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| Community Hall, GPS, Balli. |
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| Trucker on NH 66, Balli. |
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| Temple at Balli |
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| Kingfish lunch. |
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| All of us. |
-Brian Mendonca
It is always a pleasure to discover Goa. This time we had the opportunity to visit Balli in Cuncolim. Along with our team, we interacted among the locals, and had meals prepared in a restaurant nearby. The overnighter was a great learning experience and helped to build team spirit.
Balli is tucked away deep in inland South Goa, 17 kms. from Margao on NH 66 via Navelim. It sees a lot of heavy truck movement particularly in the evenings. Some of these behemoths carried equipment to the ONGC facility at Betul, 11 kms. away on the West coast, at the time of the inauguration of its deep sea survival training centre in Feb this year.
The place is idyllic enough with the twitter of birds almost throughout the day from the tall trees nearby. The sky is a magnificent blue and the air, fresh and pure.
The government primary school (GPS) has an open air community hall with paintings encouraging the children to keep their surroundings clean. Across the road, a temple sits with its tiled Goan roof.
Lunch was sourced from Royal Inn family restaurant, near Char- rasta, Balli. It was a special thali of Kingfish with each item meticulously packed in a separate plastic pouch. The bhendi sabzi was the best I had tasted.
Breakfast too was wholesome with alsane bhaji, paos and hot tea (which came later). They thoughtfully even put around 10 mirchis fried in batter to go with it.
Hailing from North Goa, it was a delight to hear saxtti Konkani and the way they clip their sentences. This was notwithstanding the fact that the previous evening we were holed up in Moira with a flat tyre.
Balli is famous for the Fatorpa temple. In Jan this year Cuncolim was graced with the National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Veroda - but locals are still waiting for the promised jobs. Three days ago a woman from Karwar jumped into the rivulet near the Cuncolim police station but was saved by an alert police officer. Last year a black panther was found roaming and caught here.
It's a village with its own chime. You need to live there to experience it. It was here that the infamous Cuncolim revolt took place in 1583.
In May 2011 two young tribal leaders, Manguesh Gaonkar and Dilip Velip, both 26, were burnt alive in the Balli riots for mobilising the marginalized to press for jobs.
We had just returned from Delhi in Feb that year and we were horrified at what Goa was capable of. This was an uneasy homecoming. At that time we had no clue as to what transpired. Now we are beginning to join the dots.
Eleven years later, all 13 accused were acquitted by the Margao Sessions and District court despite accounts by key witnesses in 2022.
Referred as 'microcosm of India' Cuncolim has its own social fissures. In 1995 a body of a lower caste man was exhumed in the night from the church cemetery believed to be for upper castes. Cuncolim has a history that will not be forgotten. In its retelling one returns to the place to memorialize it. As they say in Konkani, 'Balli iea.' [Let's go to Balli.]
We got back around 2 a.m. this morning. We were glad to be given the opportunity to work as a team and to respect each other's views.
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Pix taken by Brian Mendonca at Motta, Balli, Cuncolim, Goa on 7 May 2024. In pic (left to right) Brian, Sarino, Vidhya, Melancia, and Moin. Updated 9/5/24.
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