Clothes racks and caterpillars

After two weeks back in Goa I feel I have finally emerged from the "black hole" of post monsoon cleaning.

Post monsoon cleaning is the equivalent of old fashioned spring cleaning in Britain, where everything movable was taken outside for an airing, while floors were scrubbed, carpets beaten and curtains laundered. Each year, when I return to my appartment in Goa, after leaving it un-occupied for the main months of the monsoon (July and August) every cupboard and drawer has to be emptied and cleaned, to get rid of the white powdery mold which develops on the woodwork. One year I left the flat completely closed, another time I had a neighbout open all the windows on fine days, and this year I employed a cleaner to come in once a week to dust and run the fans  - but the result is always much the same, mold on the furniture and a lingering damp, musty smell. So far nothing has suffered any serious damage (I have heard  stories of people returning to find their furniture transformed into a pile of dust by white ants) but everything has to be taken out and inspected. The way different fabrics react to the high humidity seems to vary a lot. Some things smell fine after a few hours in the sun, while others definitely need a wash, and some really have to be disposed of.

I began to have some sympathy with the organisers of the Commonwealth Games when the late monsoon just refused to end. A dry, sunny morning would coax me into filling my balcony full of cushions, mats, bedding and racks of clothes then just as they were starting to freshen up a sudden downpour would make everything damper than before. Then  on top of that a plague of caterpillars arrived - falling out of the Banyan tree which shades my balcony. Once at ground level they they could move fast - up the walls, over the balustrades, onto the racks or airing clothes, and into my bedroom if I left the open doors unattended for a minute. They were little spotty, spiky, hairy things, and at first I found them quite sweet - almost cuddly - but then my Goan neighbour told me they were very dangerous. She told me that if touched they would cause swelling and itching, very badly, and should be avoided at all cost. She wanted me to spray them with isect killer, but I love butterflies and every dead caterpillar must mean one less butterfly, so I just swept them gently off the walls and onto the ground. Next day there were more than ever.

Now they are less and I have noticed some spinning thread and turning into crysalis - I am still trying to discover exactly what they will become when they emerge -  hopefully in a few months I will find out but in the meantime does anyone recognise this little fellow, and is he really as dangerous as he looks?  

September is butterfly season

Common Jezebel on Lantana flowers

Crimson Rose

Common Rose

A fine sunny morning at last. Decided to get up early and go to check on my "Butterfly Garden"  for the first time this year. When I came back to Goa last September I discovered that the area between my appartment and the beach became a mecca for butterflies at this time of thr year. On a sunny morning, at around 8am, walking through the maze of lantana bushes towards the beach is like being inside a Tropical Butterfly House. At the end of the monsoon theLantana bushes produce their delicate clusters of pink and yellow flowers, which many species of butterflies are attracted to, especially the Crimson Rose and Common Jezebel, two particularly beautiful species.

Great Eggfly (male)



Plain Tiger

 I was right - as the sun warmed the vegetation many butterflies appeared, some flitting quickly from flower to flower gathering nectar, while others "basked", remaining perfectly still  with their wings fully open to gather enery from the sun. Flight is possible only when the body temperature is raised sufficiently. While the Jezabel is unmistakable the "Roses" are more difficult to identify. As well as the Crimson Rose there is the Common Rose, with similar colouring but a  slightly different wing markings. Although they appear attractive to our eyes the red colouring identifies them to preditors as unpalitable, and this has led to other species "mimicing" their colours, for example the palitable female Common Mormon can mimic the unpalitable Roses.

Within half an hour I had seen and photographed at least 7 different species, and thats not counting all the little yellow and brown ones which flit around too fast and never seem to settle for a second.

There are a lot of things I like about Goa, but butterfly time is definitely one of the best. Unfortunately by the time most tourists arrive in December and January the lantanas have finished flowering and butterflies by the beach are rare.

For more information read "Butterflies of Goa" by Parag Rangnekar.

More about Ganesh Chaturthi

Lord Ganesh, the elephant headed God is the favourite God of many Hindus and is worshipped for his ability to remove obstacles and bring good fortune. The festival in honour of Ganesh, also known as Ganesh Chaturthi and Ganpati is observed during the Hindu calender month of Bhaadrapada, and begins on the 4th day of the waxing moon (Shukla Chaturthi)  This means that the festival starts on a different date each year. In 2010 the festival ran from 11th to 22nd September, but in 2011 it will begin on 1st September   www.when-is.com

The festival is celebrated mainly in the States of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerela, Andhara Pradesh and Goa, and is especially spectacular in the city of Mumbai. While many families have their own small Ganesh idol within their home communities spend thousands of rupees competing with each other to build the most impressive display.Thousands of devotees tour the city during the ten day festival, enjoying the spectacle as well as reciting mantras and making offerings of flowers, fruit, coconuts or coins.

Lord Ganesh

While the idol provides a visible form for prayer, Hindus also believe that the universe is in a constant state of change, and form eventually gives way to formlessness.The immersion into water of all the Ganesh statues symbolises this idea as the statues, which are made from clay dissolve back into the sea, river or lake.While most of the large idols remain on show for the full ten days of the festival and are immersed on the final day  (Ananta Chaturdasi) many of the smaller idols are immersed during the second  or fifth days. On September 13th the Mumbai edition of the Hindustan Times reported that 51,848 idols had been immersed from the beaches around Mumbai during the previous day!

Goodbye Ganesh

All set for the final journey

Procession begins

Wednesday, 22nd September was the final day of  the 2010 Ganesh Chaturthi, or Ganpati Festival. It was also the day which Candolim chose to say goodbye to its Ganesh statue which had been on show and attracting devotees  since the festival began on September 11th. First I had been told that Lord Ganesh would begin his journey to the sea at 3pm, then someone else told me 2pm.I arrived at the market, which had been home to Lord Ganesh for the past 10 days at 2:30 to find him already in situ on his chariot, a truck decorated with coloured fabric, flower garlands and fairy lights. Just a few people were gathered around and it looked as though the final journey to the sea would be a low key affair.

Ladies leading the dance

Remarkably, at exactly 3pm the little convoy moved away towards Sinquerim. The truck carrying Ganesh was travelling in reverse, so that Ganesh was looking out ahead. Attached to it by an umbilical cord of electric cable, was a smaller vehicle, going forwards, and carrying a generator to power the lights and speakers (essential for any festival in India) The procession rolled slowly, escorted by a group of men dressed in white with saffron headbands, dancing and making music with cymbals and a drum. As it moved along more people joined, and more saffron headbands were given out. Women and children began to join, at first watching from the roadside then later leading the dancers at the head of the procession.The party atmosphere increased, traffic was halted and fireworks set off in the street.

Crowds moving towards the ocean

By 4:30 we had reached the road to the beach, but then everything stopped. It was time for the auction. Announcements were made and the sacred offerings of fruit and flowers were held up and sold to the highest bidder.Take up seemed quite slow and the crowd became restless, it was over an hour before we were moving again, this time towards the ocean. Most of the crowd now moved quickly ahead to watch the sunset from the beach (close to the wreck of the River Princess)

Dvotees offer a final prayere

Goodbye Ganesh

More fireworks heralded the arrival of Lord ganesh. Just before sunset he was carried from the truck and laid on the beach while devotees bowed down and bid a final farewell. Then as the sun dipped into the Arabian Sea, the statue was carried into the waves,  until those carrying it were shoulder deep. in a final wave Ganesh disappeared from view to dissolve into the water like thousands of others.

A marigold garland is all that remains...

 The immersion was closely supervised by the Candolim lifeguard sas during the monsoon waves are fierce and undercurrents deadly. I was told that a few years ago someone had been drowned during the event, and this had led the community to break with the tradition of carrying out the immersion of Ganesh after dark when the sea is still more dangerous.Calangute continues to carry out the immersion at night, with the procession beginning at around 6pm and ending in the early hours of the following day.

That's just India

carving the marble slab

Yesterday when I woke my first feelings were of exasperation with my adopted country, at both a personal and national level.

Personally because the previous day I had been reprimanded by my accountant because my Company had still failed to show a profit. I reminded him that I hadn't really come to India to start a business - I had just itended to retire and live quietly, spending my British income in India. Only rules about foreigners buying property had led me down the business route (property has to be bought through an Indian Company, not an individual). I had tried very hard to comply with all the rules - and make my business profitable -  I just hadn't succeeded yet.

Nationally because the opening report as I tuned into BBC World was the deepening crisis concerning the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The Indian Government appeared to have confirmed every sterio-typical image the rest of the world holds about India - unable to meet deadlines, unable to cope with the monsoon rain (which happens every year), unable to install plumbing systems and electrical wiring properly, and unable to clean its toilets.There were also suggestions of down the line corruption, which had led to the use of sub-standard building materials, resulting in the collapse of a bridge.

Threading marigolds for garlands

Devotion to Ganesh

Still feeling depressed I plodded round the the market in Calangute, trying to keep my feet out of the muddy puddles while doing a little grocery shopping, then I went to make enquiries about the re-instatement of my mobile phone number which had been de-registered while I was away in England. I had been told it would happen  after three days, and now a week had passed .... not much news there I'm afraid. Hmmm.....what to do next...... I glanced across the road and saw a group of boys outside the Hindu Temple meticulously decorating an open backed truck with a criss-cross pattern of yellow marigold garlands - nothing slip shod about their work. I walked over for a closer look and realised that this was the final day of the 10 day Ganpati Festival held every year in honour of Ganesh, the elephant headed God. The decorated truck would be used to transport the Temple's Ganesh idol to the beach, where it would be' immersed' beneath the waves.

Inside the temple a woman immaculately dressed in a beautiful sequin encrusted sari was silently making her final puja, or prayers, to the flower bedecked Ganesh. The scent of incense masked the fish and rotting vegetable smell of the market and a tinkling of bells softened the traffic roar. I felt my spirits begin to rise as I stepped outside and watched a flower seller at work,carefully threading more marigold garlands. Puzzled by a rhythmical tap tap tap, like a table tennis game in progress I turned to the side of the temple and saw that the sound was coming from a group of young men working with tiny chisels on slabs of white marble to carve intricate, fretwork designs. Seeing me watching, and taking a photograph, the leader of the little gang proudly called me over, and showed me how he was drawing the design onto the marble as he worked. He told me that the panel he was working on had taken 25 days so far, and it was not yet complete. The work they were doing was for the temple of course.  It was amazing to so such detailed artwork being produced with such simple tools.

 Across the courtyerd the boys were still creating a colourful chariot out of a dusty pick up truck....the lady with the beautiful sari left the Temple and headed into the busy street, and the marigold threader continued silently with her work.... I walked away from the temple feeling totally happy, and convinced that India was the place for me, despite all her faults and failings..

Why should I write this blog?

My aim is that this blog will be Informative, Entertaining, and occasionally Inspirational.

Informative?  I admit that what I know about India, compared to what is still to learn, is very little - but it is more than I knew when I decided to make India my home four years ago.

All I knew about India then were the usual cliches - Incredible; exasperating; spiritual; corrupt; amazingly beautiful; rundown and dirty - and of course a cheap place to live, with plenty of sunshine.  


All I know now is that all those cliches, and hundreds more, are absolutely true.

India is a country of contrasts, where poverty and squalor exists alongside wealth and opulence, and architectural wonders lie hidden behind ramshackle slums. Cows and stray dogs do forage among the piles of rubbish outside 5-star hotels and multi-national techno hubs.

Entertaining? As the guidebooks say, most foreign visitors new to India will oscillate between loving and loathing it, but the surest thing is life is never dull or boring (provided you are prepared to step beyond your air-conditioned apartment or poolside bar from time to time)

In my view India can be whatever you want to make of it - an adventure playground, a nature lovers paradise, a history buffs dream, a gourmets endless dining experience......however, I would add that if potholed roads, a lack of pavements, mangy animals and dodgy electric wiring bothers you then cross India off your list of places in which you might retire, work, or even go on holiday. Its not for you.

Inspirational? See beyond these minor annoyances and there is definitely something amazing here -  and you will discover a lot about your inner being, chiefly through the way your inner being, and outer self, learns to handle Indian bureaucracy and the Indian way of life.