Travellers Blindfold

Unveiling disruption & the Goan History

Since decades people have been used to believe southern areas such as Baga, Calangude, Panjin, Dona Paula, Vasco, Madgaon, Miramar, Colva etc is everything for travellers and vacationing crowd to capture the goan region of India discovered by the European explorer VascodaGama.
I think Panji is one of the major causes that has left most of the India travellers in the past till date making it unexplored.
During the Portuguese India, Panaji was made the capital, after a devastating epidemics decimated the population of the City Of Goa in the mid 18th Century.
Panaji was annexed by India with the rest of goa and the former portuguese discovered territories as the Indian invasion of protugues India in 1961. Thats precisely when it became a state-capital on Goa’s elevation to statehood in 1987.
Between 1961 and 1987, it was the capital of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu. A new Legislative Assembly complex was inaugurated in March 2000, across the Mandovi River, in Porvorin.
The new governance also announced Panji as administrative headquarters of Goa’s North district even though the geographical location is named and located on a opposite & tangent in the coast of Indian Ocean..
The reason for this was the undeveloped & undiscovered land towards northern konkan belt. Post Indian Invasion of Portuguese Goa, the portuguese community with majority were a part of Portuguese settlement in South Goa post its discovery. Indian invasion was a big setback that disturbed the way of life of these Europeans. But, leaving everything behind that they had built, the community moved a step forward to spread their traditional values & cultures , very much alive in the unexplored regions of North. Since these comman Europeans had a clear understanding about Indians would be a lot more occupied towards the fascinating portuguese architecture, many new foreign communities were invited.
Panaji in a way was a branded plot for the eveyone who had governance power & authority. It was much before any article that was ruled out both by India & portuguese.
The sole reason was due to its development factors, such as terraced hills, concrete buildings with balconies and red-tiled roofs, churches, and a riverside promenade. You can still visit several avenues lined with gulmohar, acacia and other trees. The baroque Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church is located overlooking the main square known as Praça da Igreja.
Panaji has been selected as one of hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under the Smart Cities Mission. This was a mission with a spotlight that gave a direction to the new generation of Indian population.
The city was built with stepped streets and a seven kilometre long promenade on a planned grid system after the Portuguese relocated the capital from Velha Goa in the 17th century. It was elevated from a town to a city on 22 March 1843.
Don’t forget, the portuguese left south goa hunting their new home while Indian annexed Panaji was busy on new changes, ammendment of articles and discovering the portuguese architecture.
The transportation system was ruled out & labelled Panaji as the destination to Goa for public & private road transportation system from neighboring outskirts such as Mumbai, Pune & Karnataka.
This is a trend carried out till date.
The Indian crowd started gathering in large numbers towards these areas and south goa became hot spot for the tourists to explore, however, there was no initiative about educating the tourists & explorers the other side of the Goan territory.
The hippie culture was forming in a great force & numbers that had already become a part of Goan Culture that changed everything about its future. Read about the Last Hippie Standing for more interesting facts on its evolution.
Having said that, the majority of Indians with limited knowledge set themselves within the limited boundaries of south, wherein reality, the north goa had some amazing historical views, traditional values & interesting stories that would bring a greater value overall.