It was a unique opportunity to participate in the annual festivities of Malar-Divar’s Bonderam (flag festival of Divar village) on 16th August 2025. Over 73 students and five staff members, travelled in two busses to the island village, after we were invited to participate in the several heritage and traditional activities of the festival, on an invitation from the Malar Sports Club, Divar.
The students reached Old Goa at 10am and crossed the ferry to Divar village. From there, there were busses arranged to transport them to the Malar Sports Club. The programme began with the inaugural ceremony, which included an introduction to the festival by compere RJ Joed Almeida followed by the lighting of the traditional lamp.
While at the club, students attended three GED talks: Mr. Suresh Kunkalikar delivered a talk on “Backyard Gardening”, explaining the eco-friendly practices used by our ancestors to cultivate handy kitchen gardens. He offered several ideas to recycle wet waste to make compost and manure for the kitchen gardens. This was followed by an interesting talk by a Marine Conservation Scientist, Dr. Aaron Lobo on “Building Resilience: Ensuring Goa’s Promise for Fish, Curry and Rice lives on…”. Dr. Lobo explained how islanders lived differently, with self-reliance and in communion with nature. Drawing from global perspectives, he outlined the need to understand the dynamics of food, particularly the traditional practice of fishing done by Goan fishers. The third talk on “Goan Folk Dances and Songs” was delivered by Dr. Glenis Mendonca, Convenor of Carmel Heritage Club, Carmel College for Women-Nuvem. She spoke about the various folk dances and songs of Goa which were on the verge of extinction, and reiterated the need to preserve and perpetuate them for future generations. The students of Carmel College for Women, performed the Goan Dekhni, Dhalo-fuggdi and thereby demonstrated the traditions and ethos of these traditional women-centric folk forms.
After a traditional jevonn (meal) consisting of ukdde xitt, kodi, khatkhatte, manganne, sol-kadi, pickle and kismur, the students proceeded to participate in the traditional Bonderamchi passoi (heritage walk). It commenced at the Malar Church at 3pm. It was interesting to see how the flags were blest by the parish priest of Sao Mathias Church, amidst tolling bells, along with prayers in Konkani. The brass band and flags led the passoi, while a compere gave a running commentary on the historic and heritage spots of the village. At every station, the revellers took halts and were served traditional foods like alle-belle, vonn etc. NGOs and cultural troupes performed traditional plays and performances to sensitize the audience on pertinent issues connected to sustainable human living.
After the passoi, the students and staff proceeded to have a peek at the floats which were getting ready for the traditional inter-ward floats competition. Students then boarded their busses to catch the ferry and went across to visit the historic and heritage monuments such as the Viceroy’s Arch and the Church of St. Cajetan at Old Goa. Dr. Glenis Mendonca briefed them about the history and heritage of this church build in 1665 by Italian monks. Students and staff had an eventful and memorable experience at Malar-Bonderam and returned home with loads of memories and pictures.