The Walk of Life

"And after all the violence and double talk

There's just a song in the trouble and the strife

You do the walk, you do the walk of life"

- Dire Straits

A girl walks home on a Mapusa street, shielding herself from the sun. After a few days of chilly mornings, it's warmed up again. There doesn't seem to be three seasons in Goa anymore. Just six months of rain and six months of heat. I like the almost Oriental look of this young lady's walk. Traditional Indian attire, yet a chic modern look.




Rice paddy being dried on the edge of the Carambolim lake in Tiswadi . A lot of migratory birds haunt this waterbody. This is the traditional way of turning over the paddy by walking through it every half hour or so. The bamboo mat is called aator in Salcete and dai in Bardez. You can buy them readymade at the Wednesday Mapusa Market, though some families use a tarpaulin now for convenience. Amazingly a large 20 sqm bamboo mat will fold down to a pack small enough to be transported in the back of a jeep.




An elephant ambles through Navelim in Salcete with its food stock and mendicant mahout on its back. The ponderous animal will occasionally halt to gingerly stretch out its trunk to a generous motorist and collect a ten-rupee note. It looked healthy and well cared for, no worry for the SPCA here.

So whether your food is in your bag or under your feet or strapped on your back, you do the walk, you do the walk of life!