One lady, in fact, thought I was playing truant. She told me
she was going to inform my mother where I was that Sunday morning. She
thought that I ought to have been in church attending Mass instead.
The field work was a good experience and one which I cherish. I helped
Guru plough about half a dozen fields and even now when the rainy
season approaches I remember that experience with warmth and pleasure.
Chapter 3: Plant Festivals
The rainy season brings out the average Goan's passion ate love for
plants and some of this fervour and enthusiasm finds its way into plant
exhibitions and plant festivals. I would like to recount my experiences
with two of them-at Saligao and at Siolim-two villages close to where I
live. At the first I was a mere spectator but played a more active role
in the second.
Saligao
Sunday, the 1st of July, was an unusually bright day for the normally
dull, wet, cloudy rainy season. I was looking forward to going to
Saligao to see an exhibition of plants and was glad for the dry weather
as I pedalled the 20 minutes it took to reach Lourdes Convent, the well
known school in the village where the exhibition was being held. I
reached around 10.30 in the morning. The exhibition had already been
inaugurated and the place was crowded with people all trying to enter
the main hall where the exhibits were kept.
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