The Carnival parade in Panaji on Saturday saw thousands gather to see the floats. King Momo opened the parade with cheer and enthusiasm. While the floats — both in number and scale — looked smaller than those in the pre-COVID years, people’s enthusiasm knew no bounds, as local families, tourists and expats made their way to Panaji to take part in day one of the Carnival. The parade included floats depicting various themes, like community classroom, dangers of unplanned development, protecting nature and wildlife, Coronavirus awareness and more. Ten members of the Rodrigues family in Candolim came up with a special float on protecting the environment. “Nature is being destroyed and the sea is being polluted. It is important to stress on the importance of saving forests and trees to avoid climate change. We want to spread awareness along with the Carnival spirit,” said John Rodrigues. A unique float creating awareness about disability saw several from the Disability Rights Association and Haemophilia Society (Panaji branch) take part on wheelchairs. “Our goal is to make people aware about the need forinclusivity, accessibility and empowerment of the disabled,” said Prakash Kamat, member of Goa state advisory board for disability. Sahil Vaingankar from Young Stars Boys in Miramar that depicted a float on COVID awareness said, “Our idea is to create awareness about using masks, following COVID protocol and getting vaccinated.”
Staff ReporterPanajiAfter days of anticipation, the much-awaited Carnival revelry in Goa began on Saturday with the Panaji city hosting the first of the many float parades. This year, the parade was held along the traditional route from the Old Secretariat to the Kala Academy.The street was decked up with masks and streamers giving it a festive look. While the festival promises a long line-up of fun activities to look forward to, the 2022 began on a lacklustre note, with the parade that was scheduled to commence at 3 p.m. only starting off post 4.30 p.m.The floats lined up near the Ribandar Causeway made their way into the city after the flag-off. King Momo Emiliano Dias read out his decree declaring fun, frolic and merrymaking for the four days of Carnival in Goa. He is said to be inspired by Momos from Greek mythology, a figure that represents satire and mockery, two things that were essentially original to Carnival in the earlier days.Over the years, the parade has boasted of big flashy floats with much dancing and revelry. This time around however, the floats were few and far in between. Long gaps between floats led to people losing interest in watching the parade. Otherwise, the gaps would be covered up with dancers dancing in gusto.Carnival has been attracting tourists for years now, but for the regulars, this year was not as interesting and entertaining. Crowds entertained themselves with just taking group selfies with Carnival masks, and dancing among themselves.On a positive note, there seemed to be a greater focus on environment themes in the parade. Several floats depicted issues, Goa’s heritage and culture, while there were floats of commercial brands too.Spectators however gave mixed reactions over the float parade. Anshu Singh from Dehradun said, “It is very nice. People have depicted social issues in a very creative way. Each float comes with a message for the public, from protecting wildlife to the importance of following safety rules. There’s a lot of enthusiasm around. It’s celebrations like these that bring people together. This was my first time watching the Panaji Carnival”“I think it could have been much better. There could have been more dance, more creativity – like the Carnival in Brazil. I am born and brought up in Goa, I have seen the Carnivals of the past and this time there’s nobody dancing, there’s barely any music. I think it could have been better this year. We came here at 3 p.m. and the Carnival started hours later at 5.30 p.m,” said Siddesh Dalvi from Panaji.“This is my second time watching the Carnival. The last time I watched the Carnival was in 2006. Back then, it was more local and culture-oriented. Now you see bigger floats, sponsorships, lots of noise. This time, however, it looks like there are more people interested – the participation of people is much better. This is probably because for the past two years all were at home. Overall there’s a very festive atmosphere,” said V. P. Singh from Dehradun.“I think after COVID-19 this was the one thing that brought happiness in everyone’s life. I saw a lot of people enjoying and having a good time. The last Carnival I attended was four years back so this one is a collective carnival of four years in one package. This time, most of the floats have a message, for example, I saw a lot of floats with the message ‘Say No To Drugs’. There were also floats relating to nature and Goan tradition. Instead of just showing flashy things they have put thoughts into the floats that will give out a message to the audience,” said Minal Rathore from Bambolim.Anita Lingankar from Vasco said, “Ever since I was a child I always wanted to see the floats in Panaji. The floats here come from various places. I was so excited even though the event was delayed. It was totally worth it.”“I was most excited to show my family the Carnival. The delay has however spoiled our moods. From whatever I have seen the floats are not that great,” said Rishi Borker from Margao.“I have never seen such a festival. It is so amazing to be in Goa. I was most excited to see the dances and the traditional occupations of Goa. The atmosphere here is totally different,” said Nikita Singh from Pune.“I have been working in Goa for the past five years and never had come to see the floats so I thought of coming this time. I waited for around 30 minutes even though I came quite late. But the wait was worth it. The different acts put up were also very nice,” said Tarasenjit, from Kolkata.
Ponda: After a year’s break, Carnival was celebrated on a low key in Ponda with only seven tableaux participating in the parade. Of these, the tableau depicting the cruelty of frog poaching took centre stage. The Carnival was organised in a short duration without government aid, sources in the Ponda Carnival Festival Committee said. President of the committee, Agostin Fernandes, said that they had invited all tableaux to participate and had only paid them transport allowance. No prizes were distributed as the committee had no government aid, he said. King Momo Andrew Fernandes and Queen Momo Angelina Fernandes led the parade. The Carnival parade received a huge response for the people of Ponda with a large number of children seen in attendance. Seven junk cars/clowns also participated in the parade that followed the route from Tisk to the old bus stand.
Ponda: With no government aid in sight, the Ponda Carnival Festival Committee has resolved to organise its own Carnival float on Tuesday and has sought financial help from locals to do so. With no funds, prizes may not be given for participating teams, but the committee will bear the transportation expenses of tableaux, the committee’s president Agostinho Fernandes told reporters. “With no help coming from the government, some like-minded people met on Friday evening and resolved to celebrate the festival on their own,” Fernandes said. “We have sought financial help from people to hold the float parade. The name of the King Momo will be finalised by Sunday.” tnn
Ponda: Despite the government not including Ponda as a venue for the official Carnival celebration, people of Ponda under the banner of Ponda Carnival Committee managed to organise a parade with zest and pomp on Tuesday.Though the number of floats was not on par with the government-organised Carnival, enthusiasm among the participants as well as the crowd was high.The Carnival parade which kick-started from Tisk Ponda was flagged off by the former PMC chairperson Vishwanath Dalvi and committee president AgostinFernandes culminated at the old bus stand. The parade saw participation of around 8 floats and 6 individual artists.Floats mostly depicted traditional occupations of the state, while some depicted messages about protecting the environment and species in nature.It is interesting to note that since 2007 Carnival celebration in Ponda was done under the Christmas Celebration Committee but later the state government had started an official celebration. But for the past two years, the Goa Tourism Department has removed Ponda town from its Carnival celebration venue list. Taking note of the same, this year citizens of Ponda have joined together and have hosted its own Carnival.
Staff ReporterPondaAlthough Ponda city is not on the itinerary list of the tourism department for the official celebration of Carnival, citizens have joined hands to hold a parade of tableaux in the city on March 1, 2022.Ponda Carnival festival committee president Agostinho Fernandes told media persons at a press conference that the Carnival parade was held in Ponda since 2007 under the banner of the Christmas celebration committee.Later, the state government started official celebration of the festival inthe city.However, the department delisted Ponda from the official celebration for the past two years.Taking note of the same, this year citizens of Ponda have come together to host its own Carnival parade.Citizens will fund the celebration; there will not be any prizes for the participating tableaux.Special floats from various parts of the state will be invited to participate in the parade. Moreover, tableaux fromthe people of Ponda will also take part in the event, Fernandes saidThe parade will begin its journey at Tisk-Ponda at 4.30 p.m., and will culminate at the old bus stand.
Panaji: Proud owners of some well-maintained vintage, classic and Indian heritage cars took to the streets in their vehicles at the vintage vehicle rally held as part of the four-day Panaji Carnival festivities. Organised by the Goa Vintage and Classic Automobile Club, the convoy had a fleet of more than 50 cars and two-wheelers and over 20 Harley Davidson bikers. It was flagged off on Sunday from the Samba Square at the Jardin Garcia de Orta. Mapusa-based Ryan Braganza, who took two of his Morris Minors to the rally, said that meeting with other car enthusiasts was the highlight of the event for him. “There is always tremendous response from other vintage car lovers, but this time there was also keen interest from youngsters who wanted to know more about this genre of automobiles. A growing interest among the youth is important to maintain the enthusiasm in vintage vehicles,” he said. Among the four-wheelers that participated were a green Hindustan Motors Contessa, a Premiere Padmini, a green Chevrolet truck, a bright yellow Volkswagen, a red Dodge Motors vehicle and a Mercedes car. Pradeep Naik, who organised the very first vintage car rally in 2004, said that Sunday’s rally brought “excitement to the Carnival celebrations in Panaji and kept the spirits high.”
Staff ReporterPanajiThe citizens of Panajiwitnessed a number of vintage cars, right from a Hindustan Motors Contessa to a green Chevrolet truck and a convoy of bikes driving past their homes on the second day of the Panaji Carnival festivity on Sunday.The classic vehicles were part of the Vintage Car Drive which was flagged off, by Ravi Dhawan, MD and CEO of Imagine Panaji Smart City, Agnelo Fernandes, Commissioner of the City of Panaji, Vivek Parsekar of CCP, Pradeep Naik, from the Samba Square as part of the Panaji city Carnival celebrations.Organised by Goa Vintage and Classic Automobile Club, led by Pradeep Naik, the convoy was led by a fleet of 20 plus Harley Davidson bikers followed by 50 plus vintage bikes and cars. Well-kept Mercedes cars, a bright yellow Volkswagen,Premiere Padmini and a red Dodge Motors were part of the convoy.The fleet of vehicles drove across the city right up to Dona Paula and converged back at the Samba Square.Proud owners of some of Goa’s most well-kept and swanky vintage cars took to the streets to proudly drive their vehicles around the city.
