about 15 minutes a day. Later, I made several changes to the lyrics before recording and shooting the video,” she says, adding that she also wanted the song to include references to different parts of the country before it was recorded and filmed. Nadia’s interest in singing began at the age of 10 after watching a performance on America’s Got Talent. “I liked the way the participant sang, so I started practising that song. Gradually, I learned more songs, and that’s how my interest grew,” says the youngsters who has previously done cover songs. The song has been written, […]

Months of innovation, coding, and teamwork have earned five Goan students a place among the world’s top young robotics talent  Five school students from Goa have been selected to represent India at the FIRST Global Challenge 2026, an international robotics competition to be held in Incheon, South Korea, from October 7 to 10. Each participating country fields a single team to design, build, and program a robot. The team, Tech Infinity, secured its place after winning the Vikram Sarabhai Award for National Excellence at the Bharatiya Yantra Khel Mahotsav (BYKM) 2026, the national selection event conducted by STEM Education Trust (SET). It will now compete alongside teams from nearly 190 countries. Besides the competition, the students will also take part in cultural exchange programmes with teams from other participating countries. The team comprises Sparsh Swapnesh Verlekar, Dhruv Samir Salgaonkar, and Soham Mahesh Redkar of Saraswat Vidyalaya, Mapusa; Avaneesh Devendra Phadte of Mushtifund High School, Cujira; and Anam Raza of Podar International School, Old Goa. Mentor Anay Kamat says the students, who have been training in robotics since 2024, were selected through a multi-stage process that included applications, interviews, and technical assessments. This year’s FIRST Global Challenge theme, ‘Igniting Innovation’, focuses […]

After more than two decades of translation work, Aditi Budkuley has published her first full book translation, rendering Dr. Nithyanantha Bhat’s Indological essays into Konkani KALYANI JHA | NT KURIOCITY Translation plays an important role in moving ideas across languages, particularly in multilingual contexts where access to knowledge depends on it. Assistant professor of anatomy at the Goa College of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences, Aditi Budkuley, began working on translation more than two decades ago, initially through small assignments. “I started doing translations around 2004. I began with small assignments and gradually realised I could choose the kind of work I wanted to take up – literary, research or autobiographical texts,” she shares. Her work includes the translation of three research articles from English into Hindi on Konkani people and culture, published in Languages of Goa (2024), a volume brought out under the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. VIII, Part I, edited by Professor Ganesh Devi. Budkuley has now completed her first complete book translation, ‘Adhunik Vishwant Vedant ani Her Bharavidyadi Nibandh’, a Konkani rendering of Dr. V. Nithyanantha Bhat’s ‘Vedanta and the Modern World and Other Indological Essays’. The book is being published by Sanjana Publication, Sanguem for Aksharpath-Goa. This […]

When I close my eyes, I’m often transported to our old house with its traditional clay-tiled roof, where my entire childhood was spent happily with my grandparents and the lovingly tended trees that surrounded it. Our quiet afternoons were spent playing Bhatukali, the kitchen-kitchen game under its deep green and tranquil shade. Along with children, the tree also hosted parties for its guests: the birds. It was always a treat to our eyes to spot birds like the paradise flycatcher, grey hornbills, leafbirds, and orioles peeping through its thick, glossy leaves. Locally known as Fanas, the jackfruit tree is quite a useful tree in Goa and across many tropical regions. It is the state tree of Kerala and is held sacred in many cultures around the globe. In Goa, its roundish, thick and lustrous leaves are collected and stitched together with coconut sticks, to craft traditional plates (patravali). These patravalis are deftly crafted and stored throughout the year, ready to be used during village functions and other large community gatherings. Having a jackfruit tree around is like having a companion to the house. One can smell its sweet fragrance permeating the surroundings, although at times it can also be fetid. […]