Masterly artisans a vanishing tribe in Goa

Heta Pandit’s book Hidden Hands-Masterbuilders of Goa amply illustrated with photographs and gives the reader an insight into the lives of the artisans-carpenters, masons, stonecutters, roofers, basket weavers, potters, painters and gardeners- that have made the houses of Goa look and feel the way they do. The contribution of each of these artisans, their relationship with the house owners, the tools they used, the methods of construction they employed, their remuneration and their lifestyle have all been described vividly and sympathetically. But that was a few decades back. In the current age the masterly artisans which abounded in Goa have become a vanishing tribe in Goa, discovers Charles D’Silva as he set out in pursuit to build his dream house.

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Tour guide Charles and Nicol D’Silva’s dream house is taking shape in Benaulim. Every day and night he monitors its construction, stone by stone. From the mason to the carpenter from the title fitter to the plumber, Charlie is ensuring that each one does a neat and tidy job.

It has been quite a demanding task for him not only to keep an eye on the quality of work but to get different artisans to execute the project.

In keeping with the spirit of the niz Goenkar (true Goan), he seeks to build his home in true traditional style. The Goa of the old which he grew up with in his home village of Kanaguinim. The Goa of the yesterday years which he promotes among the foreign tourists on his walking tours. Tourists from Italy to
Russia from US to UK yearn to see the Goa of the Old, flipping through the tour guide books and scanning for more information. And after having read and hear about Goa’s history they want to see it from close quarters.

The old traditional rood tile houses, the courtyards at the centre of the big palatial mansions, things which are increasingly vanishing from the Goan radar.

Charlie’s hopes to incorporate some of the features of the old traditional house in his small dream nest while at the same time ensuring that it has all the modern amenities.

In his pursuit to build his villa block by block, he preferred not to hire the services of the contractor but look out for the labourers and artisans through his own contacts. He also wanted to Goan artisans and businessman but he has had not so smooth sailing with each of them.

His flight in pursuit of the Goan masons took him from Polem, the border village of Goa in the south to Pernem taluka in the North, and would you believe  it he could not find one local mason. He scanned and searched for local masons in Margao, Cuncolim- a village he completed his school education, in his home village Kanaguinium, in Benualim and after a lot of effort he finely decided to travel to Pernem taluka. A taluka famous for Goan masons, but luck was not on his side, he could get hold of even one of them in Pernem too.

If one goes by Charlie’s experience then it could be safely concluded the masons of Pernem are a vanishing tribe.

Finally he had to settle for a Non-Goan mason.

His trusts with the other Goan artisans has had not been a memorable one. The local carpenter had more eye on the  money then on living up to the professional  standards. Here too he had to drop him for a non-Goan one after paying him his plan fees. But sadly, the plan for which Charlie had paid for was not handed over to him by the carpenter.

The wood contractor whom the local carpenter had recommended was quoting an amount in excess of rupees one lakh. A fact which Charlie discovered after procuring his wood from the neigbouring state of Karnataka.

But wherever possible Charlie has tried to reach the Goan businessman, the stone supply came from Bali, the sand also from Bali village.

It may be not be long when all the traditional Goan artisans will be a thing of the past.

Each country has its own unique past. A past which they are proud off. Ranging from architecture to several other things which they make every effort to preserve for future generations. A past which they identify with.

During his off-season sojourns with Swiss-born wife Charles had had closer interactions with such experiences and its puzzles him why such a thing cannot happen in Goa.

Goa needs more of the Charlie’s and the Nicol’s to save and promote the Goa which we knew and which we grew up with.

Till then, Charlie and Nicol are waiting to move into their house along with their son Nathan, before the tourist season begins in October.

Elsewhere in North Goa Mario and Muriel are building their own house. Here is an email the couple forwarded to me sometime back.

“We are in the process of building our family house on Muriel's family plot in Pilerne, Bardez. We will be building as eco-friendly a house as possible with as many local and alternate, sustainable technologies we can manage, trying of course to keep it primarily, very low cost. “

“An essential feature will be to Reduce-Reuse-Recycle - including rain water which will be harvested and channeled back into the village water table, as well as grey water which will be recycled  for the plants.”

“To this end we are looking out for any old material - tiles, roof timber, doors, windows, wooden columns – anything - that we can reuse and recycle first to cut costs, but also to reduce the creation of more junk and garbage.”

“If you know of anyone who has such material we would be happy to buy it.  If anyone is  ‘unfortunately’ pulling down an old house with a wooden first floor, we would like the floor boards for our first floor.  As far as possible, we want to keep out all steel and concrete (RCC).”

“Write to us at anothergoa @gmail.com if you can help us with anything we need.”

And citizens of the small state must look up to individuals like Mario and Muriel to set the road chart for others to follow in the state when it comes to sustainable technologies.