Brian Mendonça
Dharbandora is a place I had only vaguely heard about. Last week I had to reach it. Armed with my
GPS on my phone I filled in the coordinates ‘Vasco’ to ‘Dharbandora.’ What
fascinated me the most was how the app gives you the location of your vehicle
as you are driving to your destination. Soon, with two hands on the wheel, I
realised how futile it was to check your phone map and continue driving. The
first time I checked my GPS was at Holy Cross chapel behind Kesarval. I had by
then put 10 kms. behind me. I had driven down from Vasco via Birla, negotiated
the steep descent on the road to Ponda a little beyond Kesarval motel, and
plummeted into an oasis of green. Verdant fields behind him, a boy in blue
school uniform, perched himself on a culvert and eyed me curiously.
In the distance Borim blinked on my GPS. Before that I would
need to pass Rassaim and Loutolim. At the fork towards Borim bridge I stopped
the car and consulted my GPS again. We were 20 kms. away from Vasco. This is
the most lyrical of drives, with the Zuari river on your left lazing towards
the South, and even a ferry crossing thrown in.
The Borim bridge shuddered as we passed it. As though we had
passed some hidden signal, traffic picked up. Huge trucks made their
appearance, and the grind started as we headed to Ponda. We skirted Ponda city
and took the road to Dharbandora. We had now driven 40 kms. On the way we saw
the MRF plant at Usgao, Tisk. We also spotted the Nestle plant. The Bondla
wildlife sanctuary looked inviting but there was no time. After a while, after
the heat and the gathering dust, after 50 kms. of driving we reached our
destination at Government Primary School, Tamsodo, Dharbandora.
A TTK map showed Dharbandora as part of Sanguem taluka.
Another Goa map by Star publication showed Dharbandora as a separate taluka.
Dharbandora was created on 4 April 2010. It comprises of five panchayats of
Sanguem, viz. Dharbandora, Kirlapal-Dhabal, Mollem, Collem, and Sancorda. Laterite
mining is carried out in Dharbandora. Dudhsagar waterfalls is in Dharbandora at
its South-East end.
Tanking up on the night before my journey to Dharbandora I
asked the pump attendant at Vasco where the place was. He spoke to his
colleagues and replied crisply, ‘Fonda
fudde’ [Beyond Ponda]. He also said it was about 15 kms. Beyond Ponda. I
noticed how in Konkani the utterance is ‘Fonda’ rather than ‘Ponda’ as it is in
English.
With this trip to Dharbandora, I realized I had set foot in
all the 12 talukas of Goa. From Pernem to Palolem and Mormugao to Mollem I had
seen several slices of Goa. With the rampant tree cutting for the 4-laning on
NH 17 from Sancoale right up to Bambolim, our centuries old intangible heritage
lies uprooted and discarded. The trip to Dharbandora showed how fragile our
ecosystem is.
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Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, St. Inez, Goa on Sunday 29 January 2017. Pix.(above) Buffaloes laze under the open sky at Tamsodo, Dharbandora.
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