A place to return

There is something about this place that speaks about perpetual leisure, quintessential vacation and boundless freedom. The time itself seems to have fallen into a slumber here. The golden beaches, the swaying palms, the sound of the rushing waves, the coastline dotted with bamboo shacks and colorful umbrellas, the water foaming at my feet, the old churches and the Portuguese architecture… are a few things that flood my mind when I think about Goa.

My first trip to Goa was during the Christmas break of 2007. The monsoons had revived the foliage into a lush green, and every patch of unused land was covered in moss. A mood of festivity prevailed during the Christmas week. Local markets were filled with special foods and Christmas decorations. The sound of the pealing church bells and carols filled the air. Houses were decorated with glowing star and little Christmas trees. People dressed in the best of their attire for the mid-night mass was the scene far and wide. All in all, the view was thoroughly elating.

The Beach Paradise

This former Portuguese enclave has been one of India’s most popular tourist spots. The major reason being, its varied beaches each of which is distinct and unique in its own way. The coconut tree-fringed Calangute beach is known for its steeply descending sands. It is amongst the most visited beaches in Goa. The Baga beach attracts tourists from all over with its contrasting scenery. The rocky headland with a river flowing into the sea is a terrific sight. Across the hilltop from Baga is the secluded Anjuna beach. The Wednesday flea market that operates in the shade of palm trees behind the beach is its most notable feature. The Candolim beach, the southern tip of Calangute beach, extends into rocky cliffs above which stands the Aguada fort that houses the oldest lighthouse in Asia. The majestic lighthouse offers a breathtaking view of the Arabian Sea. The fort was built by the Portuguese in 1612 as a protection from the Dutch.

Situated in the South of Goa, is the relatively quieter Benaulim beach, marked by its fishing and rice-farming village with coconut groves and paddy fields. Palolem beach is the prettiest beach in Goa. Its crescent shaped coast is edged by an outcrop of dark rock and boulders on both sides and the arching coconut trees mark its perimeter. On most beaches, travelers indulge themselves in a glass of feni and beer, engage in shopping on the beachside, or have midnight bonfire. All this and the beauty of Goa’s unending seascape surely makes it a fairytale land for the travelers.

Mystifyingly colossal Churches

The Portuguese heritage is noticeable in most of Goa’s church architecture. The colossal structures are simply overpowering. The Church Square in Panaji houses the prominent landmark, the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, which dates back to 1541. The Se Cathedral is the largest church in Goa and built in Portuguese-Gothic style. It dates back to 1562. The Basilica of Bom Jesus, another most popular site, displays the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier preserved in a silver casket. The construction of the Church was completed in 1605. Other churches of interest in Old Goa include The Church of St Cajetan, the ruins of the Church of St. Augustine, the Church and Convent of St. Monica. Without exception, each of these churches leaves the onlooker in awe and veneration. Their high-ceilings, the engraved walls, the ornate tapestry and paintings will remain etched in everyone’s mind, as it has in mine.

To my heart’s content

In Goa, I always feel at home, so welcome and grateful. Here, there is an unmistakable feel of acceptance that exudes from the people who have accepted, as a part of their lives, the diverse cultures and traditions that came with the Dutch, English, French and Portuguese rule. Despite its diverse historical backdrop, its present is so intriguingly progressive that it embraces any culture while retaining its own unique self.

I visited Goa thrice over the last three years, and yet, I don’t seem to have experienced it well enough. It always has something new to offer, and always something better than the previous experience. Goa is just a destination that can be enjoyed no matter who you are or where you are from. I return to Goa every time to experience to my heart’s content: the brilliance of the hundred colors formed by the sun before it sets into the horizon; the timelessness that comes with watching the moon-lit sea and star-strewn sky; the rhythm of the waves as they crash; the whisper of the wind as it ruffles my hair.

I return to Goa because here, it feels as though my mind is finally at rest and my heart at peace.

And the award goes to…

Avatar, Forest Gump, Rain Man, Children of a Lesser God, My Left Foot, Scent of a Woman, are few of the Oscar-winning films in Hollywood. Guzaarish, My name is Khan, Paa, Kaminey, Black, Koi Mil Gaya, Khamoshi, Sholey, are some of the much-admired and celebrated films from Bollywood. All these films have one thing in common. They all portray disability or impairment in one form or another, either through the lead characters or sidelined characters. 

Earlier on, disability was a crutch to evoke either pity or cheap laughs. Hardly ever was it the main theme of the film. Be it a limp or stutter, it was an occasion for insensitive comedy. One of the departures, so to say, was Pathinaru Vayathinile in Tamil, where Kamal Hassan played the limping, mentally challenged hero hopelessly in love. It was remade in Hindi, Solva Sawan, with Amol Palekar. There was an attempt at empathy that went beyond sloppy sentimentality. When it came to blindness, we had the person blundering about with arms stretched out. Nirupama Roy often played the blind mother during the 70s.

 The recent trend, however, has been to make a disabled character central to a film. This started with films like Koshish and Sadma. Today, there is a rise in educated depictions of disability – mental or physical – with a greater sense of understanding and sensitivity.

Undoubtedly, these films have evolved to take a more optimistic and thoughtful approach. The question however is, why do the film juries in India or the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences display such a noticeable tendency to award actors and actresses playing characters with various forms of physical or mental disability? Why are all the newspapers and websites considering the film The King’s Speech as the most likely winner at the Oscars this year? In other words, why do films with disability portrayals attract much more attention from the audience than most other films?

“These films win the awards and get noticed because the subject still has novelty in our formulaic cinema. When a big star plays a character with a disability, it automatically gets maximum attention. I also think our collective guilt, at the way our society treats disabled people with callous indifference or insulting pity, finds expiation by acknowledging cinematic representation of what we don’t empathize with.” opines Maithili Rao, an author, film critic and a member of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards Nominations Council.

According to Krithika Murali, a final year, Disability and Media studies student at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, films with disability are usually the winners because “these films are significantly distinct from the regular genres, and are a result of the filmmakers’ constant attempts to offer something new to the audience.”

In a bid to bring originality in the film, filmmakers often wind up portraying the harsh facts of life with little or no resemblance to reality. This drift from reality is another reason for these films to get noticed. “I find Black offensively insensitive in the way the disabled child is subjected to violence and later, Rani Mukherjee is saddled with a Chaplinesque gait to underline her awkwardness.” comments Ms Rao. She further adds that these films have the right mix to provoke emotions and incite sympathy for the characters and thereby involving the audience in the plight of the actor. “For instance Guzaarish sugarcoats Ethan’s disability by artfully staged flashbacks of his graceful body and manipulates our pity.” she elaborates.

“It is heartening to see that these films have moved away from presenting disabled characters as dependent and helpless to present them as individuals who overcome the difficulties caused by their disability to ultimately emerge as winners, this probably cheers the jury as well, which is why they encourage these films.” suggests Krithika Murali.

Furthermore, there is an effort to inform and educate the audience. The information is given crisply, with humor and appealing drama. “Unlike in Black and Guzaarish where the aim was to create operatic, over the top emotionalism, My Name is Khan and Paa went into the details of what afflicts the protagonists without burdening the characters with self-pity. Once the film gets under way, you see them as particular individuals who are different. This is most encouraging.” explains Ms Rao.

We still have a long way to go before we have an Indian version of the Rain Man or Children of a Lesser God. Disability films should not be awarded because of their intense acting but for their sensibility and adherence to reality. These films have made us realize the existence of these disabilities but this is not enough. “Although films with disability will be appreciated and noticed by our audience, for more pitiful reasons than deserving, the filmmakers must be mature enough to handle these issues so as to make the audience able to comprehend the issue in its entirety. Shahid Kapoor’s stammer in Kaminey should not have become a source of amusement since it may cause for a much greater disgrace for real lifer stammers. Clearly, this was because of the way the film was presented.” believes Krithika. “The effort should be not to capitalize or exploit the ‘novelty’ factor but to treat disabled people and their particular stories with empathy and without condescension.” concludes Ms Rao.

Things that bring me down...

In my everyday life, I come across a lot of people with those little habits that get me down. Like: people having loud conversations over their mobile phones ignorant of the fact that their private affairs are indiscreetly forced upon all those in the vicinity; people prattling endlessly during the movie I paid 150 rupees to watch; people slurping their food around me; people blaring the horns on their vehicles as an aid to their ‘me first, me first, me first!’ attitude while driving to work; auto rickshaws blasting noisy distorted music (if it could be called music) that is heavily loaded in its bass tones; when you are working as a group and a chunk of it is chattering nonstop in a language that I cannot make sense of; people using speaker phones in public places; the jarring ringtones that disturb the silence of a classroom or the peace of an afternoon nap.

In simple words, I think it is noise that annoys me predominantly. And unfortunately, it annoys me more than it should. It is unsettling how such trivial issues sometimes get the better of me. What frustrates me is that people have no consideration for others, especially in public places. I would strictly limit engaging myself in activities that please me to the confines of my house without compromising others’ needs and interests.