An early morning singalongAn early morning walk into the forest leads to a tranquil lake (image courtesy: Jyoti Bachani)This year, on a visit to the Goa Institute of Management (GIM), a few of us visiting professors set out for an early morning walk into the forest and village near the campus. A gentle downhill trek was followed by a sunrise over the sprawling green valley led us to brown rock cliffs and the Pandava caves. As some of us sat quietly on brown boulders and others climbed the nearby rocks, Dr. Pawan Kumar of the Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirapalli burst into song. It reminded me of my favorite Sanskrit chant, Mangalam, by Pandit Ravi Shanker, from the Chants of India album produced by George Harrison of The Beatles. After his uninhibited performance, I asked if my peers would join me in a sing-along. They agreed and sang the Mangalam with me in a call-and-response fashion.A Shah Rukh Khan poseAs we prepared to go on, in that mangalam/well-being state of mind, we took a few pictures. Dr. Venkatesh asked us to “strike the Shahrukh Khan pose.” We stuck our arms out and tilted our bodies, invitingly, open to embrace the day and the world in the signature pose of Shahrukh, the most popular Hindi film star who has defined romance for cinema fans around the world.Jyoti and her colleagues strike the Shahrukh Khan pose (image courtesy: Jyoti Bachani)Where else in the world can I go to attend an academic conference, where a morning walk with peers from Bangalore, Bodh Gaya, Gurgaon, or San Francisco, many of whom had just met, could turn into a sing-along, in an ancient language not spoken by anyone, in front of centuries-old caves and strike a cheesy pop-culture pose, on the side of a remote village road?Goa!A Portuguese colonyOne of the most popular tourist destinations in India, for domestic as well as foreign tourists, Goa is known for its beaches, casinos, and party scene. It was a Portuguese colony, until 1962, with Portuguese influence visible in architecture, majestic churches, and local customs. The cuisine, names, and attitudes of the people are an integral part of their proud heritage. Decades before the globalization of business, Goa had a pride of place in its history as the hub of maritime trade. I was in Goa for the Indian Academy of Management conference at GIM in Poriem. It’s about an hour’s drive away from Panjim – a beautiful fifty-five-acre resort-like campus with views of the hills. Choosing to stay on the GIM campus allowed me to see the Goa which most tourists don’t get to. The Pandava CavesDr. D.N. Venkatesh, a professor at GIM who invited us for the 5:30 am walk, promised we’d be back in time for breakfast and the conference. As we walked, chatting together, the village in the valley was still waking up.We passed a few closed shops on the main road just past the large Rabindra Hall complex and turned into a path that quickly into the forest. There was no traffic at all. A Shivaling honoring Lord Shiva, Pandava caves, Goa, India (Image courtesy: Jyoti Bachani)We could smell the lush old-growth forest and I felt the sense of being in the tropics. After several minutes, by the side of the road, we saw Pandava caves – five in all – carved into brown rock cliffs and secured with metal-bar doors across each entrance. They sat in a row along a long raised platform. A nearby sign by the Archaeological Survey of India dated them to the sixth century. Legend has it that the Pandavas, of the epic Mahabharata, had rested there.We peeped through the metal bars into each tiny mall room, about 10 or 12 ft in size, with a Shivaling honoring Lord Shiva, in the center. The brown boulders strewn around contrasted with the flowering shrubs that defied the surrounding cliffs, inviting us to rest and appreciate the peaceful and timeless energy, Pandavas in our own Mahabharata. An online search revealed that those caves are also called Aravelum Caves.Sri Rudeshwar Devastan templeAnother fifteen-minute walk took us to the Sri Rudeshwar Devastan temple where morning cleaning rituals were in progress. A small oil lamp was lit under a massive banyan tree. Beside it was a large rectangular building with a deity inside the main sanctum. As the cleaner hosed down the granite floor, I imagined this was where villagers hosted gatherings for festivals and weddings. The temples scattered in every neighborhood serve as places of worship and community hubs in the way that YMCAs or community centers do in the US. Sri Rudeshwar Devastan temple (image courtesy: Jyoti Bachani)After paying our respects at the temple, we wandered down the steps to discover a wilderness sanctuary next to a lake, its dark green water surrounded by high rocky cliffs and old-growth trees with massive aerial roots, like the matted hair of Mother Earth. Early morning sunlight tried to filter into this tranquil womb, gentle waves lapping at the steps that formed a mini ghat. The hub-a-bub of the rest of the world was shut out, no cell phone reception either. Climbing back along the dirt path revealed a tall waterfall that fed the lake, creating a mist that flew alongside the cliffs, reaching us with the gentlest touch. I silently thanked God for this unexpected taste of heaven.PanjimLater our group took an excursion to the colonial town of Panjim with its colorful houses, beautiful old Cathedral, Church of Bom Jesus, water-front casinos, and markets. We asked the bus driver to turn off the music and started singing, playing the ever-popular game of antakshari. In this musical form, the ending (anth) sound (akshar) of a song fragment dictates the starting sound of the song by the opposing team. Although I left India more than 35 years ago, it was remarkable that I remembered most of the songs sung. GIM had invited local artists to perform at the conference including a group of local fisherfolk from the Konkan coast. When they performed a song in their local dialect, I recognized the music instantly. The great showman Raj Kapoor had used it for a popular Bollywood song in the 1973 blockbuster film, Bobby, a romantic coming-of-age story, “Na mangu sona chandi, na mangu hira moti, yeh mere kis kaam ke?/I don’t ask for gold silver, I don’t ask for diamonds pearls, what use are they to me?” The emotions shared between the tribal folk or from one generation to the next, repeat the human experience, expressed in ever-creative ways. It seemed to me, whether carving caves to rest or singing in archaic languages these values endure across the time-space continuum we travel through. Athithi Devo BhaavMy off-the-beaten-track adventures came from the living Indian tradition of welcoming guests as Godsent – Athithi Devo Bhaav. India’s diversity retains its local roots, perhaps because of the historic lack of infrastructure and resources for easy travel and cultural taboos against it. For me, a global traveler rooted in Silicon Valley, that morning walk was a reminder of pre-Google times. We pre-Google humans lived our traditions, trusted strangers by association, extended hospitality with no expectations of reciprocity or monetizing it in a sharing economy, explored neighborhoods in unhurried ways with friendly locals, and rejoiced in priceless, co-created moments. It’s a bit different from navigating a Google map to places recommended by the influencers.
