VOCAL FOR LOCAL!By Rajan Narayan

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WHENEVER there is a temple jatra or a Catholic feast, there is always a fair which in local speak is called a “feri.” There is a massive feri in small state Goa as soon as the monsoon looks like its easing away, just before the Lord Ganesh festival when the bazaar closes down for a week at least and more. Families need to stock up both for the monsoon and the Ganesh festival with the onset of the monsoon rains and there are “purument” country bazaar all over. In the old days people really had to stock up their kitchens with all kinds of essential dry produce to be able to eat through the rainy months (essentials include such things as bunches of onions, pumpkins, tamarind, jaggery pyramids, spice masala and pickles, etc).
To further help them there is also the currently ongoing massive Ashtamichi feri in the run-up to Ganesh Chaturthi or Chavath, as locals call it. Now it looks like even the feri’s seem to have been taken over by the bhaile or outsider businessmen. Increasingly, because of the lack of enterprise and interest on the part of native local goans, it’s the “bhaile” who are making a fast buck at every feri and exhibitions organized before the run up of various religious celebrations leading to the year-end Christmas and New Year which is one gala season.
But the Ashtamichi feri is traditional for folk across class differences. At much as half the space or more is taken up by the furniture makers because this is the time Goans make the big investments and especially the migrant wannabe goans which includes a growing community of Nepali folk.

FERI’S OF GOA
A CURIOUS aspect of the Ashtamichi feri which invites people from far and near from the hinterland areas is that many things on sale have nothing to do with the Ganesh Chaturthi or Goan Chavath main celebration, or the other feri’s attached to the annual exposition of St Francis Xavier or the Saptah in Vasco or the Gulal festival in Zambaulim or the Ashtamichi celebrating Lord Ganesh.
WE fail to understand why there should be stalls selling Manchurian balls outside the Ashtamichi exhibitions at Don Bosco High school in Panjim. Surely Lord Ganesh has no followers in China? Or has Lord Ganesh become very cosmopolitan and now has developed a taste for Manchurian balls, Kerala halwa and Rajasthani pickles, apart from modak, puranpoli and ladoo? Some of the popular stalls doing brisk business at the main Ashtamichi feri’s are stalls selling Kerala banana, tapioca and jackfruit wafers and the assorted colorful halva, along with the dry fruit of Afghanistan and Rajasthani pickles and the variegated crunchies or “farsan” snacks. You may see all these pictures of the stalls inside and outside in the food court areas which offer only room to stand, order and eat. These food courts need to be organized and better sanitation rules enforced on the vendors outside the exhibitions at the Don Bosco halls.

MAIN ASHTAMICHI FERI
COMING back to the largest Ashtamichi feri down the Campal promenade you will see how the many furniture stalls hog maximum space from the Bhagwan Mahavir Bal Vihar Park gardens right up to old GMC and beyond. Traditionally, a community of carpenters from Benaulim, used to bring their furniture ornate and not so ornate to exhibit and sell here at the main feri. Now you will also see all the new fangled stylish furniture of sofa sets and dining table sets and steel almirah cupboards, rocking chairs maybe which are made by carpenters from Uttar Pradesh.
A casual survey of the furniture stalls revealed that we could not find traditional Goan furniture. But there is a lot of fancy ornamental furniture less in wood and more in artificial materials. Clearly, Generation Z is not interested in maintaining the tradition of wood carving, which was part of Goa. Indeed, in most ancestral houses you can see a lot of beautifully crafted carved furniture.
I recall many years ago there was a German expert carpenter who fell in love with Goa’s old world carved furniture. The German married Mapusa girl, Cheryl Dsouza, and they set up a large workshop near the Benaulim church. The Germans used to export carved furniture from Goa. Unfortunately, this skilled hands-on German died accidentally while working with some furniture without wearing a safety mask. I have been lucky enough to have been gifted traditional twin rocking chairs by former sports minister and MLA from Margao, Francisco Monte Cruz, almost four decades ago. One of the rocking chair is still with me, the other I gave away to the wife of my man Friday Ashraf Hassanwale. My sold rocking chair is still with me, full of memories.
When I drive around Panaji and presumably other parts of Goa, I see many outlets marketing fancy branded furniture. During a drive around the heart of Panaji, I came across dozens of high-end brands. I am not talking about footwear brands like Reebok or Denims, or branded shirts. I passed a showroom showcasing the Sleepwell Company, which markets mattresses guaranteed to ensure deep sleep, promoted on TV by top stars of Bollywood. There’s the Body Shop products which claim to market organic beauty products so that you may stay beautiful and young forever.

BRANDED JEWELRY
ALL kinds of traditional and modern jewelry, including costume jewelry, is available in Goa, including Kalyan Jewelers branded jewelry of which Amitabh Bachchan is the brand ambassador. Goa has become a stage for the whole world because people from all over the country and the world come to Goa.
In fact, a lot of them have second homes in Goa. The brands follow the buyers. The big money keeps them going. So no wonder all the designers have outlets in Goa. It was Bina Ramani who started the trend within her outlet in Candolim. More recently, Ritu Berry set up a boutique and café in Succoor in Porvorim.
I understand that fashion designer Manish Malhotra also has a house in north Goa. And of course all the lipstick brands and the international lingerie brands are also here. I understand that the most coveted lingerie brand, Victoria’s Secret, is now available at Mall De Goa, Marks & Spencer’s outlet at Porvorim. Except that you will have to wait till January because the main road between Mall de Goa and historic restaurant “O’Coqueiro” has been closed for five months from August 24-January 31, 2026, to complete the elevated corridor which will benefit Rohan Khaunte & company.

AND THE FOOD BUSINESS
NOT just the fancy products, but even the food business in Goa seems to be increasingly in the hands or controlled by outsiders. Goa had a great tradition of Goan traders starting off in the vegetable business. Goa has never been self-sufficient in vegetables but has always imported vegetables from Belgaum which is Belgavi now. We remember how the late VM Salgaocar started his mega business as a humble vegetable vendor with an outlet in Ribandar. VM Salgaocar used to go to Belgavi via train and return with fresh vegetables for sale in the Goan markets.
Regrettably, Generation Y and Z of Goan descent are not interested in vegetables or fruits or flowers. The majority of vegetable vendors in all the major markets in Goa are migrant Muslims. Even at the Ashtami feri on in Panjim or Panaji a large number of the stall runners are migrant Muslims. We are of course very proud that unlike in some other BJP-ruled states, all people live and earn their livelihood honorably in Goa and our shopping festivals are doing well regardless of whether they are linked to Hindu festivals or Catholic feasts.
But we only wish more Goans of all three major communities, Hindu, Muslim and Catholic, would enter the food business. Talking about the food business all the best-known restaurants in Goa are run by outsiders. You can get every kind of regional and international cuisine in Goa. There are even niche eateries doing Naga cuisine specialties and even a Nepal cuisine thali meal in Porvorim. Is Thalassa still there doing Greek cuisine? There are any number of restaurants offering Pan Asian food like Tamari at the Taj Vivanta Panjim at St Inez. There is the Monserrate son’s Raki restaurant high up on the 13th floor of Crescent Hotel down the Dona Paula-Miramar road, which offers you Middle Eastern treats.
There are restaurants which offers you Persian offerings like falafel and and the best kebabs and Turkish delight, including Lebanese pita bread-hummus platters with water dill pickles. Sadly only during the month of Shravan there are very few restaurant doing traditional Goan vegetarian recipes.
We made pride ourselves on being a state that is on the national and international tourism destination map. We may pride ourselves on being a state offering the widest and mot selective range of national and international cuisine and beverages, mocktails and cocktails. Goa may be a shopping paradise for those visiting from small hometowns in other states of India.

WHERE ARE GOANS?
IN every other tourism destination we have seen how locals are encouraged to take maximum advantage of opportunities offered by the growing tourism industry. Unlike the Goan Latin Quarters in Fontainhas, which incredibly has a Middle Eastern shawarma stall, the Latin Quarters in Havana in Cuba focuses entirely on local ethnic products. Here you will find Cuban coffee and Cuban handicrafts, and above all the famous Cuban cigars.
This is also true of tourism destinations in Malaysia and Thailand. I recall buying sarongs and beautiful, embroidered full sleeve shirts, which are considered formal gentlemen wear in Malaysia. Even in Dubai, where you can get every luxury product from every part of the world, they have a rule saying that every trader has to have a local partner, which must have the majority shareholders of more than 51%.
However, Goans are already renting out their shops and restaurants, and even in their legal or illegal shacks to outsiders to manage. Goa should have made it compulsory quite some time ago to make it compulsory that those from outside Goa who want to do business in Goa, should have a local Goan partner. It goes without saying that they should hire locals in their businesses and shops.
Why should barbers from UP and Andhra Pradesh run our hair cutting and beauty salons when Goa has a traditional community of “barberia” based in Mala? When I came to Goa in the early 80s, all the hair saloons were run by Goans. Now of course we have a lot of single outsider-managed beauty parlors with a few exceptions like Neomi’s at Miramar and Guru’s at Caranzalem.
THIS is a call or a shout-out to all members of Generation Z of niz Goenkars. Maintain the family tradition. Take over the bakeries run by your fathers and grandparents. Just as the Gaitonde family has done in the case of the iconic Café Central. Preserve the tradition of great seafood restaurants like Martin’s Corner at Betalbatim, the Ritz chain started by Rohidas Naik, or even the stationary shops pioneered by JD Fernandes, the original patrao of “OHeraldo” and Casa JD Fernandes. There are heritage businesses all over Goa. From “Hanuman Soda” at Mapusa market to “Longuinhos” in Margao which dates back to Portuguese times. Maintaining legacies and growing should be the duty of every true blue Goan family.

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