Part 1: One year in Goa - Arrival and the beginning of COVID-19 lockdowns

The train we took from Hyderabad to Margao town in South Goa was almost empty. When we arrived in Goa, the situation of Coronavirus was getting a bit serious with the news that the train we took was the last train going in this route and all other trains from the next day onwards were cancelled. We were excited to come to a new part of India which none of us had seen in the past, but we were also curious to see how the Coronavirus will affect our stay here.

A little bit about Goa. Goa is the smallest state of India by area, and it is a South Western state with a total population of about 1.5 million. Goa was not part of India when India got its independence from the British empire in 1947 after 90 years of their rule. Before that India was ruled by the Mughal empire for almost 200 years. However, predating these two empires, Goa was a Portuguese Colony for almost 450 years from 1510 until 1961. Portuguese invaded Goa and setup a permanent settlement in this region in 1510. After India's independence in 1947, Portuguese refused to negotiate India's request to cede 'Estado da India Portuguesa' (State of Portuguese India) to the Indian government. In December 1961 Indian Army invaded this region and annexed Goa into the Indian Union. Goa was initially declared a Union Territory but in 1984 Goa became the 25th state of India. The residents of Goa who were born before 1961 and the children of couples who married before 1961 are still eligible for Portuguese residency and Portuguese citizenship/passport with some conditions.

Goans speak many languages, but Konkani is the official language of the state with the script written in Devanagari (Hindi is also written in Devanagari). Marathi language, which is also spoken in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra, is spoken by many in Goa. Hindi is another language that many people speak here. Contrary to popular belief, Goa is not a Christian majority state. According to 2011 census, 66% of Goans identify themselves as Hindu, 25% as Christian, 8% as Muslim, and remaining with Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, and others.

Our train arrived in Margao town a little after noon. The station was pretty empty. We took a taxi from the railway station and came to the village where we booked our stay. Our stay was in a village called Cavorim Chandor, which was about 11 kms from Margao. Our taxi driver informed us that the Coronavirus situation has already affected tourism in Goa in the past few weeks and there were very few tourists coming in and many foreigners were already leaving the country. Also, he told us that the trains coming into Goa were being cancelled from the next day onwards. So, it was a relief for us that we arrived in Goa possibly by the last train before the trains on this route were cancelled. We checked later online and all trains in this route were cancelled two days after we arrived. Our taxi driver taught us a few words in Konkani, the language spoken in Goa. Small sentences like how to say "How are you?" and how to respond to that question.

Cavorim Chandor was a small village in South Goa with a population of little over 2200 people with about 370 households. The village had a small community hall, a Chapel, a school playground, and a small grocery store. The homes were mostly built in Portuguese architecture. Goa being a costal region with tropical weather, the entire village was filled with lush green trees and many coconut trees. Our host welcomed us and showed us our stay. Our home was a 60 year old villa behind the home of our hosts. Both our home and our host's home were in a large compound area surrounded by a lot of trees. We had an independent home with a large balcony, a living room, a kitchen, bathroom, and a bedroom. We also had access from our home to the backyard. We were excited to stay at a new place for a month. The weather was slowly getting hotter as the summer was just starting up with temperatures reaching up to 35ºC during the afternoons and humidity reached up to 90%. Even though the temperature was in mid to high 30s, it felt like it was in the 40s due to the humidity. We already experienced this weather during our travels the previous year so we were prepared for it. The market was about a kilometre away from our home where we they sold fresh vegetables, grains, diary, meats, and fruits. There was a small bus shed in front of our house and two buses ran from here to Margao everyday.

Just as we arrived here, the world was dealing with Coronavirus and many countries were shutting down their borders. We were unsure how our time here would go and how our plans to travel to Europe and Mexico will be affected. But at this time, all we could do was simply go with the flow and enjoy our time here. Four days after we arrived here, Indian government announced a full day of curfew where no one was allowed to go outside the house unless it's an emergency. Before the one day curfew ended, it was announced that the entire country will go under lockdown for three more weeks starting immediately. There was panic everywhere, including in the village we were staying in with no clarity on how it would affect our food supplies. As we just went to the market the day before the lockdown, we were confident that before our supplies end, we would get access to supplies again.

More about our stay during the lockdown in the upcoming blogs...