The Road to Saloi

-Brian Mendonça

There are two ways to go to the village of Salvador-do-mundo --which means ‘Saviour of the World.’ The road in front of Holy Family church, Porvorim will take you there. The distance is 5.5 kms. - doable in around 12 minutes.

I was banking on this open road when we wanted to surprise a colleague with a birthday gift.  Since I was not sure of the house, I said I would follow one of the cars heading to Saloi – that’s the short form.  We were supposed to meet up at the Saviour of the World church (founded in 1565), next to the village panchayat of Saloi.

I parked my car just before the turn in front of Holy Family church. To my dismay the car I was following spurned the aforesaid route. It headed towards Panjim. 

Before the Mandovi bridge we glided down via Britona. From there the roads got narrower and the houses almost caved in on us.  The route was via Betim and Penha de Franca. We finally made it to Saloi church just before the sun set like a brilliant ball of fire behind it to the West. This roundabout route was 16 kms. and lasted around 33 minutes.

That, I discovered,  is the second way.

As soon as the car ahead stopped in front of Saloi church, the co-passenger stepped out, walked across to my car and said brightly, ‘I asked him to take me on a more picturesque route. I hope you didn’t mind.’

When we hit my colleague’s house, the talk was about the crocodile that was spotted in the vicinity. Apparently the blighter didn’t attack the terrified driver but only swished the car with a thwack of its tail.

The tale is easy to imagine considering the wetlands – fields, bundhs and river - which abound nearby. Migratory birds flock here too.#

The area is serene as the car coasts by the sleepy roads. On a Sunday evening in Lent you can see devotees participating in the Way of the Cross on the road. This is a way of life that is tucked away in time. It is seldom accessible to the public from the frenetic NH 66.

Yet times are changing. Developers have got a toehold in the placid place. Several people are moving in into bungalows. The laid-back environs coupled with the connectivity to Porvorim and Panjim is attractive. Besides, there is the zor (spring) at Pomburpa which is good for health. The pure air at Saloi makes it a good place to take a long walk unhindered.

Saloi hosts Houses of Goa - a unique museum curated by architect Gerard da Cunha.* It is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. ; closed on Mondays. I was fascinated in Delhi by the book by the same name. It documents in passionate detail the houses of Goa which boast a unique blend of Western and Indian forms.

Yet many of these once-revered houses are now in decay, with the dominance of the flat system. As I wrote:

Houses of Goa

Thy death-knell is nigh

As the axis shifts

From squat to high . . .

‘Homecoming’ (2000)

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# 'The Fields, bundhs and river near the Salvador de Mundo Church,' aerial photography and pix by Cecil Pinto and Desmond Pinto.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6p5UeYAkg   *www.archgoa.org  Published in Gomantak Times Weekender , Panjim, Goa on Sunday, 31 March 2019.