Through the pages of History...

Through the pages of history

On the impulse, we headed to Diwar after cancelling the plan to watch a movie. And the decision was superb. Wounding our way through the Old Portuguese style houses at Ribander, we went all the way to Old Goa as we did not know about the ferry from Ribander. It was afternoon and the small fishing boats were anchored at the jetty while their occupants enjoyed afternoon nap in the breeze.

A fisherman with his net

We crossed the river and went on the straight road xahead covered with paddy fields and small lakes on both sides of the road. Some people were fishing at the roadside with their fishing rod while some were spreading their net in the water. We waited here for some closer look. Up on the hill, we spotted a church and made our way towards it. The Church of Our Lady of Compassion is located on a hillock and can be seen from the Ribander-Old Goa road. Church has a beautiful Corinthian structure and one can see Old Goa, Ribander, Chorao, Narvem from this place. The Church has a cemetery to the right hand side and a cross at the front and a huge banyan tree at the left side.

      

        

Cross in front of the church

     

Church of Our Lady of Compassion 

Shaktivinayak Ganpati Temple

From the cross, one can see some temples below. The temples are at 2 minutes walk from the church. There are 3 temples, two devoted to Shaktivinayak Ganpati and one to Maruti. The temple can be reached from road via a flight of steps at the bottom of which is a Banyan Tree. The land for the temple is donated by Mario Gomes Pereira. The history says that the place where the Church is located was a site of Ganesha Temple which was destroyed to build the present church. Under such circumstances, the land donated by a church follower sounded somewhat funny to me.

Maruti Temple

The entire place is surrounded by big trees. Next to the temple, we found a Jamun tree and we sat under the tree eating jamuns and enjoying the breeze. Most of the houses here are Old Portuguese style and they are all well maintained. There are numerous old constructions in this area; most of which belonged to catholic community. I wish I could have a look in these houses only to see the architecture and the interiors of olden times.

From there on, we headed towards the village. We came across another temple of Ganesha. The road wound through paddy fields on one side and beautiful old fashioned houses with big balcaós on the other side. The ladies of the house were sitting on the balcaó enjoying their evening tea chatting with neighbors. There were some boys playing soccer in the field hooting to the passerby people. There was a small road which led to a lane with all the colorful houses and lovely gardens. The lane ended with a jetty like structure which was used to dock the fishing boats of the residents. Some people were getting ready to put their boat out into the river while kids were playing in the nearby area. There also stood an abandoned Prawns factory. Yummmm....!!!!

              

Pond at Paddy fields

     

Kids playing on the road

A jetty

We took a u-turn and came back to the village where we found a bakery and stopped there to enjoy some Goan delicacies. The bakery served various Goan sweets such as Bebinca, Pinaaq, Balls and so on. After giving a little joy to our tummies, we headed towards some River side Garden. But not able to find a thing, we went still ahead towards Devayaa- Ayurveda & Nature Cure Center. It is 60 rooms Alcon Victor property located at the river and has scenic views. The road ended at a ferry point and the ferry had just arrived at the jetty and once again on the impulse, we boarded the ferry.

A beautiful Portuguese style house

A scenic place with Devayaa Resort in the backdrop

An uncle parked his bike next to us and no knowledge about our destination compelled us to ask uncle where the ferry was headed to. Uncle gave us some precious information about the place we were at. We were headed towards yet another island Wanshim. Also known as Vanshir, the name struck as something that’s similar to border. As if Vanshir was the border of Diwar. Uncle is a Deputy President of the Shaktivinayak temple and he reconfirmed the saying of the history that there existed a temple of Ganesh at the present site of the Church Cemetery which was demolished. The idol of Ganesha was moved to Khandola near Marcela back then because of Portuguese destruction of Hindu deities. The idol has now developed some cracks due to withering and hence can be found kept separately at the Khandola Ganesh Temple.  Before conversion, Navelkar & Kamat families were prominent in Diwar. Mario Gomes Pereira was a converted individual belonging to the Kamat family. He never visited church in his entire life. He had frequent dreams wherein he could see Shri Ganesha sitting on a rock and asking him for something. Finally, he donated his land right next to the church so that Ganesha Temple can be erected near its original place.

Vanshir ferry jetty and a cross in the river

Church at Vanshir

Uncle also told about his village Vanshir which housed approximately 30 families altogether. Upon crossing the ferry, we found 10 houses towards left and 20 houses towards right. We also came across some abandoned houses occupants of which might have shifted to a place better equipped with all the necessary amenities. The village has a chapel & a beautiful church located on the riverside.  The entire village got over before it even started. The people of the village of Vanshir saw Tar road in 1995. Before 1995, instead of road there was a way made from mud and it came to me as a surprise that people of this village are very well educated. In olden times, kids made way through this mud-stricken road with their clothes, slippers and books in plastic and swam across the river or travelled in small canoes to get to school or college. Ferry services started fairly recently. People travel to faraway places such as Panaji in search of job and they have to cross 2 ferries..one from Vanshir to Diwar and Second from Diwar to Ribander. It’s a real tough task for people staying here. 

                               

                                                                                        

We also heard that the entire land of Vanshir is being purchased by one of the business tycoons by fooling the old people and taking their thumb impressions. He is planning a build on shore casino on the said land. The people of this village are fighting a case in the court to save their land.

We left Vanshir with proud hearts thinking about our Goan brothers & sisters who stay so far and are more educated than many others who do not study although provided with all the facilities. We coursed back through the roads of Diwar searching for the way to go back to the ferry.