Re: Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:36:51 +0530 From: Cecil Pinto <cecilpi...@gmail.com> To: goa...@goanet.org Subject: [Goanet] Talking Photos: Some dirty Panjim Pics
Selma Carvalho: I feel really sad when I watch JoeGoaUK's photographs. 20 years ago, I did my college in Panjim. I lived there on the Altinho. Every weekend I would go home and return Monday morning in time for college. As Panjim came into view, my hair would literally stand of edge every Monday without fail, this magnificent town with its Church, the Bishop's palace, the sumptious houses of its gentry in Altinho, the merchant class in the Latin quarter of Fountainhas, our snack-time at Quarterdeck overlooking the Mandovi, then a short trip on a bike to Mira Mar and maybe for a swimm at Donna Paula. All that is gone now. It's a faceless town, caught within a sad embrace of unappealing modernity and the quivering collapse of its former glory. Now, Panjim as I knew it lives only in my memory. ------------- 1) Nothing about Panjim that Selma described above has changed in the last 20 years. It's current glory is even more appealing than its 'former glory' that I have seen from working and living in the city for the last 25 years. Panjim continues to have a unique character, envied by many cities worldwide, and definitely cannot be described as a 'faceless town'. 2) Is the correct phrasing 'on the Altinho' or 'at Altinho'? Cheers! Cecil Hi Cecil et All, Obviously maning things have changed since my first visit to Goa in 1974. By then (some) bars still looked like European grand cafes, and were sporting big-sized mirrors with faded ads for Ramos-Pinto Port (was still the case in "Casa de Lujo" in Diu in 1981). My memories of that time are of a small-size, cosy environment with a definitely 'mediterranean' atmosphere. Nice restaurants with outside terraces (I am talking Panjim and Vasco here, not the coastal 'hippies belt') where one could seep Brandy in the warm evening breeze. But what I most remeber as different from today are the (electric) lights. They weren't many, they were all low voltage lightbulbs, so they gave a very romantic glow to the towscape, closer to candlelight than todays' ubiquitous, harsh neons, hallogens, and hi-power saving lamps. I cherish those memories as a kind of paradise lost (and never mind the oppportunity for 'bona fide foreigh tourists' to stay in the Circuit House in (or on ;-) Altinho for a princely Rs 6/- ;-) Cheers, patrizio & Diiinooos!
