Around the beginning of the Eighties, the Confraria was finding it difficult to maintain Anjuna Church and sustain its staff. So, it approached the Bishop’s House and got permission to sell the property behind it which was known to all as “igorjechem bens” (Church property). Here is a brief on how Anjuna Church property came about.
Centuries ago, there was a ward known as ‘Dazan’ in Anjuna. The Portuguese changed it to “Grande Chinvar”. Its mahajans belonged to the Vaishya class bearing the name Porbu or Prabhu; later the Portuguese changed it to Porobo. The Porobos are the original ‘ganvkars’ (settlers/free-holders) of Anjuna. Since ganvkars dominated the village at the time, they selected the best elevated sites for residential purposes. The belt of dry uplands was named as ‘Voilo vaddo’ in Gaumvaddy, which is also known as ‘Sonarvaddo’, ‘Fogervaddo’ and ‘Porobo vaddo’ because most Porobos lived there, though they also occupied low land in Gaumvaddy where we had and still have many Porobos, including the living proof of a Hindu convert to Christianity – Francisco Salvador D’Souza, popularly known to all as ‘Salu Porobo’. He was 100+ years old when he died. The Porobos then allotted sectors to various occupational groups in the Gaumvaddy. Finally, the surplus tracts or the no-man’s land in the village were placed under the protection of the temple deity - obviously, there was a temple in place of St. Michael’s church; the “tollem” (pond) attached to the temple still exists. But when the Portuguese built the Church and assumed control, these no-man’s lands were passed on to the Church and were called “igorjechem bens” (Church property). A plan to sell the Church property was drawn up, which was approved by the Bishop’s House and respective government authorities and small plots of 250 square meters each were arranged with road access, etc. One of the conditions at the time of purchase was that these plots should be sold to Christians, preferably Anjunkars, and that they could not be resold. However, rules in Goa change overnight – just like our governments - “rul bul geli dobeant” (to hell with rules). Initially, the plots were sold at Rs.500 per square meter. Some plots were gradually resold to non-Goans at a much higher rate – the rate for these plots in 2006 was Rs.2,000 per square meter – the plot in question in Anjuna Church property where a replica of an old bungalow has been built is one of them. I called up the builder to find out the name of the buyer and the price but he flatly refused saying that he is not allowed to divert that information to anybody. It seems the buyer wants to remain anonymous, though rumor has it that it is one of the sons of the famous Mahendra & Mahendra, the makers of “Scorpio” - a car many Goans proudly own! As for the price of the bungalow, when Twinkle Khanna bought the house in Gaumvaddy for three crores, the builder was quoting Rs.2.4 crores. Since the total area of the plot is only 250 sq. meters, without an extra inch on all four sides, nobody came forward to buy it. Moreover, it’s not an antique house but built in antique style. But still there are people around who throw money and have fun. Just today I learned through a reliable source that the bungalow was sold for Rupees 1.8 crores. Since buying the house last month, the new owner has made many changes to the exterior of the bungalow. “From rags to riches” - that’s the story of Anjuna. Welcome to modern Anjuna – the village of Bollywood stars and tycoons! Moi-mogan, Domnic Fernandes Gaumvaddy, Anjuna _________________________________________________________________ >From salsa lessons to filmy gossip, news to music concerts - watch it all on >MSN Video http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-in
