Noon Report:

• Location: N 15° 24.96′, E 073° 47.47′
• Speed: Docked
• Course: Docked
• Weather: High Overcast
• Temperature: 24º C, 75º F
• Wind: W 8 knots, 9 mph

Goa was a Portuguese colony until 1961, so its culture is somewhat different from other parts of India.

Our excursion today was “Goan Heritage” – a look at the Portuguese influence in Goa.

The first thing I noticed about Goa was COLOR!
This place makes other recent ports seem a bit drab.

Sadly our bus was moving too fast to capture more of these but imagine driving thru thick tropical forest and suddenly the trees clear to reveal a beautiful home in bright blue or purple.
Even the slums were brightened with splashes of color.

After about 45 minutes we arrived at Goa Chitara Museum – a private ethnographic museum that contains over 4,000 artifacts tracing Goa’s traditional agrarian technology and lifestyle.
The museum collections are divided into three areas. Our tour stared with the history of the wheel.
NOTE: I’ve shown just a couple of photos and a slideshow from each section. I won’t be offended if you don’t look at the slideshows.

From there we moved to farm implements and early technology.

Note that the printing press dates to the late 1400s – within 40 years of its invention.

The final section was devoted to life in the Portuguese colonial period – Goa had the first medical college in all of Asia. They also abolished the tradition of “Sutee” where the wife has to jump into the fire of her husband’s funeral pyre or otherwise kill herself soon after his death.

After spending time in the exhibits we were treated to coconut water and a performance of traditional dance.

[dance video – Sorry, YouTube is being Stupid. It thinks we’re in Japan.]

Note that the drum heads are stretched monitor lizard skin!

Then it was time to board the bus for the next stop – tea.

This event was at a 5-star beach resort and included the requisite finger sandwiches, cakes and cookies.
Following the tea we had time to explore the resort, visit the beach, and at least get our hands wet in the waves of the Arabian Sea.

On the drive today we managed to capture a few roadside shrines. Unlike in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, most of the ones we spotted were Christian (a nod to the Catholic Portuguese heritage of the area) but there were also several busts of Mahatma (the great soul) Gandhi, recognized as the “father of India”.

Back at the ship we had a late lunch and rested before the 4:30 forum with the Resident Historian: “India Under Neru (1947-1964).”

The 6:30 lecture on “India’s Phenomenal Diversity” covered the wide diversity in peoples, religion and culture across this amazingly diverse land. From the feet of the Himalayas to Cochin in the south there really are many different “Indias”.

Then it was dinner and Brain Busters where our 10/21 was at least in double digits.

So that’s Goa – one of the places I wouldn’t mind exploring at more length at some point.

But for now we sleep.
Nite all, R

Cheryl’s Factoids:

• PORTUGUESE IN INDIA: The Portuguese had 2 motivations pushing them to India – they wanted spices but they ALSO were looking for Christian allies in order to continue the Crusades (a popular myth of an Eastern Christian colony under Prester John). Countries around the Indian Ocean had been peacefully trading thousands of years until the Portuguese showed up with their superior weapons and claimed the whole Indian Ocean for Portugal!
  They acted as pirates with atrocities against Muslim shipping, set up 50 forts along the Indian coast, and extracted payments for ships to trade in ports.
  In 1700 Portugal lost its monopoly of the spice trade when the Dutch blockaded Goa.
  The Indian government kicked out the Portuguese in 1961 when India became a nation.
• Nehru, a secular socialist, was the first Prime Minister of India.
  Mahatma Gandhi also worked toward India’s freedom and was a friend of Nehru but was a spiritual leader not a political one.
  Religious tensions were great between the Hindus versus the Muslims with the result that the country split into India (Hindu) and Pakistan (Muslim) with much loss of life.
  Modi is the current Prime Minister and backs the far right (fascist) Hindu party that wants to kick out everyone who is not a Hindu.
• India is 60 percent made up of farmers.
  The Indus Valley civilization goes back 5,000 years, but have only been in independent nation for 76 years.