Apart from the scenic beauty, Carona was also full of people....

[Frederick Noronha]

Apart from the scenic beauty, Carona was also full of people. On my visit there after thirty years of absence, I found the place a bit changed. Many old familiar faces had gone, as indeed, in the natural course, they had to go to their eternal rest.  Pe Gaspar who looked magnificent in his Canon robes, Pe Guilherme Coutinho, a professor of philosophy and theology, (he thought like an angel, but preached like a poor poll), Pe Xaverino and Pedro Joaquim, the local politician, the bearded Dr Joao, interested in shooting pake (flying foxes), Antoninho Rodrigues who sold cloth in conjunction with his brother Norberto, Polkist Joao, that grand old Lady of Carona, Dona Margarita Santa Rita Vaz who resembled Queen Victoria and many others were missing. There were other fascinating folks whom I missed. Who can forget the  ebullient  Caetan Duconcar, who could jump in the village  wells horizontally, vertically and perpendicularly, Munumest, the itinerant barber who gave quick haircuts to the small  boys every Sunday after  mass in the St Rita Chapel (he made each boy sit  on a stone, a tiny mirror in his hand, while he  performed the tonsorial operation).---From Goa On My Mind: Selections from the writings of Joaquim (Jock) A Sequeira.

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